^^rm^ ^V**53««:ftt.ai5*->/"' '' '^ ' * 'iNji£f^;-P^ I ':>B. BAYARD TAYLOR'S TRAVELS. Eldorado ; or, Adventures in the Path of Empire (Mexico and California). i2mo. Household edition . , $1.50 Central Africa. Life and Landscape from Cairo to the White Nile. Two plates and cuts. i2mo. Household edi- tion $1.50 Greece and Russia. With an Excursion to Crete. Two plates. l2mo. Household edition .... $1.50 Home and Abroad. A Sketch-Book of Life, Scenery, and Men. Two plates. i2mo. Household edition . . $1.50 (Second Series.) With two plates. i2mo. Household edition ... ...... $1.50 India, China, and Japan. Two plates. i2mo. Household edition .......... $1.50 Land of the Saracen ; or. Pictures of Palestine, Asia Mi.NOR, Sicily, and Spain. With two plates. i2mo. Household edition ....... $1.50 Northern Travel. Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, In.NMAKK, AND Lai'LAND. With two plates. i2mo. House- hold edition ........ $1.50 Views Afoot ; or, Europe Seen with Knapsack and Staff. i2nio. Household edition ...... $1.50 Sq. octavo. Illustrated. Kennett edition . . $2.50 By-Ways of Europe. i2mo. Household edition . . $1.50 Egypt and Iceland in the Year 1874. i2mo. Household edition $1.50 # #»,.'• A'mw) Jfi IBA¥AIBID) ^AinL(D©o ^ NEWYOMK3 Go K PUTNAM, f-?, K i'lli TRAVELS HI GREECE AND RUSSIA; WITH AN EXCURSION TO CRETE By bayard TAYLOR. HOUSEHOLD EDITION. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK LONDON ri West Twenty-third St. 24 Bedford St., Strand SCfee ^mitkcrboclur ^WS8 1893 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, by BAYARD TAYLOR, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. UNIVEi>'-;!'[V ^:-'"' CMAFOnmM SANTA BARBARA PKEF ACE. The reader will observe that in describing Greece, 1 have devoted myself to the physical aspects of the coun- try, and the character and habits of its present popula- tion, rather than to its past history and classic associa- tions. If, therefore, there are no new pictures in this volume, there may be, at least, some old and familiar subjects exhibited under new atmospheric effects. I should otherwise have hesitated to select a field which may be considered well-nigh exhausted, were it not that the country is still in a transition state, and every few years presents a new phase to the traveller's eye. Owing to the pressure of other literary labors, this volume has been too rapidly prepared for the press, to allow me to add a special chapter on the Ethnology of Greece, as I had originally designed. I can only record my complete conviction of the truth of the views enter- tained by Fallraereyer, that the modern Greeks are a IV PKB2FACB. mongrel race, in whicli the Slavic element is predomi- nant, and that the pure Hellenic blood is to be found only in a few localities. The chapters relating to Russia must be considered as studies rather than finished pictures. They are an at- tempt to sketch the gay, bizarre, incongruous external forms of Russian life. Anything more could not be safely attempted without a longer residence in the country and a knowledge of the language — both of which I hope to accomplish at some future day. So far, however, as the Greek Church is concerned, it may be interesting to the reader to trace its character and influence in the tw<" countries, which, with a common ambition, are far from having a common destiny. Bayard Taylok. New Yokk, July, 1869 CONTEN rS CHAPTER L Pict"jre8 from the Dalmatian Coast, . , . , • J. CHAPTER n. Fartlier firom Dalmatia, 9 CHAPTER IIL First Days in Greece, . , . , S3 CHAPTER IV. On the Acropolis, 84 CHAPTER V. Winter Life in Athens, 4S CHAPTER VL A Oreek Baptism, .64 CHAPTER VIL tie Court of King Otho, 6C CHAPTER Vm. Greek Festivals, Religions and Civic, ... .76 CHAPTER IX. An Excorsion to Crete, . . . 8S CHAPTER X. A Cretan Journey, • 101 n C0NTEKT8. PAOB CHAPTER XI Our Imprisonment at Rhithymnos, . . .... 113 CHAPTER XII. Tho Caverns, Mountains, and Labyrinths of Crete, . , . . 123 CHAPTER Xlli. Two Days with an Archbishop, 137 CHAPTER UM. The Eartliquake at Corinth 148 CHAPTER XV Argoiis and Arcadia, . ...... 161 CHAPTER S.VI. Four Days among the Spartans, .... . . 1C9 CHAPTER XV D Messenia, Elis, and Achaia, 186 CHAPTER XVIIL Byron in Greece, 208 CHAPTER XIX. The Haunts of the Muses, 216 CHAPTER XX. Parnassus and the Dorian Mountains, ...... 226 CHAPTER XXL rhe Frontier of Tlics.saly, 28*? CHAPTER XXIL Adventures in Euboea, . . 247 CHAPTER XXIII. People and Government, ...,.., 261 CHAPTER XXIV Agriculture an(i Resources, 878 CHAPTER XXV. Return to the North, .... 281 CHAPTER XXVL Craoonr, and the Salt Mines of Wieliczka, . . . 289 CHAPTER XXVn. A. Glance at Warsaw, * , BOS CO>Ti:XTS. \'l) CHAPTER XXVin. A Journey tbrongh Central Russia, . . . . • 316 CHAPTER XXIX A Panoramic V'fi^7 of Moscow, .... . S25 CHAPTER XXX. Tee Kjemlin, . . 33 i CHAPTER XXXI. A Yi3it to the Foundling Hospital, ... . 348 CHAPTER XXXIL Moscow, In-doors and Out, .... . 259 CHAPTER XXXIIL Railroada in Russia, . . St CHAPTER XXXIY. St. Petersburg and its Palaces, ... , ^ . S81 CHAPTER XXXV. Tzarsko Selo, Paulovsk and ibo Islands, . . , , &&4 CHAPTER XXXVL Viirietics of the Russian Capital, .... 401 CHAPTER XXXYIL Journey througl the Baltic ProTincaa, ...... 621 TMVELS IN GREECE AID RUSSIA. I. GREECE. CHAPTER I. PICTURES FROM TUK DALMATIAN COAST. Apter giving up the hope of enjoying a Siberian "Winter, which had been my original intention, I determined to go as near as possible to the opi^osite extreme of avoiding the Winter altogether. But by the time we left Gotha (on the 4th of December, 1857) the season was already maugarated. The first snow whitened the Thtiringian hUls ; bitter blasts blew down upon us from the Hartz — the last chilly farewell of the forsaken North. Lilce a true German, he was not satisfied with one adieu, but must return again and again to prolong the sweet sorrow of parting. He accompanied ua to Dresden, through the black and lowering passes of the Saxon Switzerland, over the open plains of Bohemia, and only left us for a while in the valley of the Danube to return with a more violent embrace, on the top of the Semmering 3 TEAVKLS IN GEEECE AND KUSSIA. Alp. Finally, at the southern edge of tlie Kars% oi table-land of Carinthia, where his rugged name of Boreas ia Italianized into the Bora, we left him, and the little olive- trees in the gardens of Trieste welcomed us to the threshold of the South. At Trieste, I determined to make the most of ray south- ward voyage, by taking the Lloyd steamer of the Dalmatian and Albanian line, which would enable me to see something of one of the least frequented and most interesting of the Mediterranean shores. At noon, on the 12th, we were all three on board of the Miramar, Captain Mazarevitch, steaming out of Trieste under a cloudless sky and over a smooth blue sea, albeit the south-eastern wind, bloAving over the Istrian mountains, was keen enough. Our vessel, altliough new, clean, and sufficiently comfortable, was pain- fully slow, and consequently we were not up with Pola, the famous amphitheatre whereof is plainly visible from the sea, until long after dark. Our comfort during the afternoon was our fine view of the Julian Alps, wheehng in a splendid arc areund the head of the Adriatic, from Trieste nearly to Venice. During the night we crossed the mouth of the Gulf of Fiurae, which you may remember as the only outlet of Croatia, much talked of during the Hungari m struggle, in connexion with the design of uniting the Slavic races with the Magyars, and securing a seaport for the new nation, I cheerfully testify that the Gulf of Fiume is as rough a piece of water as the Bay of Biscay, and this is all I know about it, for by sunrise we were at anchor in the liarbor of Zara, the capital of Dalmatia. • Most gentlemen have heard of this place, from reading PICTURES FROM THE DALMATIAN COAST. 5 on the labels of certain square, wicker-encased bottles — " Maraschino di Zara.^'* Those who have dipped into his- tory far enough will remember the famous sea-fight fought here during the Fourth Crusade, and the happy few who know Venice have not forgotten the famous picture in the Doge's Palace, wherein the son of Barbarossa is taken prisoner by the Venetians, the most flagrant case of lying which the world can produce — no such incident ever having occurred Zara, I suspect, looks pretty much as it did in those days Its long, crenelated walls and square bastions had a familial aspect to me, from the aforesaid picture.^ Of its ancient history I need only say that it was the capital of the Romar province of Liburnia, and a place of some note in the days of Augustus. The sun rose over the snowy range of the Velebich, which separates Dalmatia from the Turkish pashalik of Bosnia. The land, under the clearest illumination, looked intensely bare and stony. Around the harbor were olive orchards, with a spiry Italian cypress or two, and some leafless fig-trees. Dalmatian boatmen thronged the low quay, in front of the water gate, and hovered about the steamer, in their red caps, loose shirts and wide troAvsers. The picture was neither Italian nor Oriental, yet with something of both, and there was enough of Frank innova- fion to give it a shabby air. I know nothing more slovenly and melancholy than the aspect of those Mediterranean ports which are in a transition state — where the old costume, habits, and ways of living have been for the most part given up, and those of Western Europe are still new enough to ai)pear awkward and affected. The interior of 4 TRAVELS IN GKEECE AND RUSSIA. the town produced the same impression ; there was every where the same curious mixture of two hetfei-og^neous elfr meuts. Only the country people, who had come in with their market-carts and were selling vegetables in the prin- cipal square, and some shaggy fellows, whom I took to be Morlaks, or Mountain Slaves, seemed to be pm-ely Dahna- tiau, both in blood and habits. Their Slavic ancestry was to be seen at a glance. The deep-set eye, the heavy brow, the strong nose, and lengthened oval of the face — the expression of courage, calculation, and obstinacy — ^the erect, rather haughty form, and free, graceful carriage, are charac- teristics which belong to all the branches of this widely spread race. Some of the old men were noble figures; but the men, as elsewhere among the Slaves, were much handsomer than the women. Zara is a little place, and one can easily see the whole of 't in an hour. The streets are very narrow and crooked, out paved with heavy stone slabs, and kept perfectly clean. At one corner of the pubUc square, stands a Cormthian pil- lar surmounted by a winged griffin, which is believed to have belonged to a temple of the age of Augustus. The Cathedral, a low building of marble, Byzantine in style, was founded by old Dandolo, who wintered here in 1202, on liis way to take Constantinople. We went into a cafo to tasto jMaraschino on its native soil, but the specimen proved that the flavor of the liqueur is improved by banishment. It is made from the berries of a variety of wild cherry, called the marasca^ whence the name. We left at noon, and running along a coast which appeared bairen, although every valley which opened to ncTUUES FKOM THE DALMATIAN COAST. 6 the sea was silver-gray with olive orchards, reached Sebe* aico a little before sunset. This is a wonderfully pictures que place, built along the side of a hill which rises steeply from the water, and dominated by three massive Venetian fortresses, behind which towers a bald, barren mountain. Our steamer was hauled m beside a mole which protects the little harbor, and we stepped ashore to see the place before dark. Crowds of grizzly, dirty men, dressed in wide trowsers and shaggy sheejjskin jackets, stared at us with curiosity. A few of them begged in unintelligible niyrian or bad Italian. The women, some of whom were quite pretty, wore a very picturesque costume, consisting of a crimson boddice, open to the waist in front, disclosing a snowy linen chemise, in which the full breast was enve- loped, a petticoat of red or dark blue, and a gay handker. chief twisted through the long braids of their thick black hair. The streets were so very narrow, steep, and dark, that, we hesitated at first about plunging into such a suspicious labyrinth, but at last hit upon a lane which led us to the public square before the Cathedral, the only level piece of ground in the city. It is an artificial terrace, about half- way up the hill, and may be a hundred feet square. On one side is the Cathedral, a very quaint, squat old building of white marble, in a bastard Byzantine style ; on the other a building resting on an arched corridor, which remuida you of Venice. Broad slabs of slippery marble j^aved the court, which we found utterly silent and deserted. As the yellow lustre of sunset struck upon the dome and the front of the fortress which frowned high over our heads, and a 6 TEAVELS m GREECE AND EUSSIA, glimpse of purple sea glimmered afar through the gap by which we had ascended, I felt as if I had discovered 8om« lost, forgotten city of the past, over which no wind of ruin had as yet blown. All was quaint and solemn, mellowed by the touch of ago: had it been new, it would have been merely grotesque. We mounted to the fort, whence there was a wide view of the coast, the sea, and the Dalmatian Islands. The fort- resses appeared to be no longer kept up as defences, for which, indeed, they are now worthless. Sebenico is a poor place, and as proud as it is poor, if one may rely upon the statements made by a thriving brewer, who keeps a beer- house on the quay. " There is no such thing as enterprise here," said he ; " the country is capable of producing much more than it does, if the people were not so lazy. Here, for instance, are half-a-dozen old Venetian families, who consider themselves too nobly born to do anything, and Avho are gradually starving in their pride. After having sold everytliing except the family mansion, they then sell their plate piece by jjiece. What they will do when that is gone, I cannot tell. I am considered rich, because I earn more than I spend, but am despised by these gentry because I have a business. My father was once applied to Ity one of them, who wished to borrow money. He went to the house, but was refused admittance by the noble lady, wlio said: 'Stay in the street until my lord conies out.' Well, when my lord came, my father said to him: 'If my person is not worthy to enter your house, my money is not worthy to touch your fingers ' — and so left him. These peo- ple would like to restore the Venetian rule, because they PICTURES FROM THE DALMATIAN COAST. 7 held offices then, and were somebodies ; but if we were well rid of them, and could fill their places with Germans, not afraid to work, it would be better for Dalmatia." I have no doubt there is much truth in the brewer's remarks. Dalmatia seems to me as well adapted for the production of wine, oil, and silk, as any part of Southern Europe, Its pre- sent yield of wine, which is of excellent quality, amounts to 1,200,000 barrels annually. About 60,000 barrels of oil are produced, but as the number of olive trees in the province amounts to near three millions, and from two-and-a-half to five pounds of olives (according to the season) yield one pound of oil, there nmst be a great waste of raw material in the preparation of the article. Wheat and barley also thrive remarkably well. The value of the staples exported fi-ora the province amounts to about $2,000,000 yearly, which, for a population of 400,000, gives but $5 a head as the amount of their industry beyond what is required for their maintenance. Early the next morning we started again, still favored with cloudless skies and sleeping seas. The tops of the shore hills rose bold and yeUow above the olive terraces ivhich belted their bases, and far inland rose pale-purple mountain chains, tipped with snow — the dividing ridgo between Dalmatia and Bosnia. Towards noon, rounding a point of the coast and turning almost due eastward, the spires of Spalato (not Spalatro, as it is generally spelled) famous for its memories of Diocletian, twinkled before us. It lies on a little cove, at the head of a wide bay, land- locked by the islands of the Dalmatian Archipelago, and at uhe end of a gently sloping plain thre? or four miles long 8 TEAVELS IN GEKECE AND EUSSIA. The mountains here fall back, and form a graceful amphi theatre, at the head of which stood the old Roman city of Salona. Spalato is founded on the ruins of Diocletian's palace, the walls of which still contain the whole of the mediaeval city. Every one has heard of Diocletian and his Dalmatian cabbages, but few know how much of his impe- rial hermitage has been spared by time. Let us go ashore and see. CHAPTER II. PUBTHER FROM DALMATIA. Spalato ought properly to be called Diodeziano. In tlie front of the long row of houses facing the sea, we counted twenty-eight arches of the Emperor's palace, and we recog- nised, in the hexagonal structure behind the tail Venetian belfrey, the temj^le of Jupiter which stood within its walls. Landing in the midst of a wild, dirty, but very picturesque crowd of Dalmatians and Morlaks, we discovered an arched entrance into the mass of houses, in the centre of the ancient sea-fi'ont. A vaulted passage, ascending by irregu- lar steps, led us into the midst of ii'regular ruins, among which the modern inhabitants are nested like bats, blacken- ing with their fires and defiling Avith their filth the Roman arches and walls. A circular hall, the vaulted roof of which had fallen in, was evidently the vestibule to the architec- tural splendors of the inner court. Beyond this, however, the picture suddenly changed, 4 portico, supported by four pillars — monoliths of red gi'anite, with Corinthian capitals of white marble — and with 10 TBAVED5 IN GEEECE AND RUSSIA, 'i^^ a pediment sculptured in the most florid style, conducted ^ ^ us to the court of the palace, paved with marble, and sur- S rounded by a colonnade of red granite, raised upon a lofty ^ base. On the right hand, the massive portico of the ^ temple of Jupiter now serves as the foundation of the lofty campanile, behind which stands the temple itself, almost ^i entii-e in all its parts. On the left, a short distance behind .V the colonnade, is a smaller building of marble, with a very rich Corinthian cornice, which is generally supposed to have been a temple of iEsculapius, although some antiquar lies regard it as the mausoleum of Diocletian. In front of the temple of Jupiter sits an Egyptian sphynx of black porphyry, with an inscription of the time of Amunoph III. — about fifteen centuries before Christ. The charm of the court is greatly enhanced by the suddenness with which it comes upon you, and by contrast with the tall, plain masses of the old Venetian houses which inclose it. The fact that it served as a public square to the inhabitants of the Spalato of the middle ages, which was built entirely within the palace-walls, has no doubt preserved it from ruin. The square is still called " Piazza del Tempio?'' We went into the temple, now the cathedral. The tawdry appurtenances of its present religion do not at all harmonize with the simple severity of the old. It is rather gloomy, the ancient vaulted dome having no aperture to admit light, like that of the Roman Pantheon. There is an external colonnade, which is gradually falling into ruin through neglect, and its condition shows that there is need of an appeal simil-ir to tliat upon the outside of a church m Florence — "It you hear the name of Christians, oh FUKTHEil ii-BOM DAI.MATIA. 11 respect the temple of the Lord I" Two large sarcophagi were lying between the columns. One of them had a cracked lid, a piece of which Braisted shoved aside, and diving into the interior, brought out a large thigh-bone, the owner of which must have been over six feet in height. There is an interior gallery, under the dome, which rests upon columns of porphyry and grey granite. This gallery is adorned with a frieze representing a himt, whence some suppose the temple to have been erected to Diana instead of Jupiter. It is well known, however, that hunting sub- jects were used in the temj^les of various gods, at a later period. The execution is so very clumsy, that one can have no very exalted opinion of Diocletian's taste. I can only compare it to those monstrosities which were perpe- trated under the name of sculpture, during the Greek Empire. In front of the temple of -^sculapius lies a sarco- phagus, which is supposed to be that of Diocletian himself, and with more probability than usually belongs to such conjectures. Braisted and I mounted to the summit of the campanile, and sat- down to contemplate the landscape. It was a warm, Btm, cloudless day, and the rich plain behind, slojjing back to the site of the ancient Salona, the blue harbor, inclosed by the purple Dalmatian islands, and the bald, Ulac-tinted mountains, rising along the Bosnian frontier, formed so large, cheerful, and harmonious a picture, that we at once understood Diocletian's choice, and gave him full credit for it. "He was the only Roman Empex'or who had good common sense," gaid B., with a positiveness from which there was no appeal. In the gardens around Spalato we 12 TaAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. noticed some cabbages, tbe descendants, probably, of those which Diocletian so ostentatiously shook under the nose of Maximinian. But in spite of his cabbages Diocletian wag far from being a Diogenes in the purple. I looked down on he compact little town, and could easily trace the line of his palace-wall — an irregular parallelogram, 500 feet on the shortest side, and 670 on the longest. It was originally adorned with eighteen towers, and pierced with four gates, the main entrance, the Porta Aurea (golden gate), being on the side towards Salona. This has been recently exca- vated, and, except that its statues have fallen from their niches, is very well preserved. The other gates were named Silver, Bronze, and Iron. Within this space the Emperor had his residence and that of a large retinue, including his women, guards, and slaves, besides two tem- ples, a theatre, bath, and halls for festivities. The Byzantine writer, Porphyrogenitiis, who saw the palace in its perfect state, says : " No description can convey any idea of its magnificence." Who would not be willing to raise cab- bages in this style ? For my part, I should not object to a dish of such imperial sour-krout. We left Spalato in the afternoon, and made for the port of Milne, on the island of Brazza, whose olive-streaked hUls shimmered faintly in the west. This island is the largest lo the Dalmatian Archipelago, producing annually 80,000 barrels of whie, and 10,000 of oil. It was celebrated by Pliny for its fine goats, a distinction which it still preserves. Brazza, I am informed, sent quite a number of emigi-ants to California. It is curious to observe how very closely the threads of commercial and social intercourse are knitted. FUETHEE FROM DAT.MATIA. 18 all over the world. All civilized nations are rapidly becom iug limbs of one vast body, in which any ner\e that is touched in one is more or less felt by all. " Our businesi» is very dull in Zara," said a Dalmatian to me, " on account of the crisis in America." " But the worst of the criei^ there is already over,'' I said, "as well as in England." " Then we may hope that ours will not last long,'' said he, In Zante, and other Ionian islands, the people were greatly pinched, during the crisis of 1857, because the Anglo-Saxon race could not afford so many plum-puddings, and their currants remained unsold. Rounding the western end of Brazza, a deep channel, terminating in a cii-cular harbor, as regular as if cut by art, and sunk in the heart of the hills, opened unexpectedly on our right. This was Milne, the port of the island, a silent, solitary, tranquil place, which even our arrival did not pppear to excite in the least. We halted here but a short time, and then sped away to Lesina, where Titian is said to have been banished for some years, through the strait where, in 1811, four English vessels defeated the French fleet of eleven, touched during the night at Curzola, and by the next sunrise were at anchor in the harbor of Ragusa. This is, historically, the most interesting point on the Dal- .oatian coast. A few scattering Greeks and lUyrians founded here, in the year 636, a little Republic — not bigger than the estate of many an English nobleman — which survived the fall of empires, and the political storms of nearly twelve hundred years. It was finally wiped out in January, 1808, oy a decree of Napoleon, who bestowed upon Marshal Marmont, the commander of the French troops in Dal 14 TBAVELS IN GKEECE AND RUSSIA. matia, the title of Duke of Ragusa. Tributary both tc Venice and the Ottoman Empire, it still preserved its muni cij^al indejjendence ; and, besides its commerce, which at one time employed 360 vessels and 4,500 sailors, found lei- sure to cultivate literature and the sciences. Cceur de Lion, returning from Palestine, was entertained as a guest by the Senate, after his shipwreck on the neighboring island of Lacroma, where he built a church to commemorate his escape. The Republic also sheltered King Sigismund of Hungary, after his defeat by Sultan Bajazet, and three times afforded succor to George Castriot, or Scanderbeg, the last gallant chieftain of the Grecian Empire. Ragusa, in short, has stood unharmed, like a bit of moss in the forest, while every tree has been blasted or uprooted, and many a chance sunbeam of history has struck athwart its secluded life. Napoleon, the Destroyer and Builder, set his foot upon it and crushed it at last. The captain gave us two hours for a ramble on the shore, and we set out for Old Ragusa, which is between two and three miles distant. The present port is a landlocked basin, shut in by sweeping hills, which are feathered to their summits with olive groves, while the gardens below sparkle with their boskage of orange and lemon trees. The hills are dotted with country houses, many of them stately structures of the republican time, but all more or less dilapi- dated. Marks of the French and subsequent Russian mvasion are seen on all sides. Roofless houses, neglected gardens, and terraced fields lying fallow, gave a melancholy air of decay to the landscape. Climbing a long hill from the harbor, we crossed the comb of a promontory, and FUBIHER FKOM DALMATIA. Id saw the sea before us, while down in a hollow of the coast, on our left, swam in the blue morning vapors the spires and fortresses of Old Ragusa. Far above it, on the summit of the overlooking mountains, shone the white walls of anothei fort, the road to which ascended the steejj slope in fourteen zigzags. It was a warm picture, full of strong color, and sharp, decided outline. Clumps of aloe clung to the rocka below ; oranges hung heavy over the garden walls above, and in a sunny spot some young palms were growing. We only succeeded in reaching the outskirts of Old Ragusa, whence we overlooked the falling city, upon whose main street, paved with slippery marble, no horse is yet allowed to set his foot. I did not find the Ragusan costumes — at least those which I saw — quite so picturesque as those of the other Dalmatian ports. The race, however, is mainly the same. Indeed, it has been ascertained that of all the inhabitants of Dalmatia, fifteen out of sixteen are of Slavic blood. They are a medium-sized people, but tough, hardy, and of considerable muscular strength. Their mode of life is quite primitive. Every famUy has its patriarchal head, and the sons bring their wives home to the paternal hut, until the natural increase crowds them out of its narrow bounds. The mother takes her unweaned infant to the field with her, and lays it do^\'n on a soft stone to sleep. They still cultivate witches, and l)elieve in demons and magical spells. Among the Morlaks, the bridegroom, until very recently, was obliged to catch his bride in a public race, like Hypo- jtus, or the Tartar bachelors. Blood revenge, as among the Corsicans, exists in spite of the la'v, and the v>'anderint/ 18 TEAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. baid, singing the exploits of his heroic ancestors, goes from village to village, as in the days of Homer. Continuing our voyage southward along the coast, we. reached in the afternoon the Jiocca di Cattaro, the entrance to one of the wildest and most wonderful harbors ra the world. Austria has held on with the tenacity of a terrier to all the Venetian settlements along the Adriatic upor which she could lay hands. Look at the map, and you wili see how, from Zara to Budua, she has seized a strip of coast, between two and three hundred miles in length, while its breadth wavers between five and thirty miles. Bosnia, the Herzegowina, and Montenegro have now no communication with the sea, except through Austrian ports. In two places this strip is interrupted by narrow wedges of the Turkish territory, which come down to the sea — of course at points where no seaport can be created. Aus- tria has taken good care of that. We swept close imder a beetling cliflf of mellow-tinted rock, up which rose, bastion over bastion, the heavy white walls of a fortress. The mouth of the bay is someAvhat less than a mile in breadth, with an island, also fortified, lying athwart it. Wo entered a deep, land-locked sheet of water, shut in by mountains. In the south-east rose a lofty peak of the Montenegrin Alps, its siunniit glittering with snow. *' Wliere do you suppose Cattaro lies ?" asked the captain. •'Somewhere in this bay," I answered. "No," said he, •* it is just under yon snowy peak." " But how are we to get there ?" " Wait, and you will see !" was the answer. We touched at Castelnuovo, which was in the sixteenth FURTHER FROM DALMATIA. IT century the capital of the Herzegowina. It was taken by the Spaniards, the allies of Admiral Doria, who, after building the massive fortress which bears their name to this day, were in turn driven out by Khaireddin Barba- rossa, the Turkish Admiral. Passing the warm, amphi- theatric hills, rich with groves of olive, chestnut, and syca- more, we made for the southern end of the bay, v\^hich all at once opened laterally on the left, disclosing a new chan- nel, at the head of which lay the little town of Perasto. Mountains, grey, naked, and impassably steep, hung over it. As we approached, a church and monastery, which seemed to float upon the v/ater, rose to view. They were built upon rocks in the bay — quaint, curious structures, with bulging green domes upon their towers. After pass- mg Perasto, where the captain joyfully pointed out his house (a white handkerchief was waving from the window), the bay curved eastward and then southward, actually cleaving the mountain range to the very foot of the central peak of snows. On all sides the bare steeps arose almost precipitously from the water to the height of 3,000 feet. We were on a mountain lake ; the fiercest storms of the Adriatic could not disturb the serenity of these waters. They are barricaded against any wind that blows. At the extremity of the lake, imder the steepest cliffs, lay Cattaro, with its sharp angled walls of defence climbing the moun- tain to a height of nearly a thousand feet above it. The sun had long since set on the town, although the mountains burned with a tawny lustre all along the eastern shore. We steamed up and cast anchor in front of the sea-wall. Wo landed at once, in order to takf advantage of the 18 TliAVELS IN GKKECE AND RUSSIA. vanishiug dayliglit. A wild design for a moment came into my head — to take horses and a guard, ride np the mountain and over to Cettigne, the capital of Montenegro, and back again by sunrise — but unfortunately there Avas no moon, and I should have had the danger and the fatigue for nothing. Cattaro is a fortress, and the town, squeezed withm the narrow Umits of the walls, has the deepest and darkest streets. We discovered nothing of note in the course of our ramble. The place, I suspect, is much as it was when Venice defended and Khaireddin besieged it. We stood a moment in the public square to see the over- hanging mountains burning with vermillion and orange in the last splendor of sunset, and then threaded the town to the further gate, where a powerful spring of the purest beryl-colored mountain water gushes out fi-om under the walls. A native Cattarese, who spoke some Italian, hung on to our skirts, m order to get a little money as a guide. " Find me some natives of Montenegro !" I said to him. " Oh, they wear the same dress as the Dalmatians," said he, "but you can tell them by the cross on their caps." Soon after- ward we encountered an old man and his son, both of whom had a gilded Greek cross on the front of the red fez which they wore. " Here are two !" exclaimed the guide. He then stopped them, and without more ado, pulled off the old man's fez, showed us the cross, and opened the folds of the cap, where a second cross and a number of zwau- zigers were hidden. "Here they keep their money," he explained. The old fellow took the whole pi-oceeding very good-huraoredly, and was delighted when I said to hiiu FUKrHEK FKOM DALMATIA. 19 " Sbogo /" (the Blyi-ian for " good-bye !") at parting. Soon afterwards we met sovae pandours or irregular soldiers, of the Vladika of Montenegro. They wore a spread-eagle on their caps, in addition to the cross. Our guide stopped them, and informed them (as I guessed) that we wanted to look at them. A proud straightening of the body, a haughty toss of the head, and a glance of mingled dignity and defiance was the only answer, as they held their way. I was delighted with this natural exhibition of their self esteem, though it had been called forth in so offensive a way. I heard very contradictory accounts respecting the pre- sent Vladika (Prince) of Montenegro. Our captain spoke of him as a highly-accomplished man, with a marked taste for literature, and rather sneered at his wife, the daughter of a Trieste merchant, who pinched himself to give her a dowry of a million of zwanzigers (about $168,000) and thereby secure the hand of Prince Danilo. On the other hand, an English officer who visited Cettigne, informed me that the Vladika is a rough, boorish, and stupid fellow, and that his Avife is handsome, accomplished, and fascinating. 1 should judge the latter report to be the correct one, as we are beginning to hear the most arbitrary and brutal acts charged against the Vladika. His j^redecessor v, as a Bishop, which did not prevent him from being a capital shot and a good horseman. It is easy to see that this little robber State will not be very long-lived, and that it will finally fall into the claws of Austria. But she will neither get it nor hold it without fighting. We lay all night at Cattaro. So completely is the place 20 THAVELS IN QUEECE AND KUSSIA. inclosed that tlic climate is (liflTereiit from that of Castel nuovo. The night was very cold, and as we steamed off in the morning we found the bay covered with a light sheet of ice from sliore to shore. Outside, the air was mild and delightful. A short distance beyond the Bocca diCattaro, we passed Budua, another Venetian colony, and the l;isl Austrian port. Early in the atlernoon we reached Antivari, iti Albania, the seaport of the large city of Scutari, which is nearly a day's journey in the interior. The coast grow wilder and bolder ; huge, tawny mountains soared from the sea to the clouds wliich rested on their snow-streaked sum- mits, and the signs of habitation became loss and less frequent. The next morning wo were at Durazzo, a singu- larly j)ictures4ue town on a hillside defended by massive Venetian walls, above which shoots the slender shaft of a minaret. Tlience we ran along under the Acroceraunian mountains, whose topmost j)eak. Mount Tschika, a shining wedge of snow, serves as a landmark for all this part of the Albanian coast. At Avlona, wo saw the huge fortress built by All Pasha, the Turkish city in the rear, with its ten minarets, and the old Greek town and acropolis crown- ing tho mountain ridge above. Acroceraunia is a wiM and gloomily grand region, full of glorious subjects for the kind- scape painter. Our deck now began to be covered with picturesque forms — Turkish soldiers, Albanians, with white kirtles and whole arsenals in their belts, Greek and Moslem merchants. Among them I noticed a Bosnian, whose white turban and green jacket denoted particular holiness. Accosting him in Arabic, which he spoke imoerfectly, I foimd he was a FURTHER FROM DALMATIA. 21 hadji, ha\'ing made the grand pilgrimage to all the lioly places. We quite agreed upon the subject of Damascus, the mere mention of which brought the water into his mouth. He prayed with praiseworthy regularity, at the stated times, generally finding the direction of Mecca within four points. One evening, however, while we were at anchor, the ship drifted around with the tide, and the hadji, not noticing this, commenced praying with his face towards Rome. I at once ]>erceivod this scandalous mistake and interrupted the devotions of the holy man, to set him right. " In the name of God !" he exclaimed ; " but yoc we right. This comes of trusting the Frank vessel*.'' CHAPTER III. B-IBST DAYS IN OREEC8 Our steamer lay four days at Corfu, during which time we took up our quarters in a hotel on shore. The days M'ere warm and sunny, and we had no need of fire except in the evenings. Corfu is one of the pleasantest of the Mediterranean islands. Particularly agreeable to me waa the English order, cleanliness, and security which prevail here, as everywhere else under the shadow of the British flag. Many of the lonians arc dissatisfied with the English protectorate, and would willingly be incorporated into the Hellenic Kingdom. I venture to say that, if this were done, five years would not elapse before the islands would be as insecure, the internal improvements as much neglected, and the Government as corrupt, as that of Greece itself There are two things without which the English cannot exist— civil order and good roads ; and they are just the things which Greece most wants. During a short excursion into the interior of the island, I was struck by the indolence and lack of enterprise of the FniST DAVS IX GllEECE. 23 inhabitants. We drove for miles through groves of splen- did olive-trees, many of thera upwards of five hundred years old, and bending under their weight of ungathered finiit. Thousands of barrels of oil were slowly wasting, for want of a little industry. I was told, to be sure, that the Alba- nians had been sent for to assist in gathering in the crop, and would come over as soon as their own work was com pletcd ; the Corfiotes appeared to be in the meantime resting on their oars. The currant crop had been much damaged by violent rains, and the peoi)le, therefore, com- plained of hard times; but there always will be hard times where thrift and forethought are so scarce. Col. Talbot, the Resident lor Cephalonia, informed me that the natives of that islaiul, on the contrary, are very industrious and economical. We left Corfu at midnight, and by sunrise the next morning reached Prevesa, situated just inside the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, and opposite to the low point on which stood Actium. Through the narrow strait by which we hail entered, lied Cleopatra in her gilded galley, fol- lowed, ere long, by the ruined Antony. The ruins of Nicopolis (the City of Victory), which Caisar built to com- memorate the battle, are scattered over the isthmus between the sea and the gulf, about three miles north of Prevesa. Here we took on board His Excellency Abd-or- Rakhman Bey, military Governor of Candia, and his suite, consisting of an ugly adjutant, a stupid secretary, and two wicked looking pipe-bearers. The latter encamped on the quarter-deck, but the Bey took a first-cabin passage. As he spoke no language but Turkish, our communication v a.i 24 TOAYELS IN QREECE AND BUSSIA. rather limited, althoufjh he evinced a stroiifj desire to b« social with us. His supply of oranges was distributed without stint, and one day at dinner he surprised the lady- passenger by sending for a hard-boiled egg, which he care- fully shelled, stuck ui)on the end of his knife, and handed across the table to her, lie was particularly careful not to touch pork, but could not withstand the seductions of wine, which he drank in great quantities. In proportion as he drank, he breathed asthmatically, and became confidential. At such times, he would complain of the enormous expense of his household, occasioned by his having three wives. One he had married because he loved her, another because she wanted to marry him, and the third he had bought at Trebizond for twenty thousand piastres. He was obliged to keep thirty servants, ten for each wife, and the three dames, he gave us to understand, were not particularly harmonious in their mutual relations. Thereupon the Bey sighed, and, I have no doubt, wished he was a Frank. We touched at Santa Maura, the capital of Leucadia. A single palm-tree and some chimneys rose above the heavy Venetian walls of the town, which frown defiance at the old Turkish fortress across the strait. The island appears to be well cultivated ; we sailed for several hours under its western shore, which falls in steep masses of pale red rock to the sea. Sappho's Leap, of course, was the great point of interest. It is a precipice about two hundred feet in height, near the southein extremity of the island, and, 1 should judge, well adapted for the old lady's purpose. I must confess that, in spite of Sappho's genius — and I believe hei to be the only genuine female poet for two thousand FDiST DAYS IN GRKECB. 25 years before and after her time — her theatrical death doei not move me now. It once did. At the age of seventeen, I wrote a poem, wildly thrilling and full of gushing pathos, on " The Death of Sappho." Of course, I represented her as a young and beautiful girl. But it makes a difference, when you know that she was old enough^ to be Phaon's ni other, and that, although Alcaeus sings of her as the " violet-haired and sweetly-smiling Sappho," the probabilitj' is that she was sallow, scraggy, and ill-favored, as are all Grecian women at the age of fifty. The fact is, the mist of antiquity enlarges, glorifies, and transfigures everything. As it was in the days of Solon and PisistratuSj so it is now. The Heroic Age is far behind us ; the race of demigods has disappeared from the earth. Perhaps it is as well that the Past is so doubtful, that we look upon its figures as on the procession of a marble frieze, not applying to them the littleness of our own everyday life. "We should else lose somewhat of our veneration foi them, and thereby, for what is noble in our own time. Plato in patent-leather boots — and yet, no doubt, Plato conformed to the petty fashions of his time — would not be for us the honey -hpped sage of the Academy. Every man of those old Greeks had his faults, his jealousies, his sins — flot less than our own, but rather more. The historic interest attaching to a place, is one thing; the emotion which it inspires in the traveller's mind, is another. When tlie latter does not come unsought, it is a pitiful hypocrisy to counterfeit it, and I therefore promise the reader, that, as 1 do not consider the ancient Greeks a Avhit better than the Anglo-Saxons, although in specialities they obtained a 26 TEAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. higher development, I shall concern myself with them as little as possible. Ceph.alonia now rose before us, with the steep, blue hilla of Ithaca on the left, and at sunset we were at anchor in f,he spacious Gulf of Argostoli. The town is built along one side of a circular bay, and makes a very pretty appear ance from the water. Here we landed Col. Talbot, the Resident of the island, a very agreeable and intelligent gentleman, who aj)poars to be quite popular among the natives. During the night we touched at Zaute, and by sunrise lay at anchor off Missolonghi, renowned through the names of Bozzaris and Byron. The bay is so shallov; that large vessels cannot approach nearer than four or five miles, owing to which cause we Avere unable to go ashore. The town is built on level, marshy ground, at the foot of the Acarnanian Mountains, yet, in spite of its situation, it is said to be quite healthy. Among our passengers was a native of Missolonghi, a gigantic Greek, by the name of " George,'' the avant-courier of a Russian nobleman. He remembered Byron in his Greek costume, very well. His father was killed during the siege, himself, mother, and sisters taken by the Egyptians and sent as slaves to Cairo, whence they only escaped after seven years' servitude. After serving as coui-ier for many yeai's, he had come back to Missolonghi to settle, and had laid out his earnings in a currant plantation ; which speculation, on account of the vine-sickness and heavy rains, turned out so badly that he was obliged to go back to his old business. He looked like an honest fellow, and in spite of his extreme obsequious- ness and constant use of '''' gnddiger herr^'' (which came FIRST DAYS I>r GREECE. J< from having lived in Yienna), I agreed to employ him until we should get settled in Athens. On the southern or Achaian shore of the Gulf of Corinth, sixteen miles distant, is Patras, one of the most flourish^ ing ports in Greece. The mediaeval town, as well as the broad, rich plain behind it, were completely laid waste by the troops of Porahim Pasha, and only the fortress, wliich crowns a steep height, and from which the Greeks never were able to dislodge the Turkish garrison, even when all the rest of the Morea was in their o^\'n hands, has been spared. From its walls, on the warm, cloudless afternoon of our visit, we overlooked the beautiful Achaian plain, whose olive orchards, barely old enough to give a faint, silvery gleam to the landscape, showed how complete the desolation had been. At our feet lay the white, bustling, new town, a very hive of industry ; then the dark, dazzling purple of the Gulf, beyond which the stupendous headlands of Kakiscala and Arassova rose like colossal pyramids. At Patras, I set foot, for the first time, on the mainland of Greece, and nowhere could a stranger receive a more favorable impression of Modern Hellas. The streets are broad, regular, and kept in very good order, the houses comfortable and substantial, the bazaars crowded, and the shops of the mechanics, open to the street, present a suc- cession of busy pictures. Few idlers were to be seen ; even the shoemaker was putting out a row of soles to dry, in the principal street, and some ropemakers were reel- ing in another. Meeting the Bey, who was walking about in state, followed at a respectful distance by his attend- ants, we invited him to accompany us to a garden outside 28 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSLA.. the town, Avhither George proposed conducting us The unusual procession attracted a number of spectators, and we were followed by a large crowd of boys to the outskirts of Patras. The garden was of considerable extent, and filled with superb orange and lemon trees, boughs of which were broken and laid before us. The attendants brought a table, the Bey lit his pipe, and three of the delights of the Orient — shade, smoke, and verdure — were at once sup« plied. In an arbor near us were a party of Greeks, the gentlemen in crimson jackets and leggings and snowy fus- tanellas, and the ladies in the coquettish little fez, with its golden tassel, which gives such a charm to black eyes and black hair. The next morning we passed between the fortresses of Morea and Roumelia, touched at Lepanto (the ancient Naupactus), and foimd ourselves fairly within that long, land-locked gulf, whose shores are mountains of immortal name. The day was of a crystalline clearness, and the long, rhythmical undulations, the grouped or scattered peaks of those interlinking mountain-chains, which seem to have arisen, hke the walls of Thebes, to the sound of music, were as clearly and delicately cut upon the blue plane of the air as the figures of a fi-ieze of Phidias. As we stood across towards Vostitza, the snowy hump of Parnassus rose above his tawny, barren buttresses, crowning the Dorian hills. Further eastward, the faintly-streaked summit oi Helicon, whose base thrust a bold headland into the gulf; Btill further, floating in the dimmest distance, Cithjeron, and on the southern shore, before us, the wild, dark masses of the Erymanthian hills, sloping away towards the white FIRST DATS IN GREECE, 2S fone of Cyllene, Avhose forests sheltered the young Jupiter, Apart from the magic of these names, the Corinthian Gull is a noble piece of water, deep, sheltered, and with few impediments to navigation. But how deserted ! During the day we spent in traversing its whole length, crossing twice from shore to shore, we did not see three vessels. At Galaxidi, near the foot of Parnassus, however, ship- building is carried on to some extent, the wood being brought down from the Dorian forests. The Greek vessels are all very small, and the largest of those on the stocks at Galaxidi would not exceed two hundred tons. By sunset, we were anchored at Lutraki, on the Isthmus of Corinth, at the foot of a spur of the Geranean Hills. Corinth and its grand acropolis lay to the south, eight or ten miles distant, guardhig the entrance into the Pelopon- nesus; the Nemean Hills, the boundary of Argos, rose duskily in the rear. A chilly tramontana^ or northwind, was blowing, and the barren, rocky, desolate shore sug- gested Norway rather than Greece. Notwithstanding Lutraki is the port of transit for the western side of the Isthmus, which is here only four or five miles in breadth, the place consists of just three houses. A warm mineral dpring, with decided healing properties, gushes out of the earth,^ on the shore of the Gulf, but nobody can make use of it, because there is no house erected, and no possibility of getting a bed or a meal in the whole town. That eve^ ning, at dinner, the Greeks told us how the road across the isthmus is guarded with troops, because only two years previous sixty thousand drachmas (110,000) belonging to the Government were taken by robbers. Also, that the 30 TRAVELS IN GEEECE AKD RUSSIA. same gentlemen had quite recently entered Corinth, plun dered the house of a merchant and carried off his little son whom they retained in the mountains until the father raised an immense ransom. I began to find my respect for Modern Greece rapidly diminishing. The next morning we were transported across the isth- mus in shabby, second-hand carriages. The country is a wilderness, overgrown Avith mastic, sage, wild olive, and the pale green Isthmian jDine. Companies of soldiers, in grey Bavarian uniforms, guarded the road. The highest part of the isthmus is not more than a hundred feet above the sea, and it is estimated that a ship canal could be cut through for about two millions of dollars. Kalamaki, on the eastern side, is a miserable httle village, with this advantage over Lutraki, that it possesses a khan. The steamer from Pirseus, which was to take us thither, had not arrived, and towards noon the pangs of hunger com- pelled us to visit this khan. We found the Greek passen- gers already assembled there, and regaling themselves on the various dehcacies displayed at the door. There were fish of various kinds, swimming in basins of rancid oil, but they had been cooked two or three days previous, and were not to be eaten. We had more success with the broad, but the whie resembled a mixture of vinegar and tar, and griped the stomach with sharp claws. The appearance of the cheese, which was packed into the skin of a black hog, who lay on his back with his snout and four feet in the air, and a deep gash in his belly, in order to reach the doubtful composition, was quite sufiicient. We at last procured x few eggs and some raw onions, both of FIRST DAYS IN GREECE. 3 J which are protected by nature from the contact of lilthy hands, and therefore cannot be so easily spoiled. I went into some of the rooms of the khan, which offered simply bare walls, a dirty floor, and no window, for the accommodation of travellers. An Albanian Greek and his wife, who took their breakfast in one of these rooms, were obliged to pay half a dollar for the use thereof. The Alba- nian had been for some years settled in Athens, where he was doing business as a small shopkeeper. At length, he felt the need of a wife, and, true to the clannish spirit of the Greeks, went off to his native Janina to procure one. There were plenty of better educated and handsomer women in Athens, but he preferred the stout mass of health, stupidity, and pitiable ignorance which he was taking home, because she belonged to his o^vn tri?je. I do not suppose she ever before wore a Christian dress, or ate otherwise than with her fingers, and he was obliged to look after and assist her, as if she had been a three-years- old child. In the morning, he superintended her toilette, helping her to wash and dress herself; at table, he placed the food upon her plate and showed her how to eat it; and he never dared to leave her for a moment through the day, lest she should make some absurd mistake. I admired hia imremitting care and patience, no less than her perfect reliance on his instructions. In fact, it was quite touching at times to see her questioning, half-frightened look say to him: " Wliat must I do now?" If he sought a healthy mother for his children, he certainly found one, but I sus- pect that is about the only advantage he will derive from his union with her 32 TEAVELS IN GKEECE AND RUSSIA It was noon before we embarked, and a violent north wind retarded our slow old steamer. We ran across th« Saronic Gulf, between the islands of Salamis and Egina, catching a glimpse of Megara on the right, while the Aero- poUs of Corinth sank and grew dim behind us. But every body knows the letter of Sulpicius to Cicero, rhymed by Byron, and I shall not quote it again. On Egina I saw, ii the last rays of the setting sun, the temple of Jupiter Pan hellenius. Turning to one of the Greeks on board (an ex- member of the Legislature of the Ionian Islands), I pointed it out to him. " Ah," said he, " I did not know there was a temple there !" — and yet, thence came the Eginetan mar- bles. As we turned the corner of Salamis, the Acropolis of Athens detached itself fi-om the shadows wrapping the base of Hymettus, and shone with a beckoning gleam. In half an hour more, it was dai-k. The wind blew fiercely, the moon shone cold, and Ave moved slowly into the harbor of the Piraeus. The competition of the boatmen Avas something frightful. George, however, shielded us, and in the course of time we landed Avith our baggage. Lumbering carriages were m waiting to take us to Athens. Nobody called for pass- ports, and a huge official, Asdth baggy island trowsers and a smiling, rotund face, turned his back when our trunks were brought ashore, in consideration of the moderate fee of sixteen cents. Now Ave set off for Athens, shivering in the sharp wind, and looking out on either hand on bare, bleak fields, lighted by the full moon. After an hour, some olive-trees appeared, and we crossed the Cephissus ; then bare fields again, FIRST DATS IN GREECE. 33 bleaker and colder than ever. At last the ground became more mi even, broke into detached hills on our right, orer which towered the Acropolis — there was no mistaking thai — ^and we recognised without difficulty, the HiU of the Nymphs, the Areopagus^ and the Miiseion. Now com- menced the town itself — ^low, shabby houses, streets liglited only by the moon. Here, thought I, is a terrible disen- chantment. Can anything be more forlorn and desolate ? The chiU, grey hue of all things, tbe bareness and bleak- ness of our approach, the appearance of the modem town, tbe cold, piercing air, made, all together, the most disheart- ening impression upon me. But when we got into Hermes street, and thence to our hotel (de I'' Orient), things looked much more cheerful and promising. Once inside that edifice, we forgot our disap- pointment — forgot Athens, indeed — for a Christmas dinner awaited us, and there were other places and other people to be remembered. CHAPTER 17. ON THE ACROPOLIS. OiTB first Athenian day was bright and fair, and wiiat w€ saw during a walk to the temple of Jupiter Olympus was entirely sufficient to remove the chill impression of the pre-- vious night. There are few towns of its size in the world as lively as Athens. We saw almost the worst of it on entering from the Pirseus. All the northern portion, which is newer, is very substantially biiilt, and has a comfortable air of growth and improvement. As half the population may be said to live out of doors, the principal streets are always thronged, and the gorgeous raiment of the dandy palikars brightens and adorns them amazingly. It is not the Orient, by a great deal ; yet it is far removed from the soberness of Europe. Indeed, the people speak of Europe as a continent outside of Greece. Neither is Athens parti- cularly Greek, with its French fashions and German archi- tecture. It is simply gay, bizarre, fantastic — a salad in which many heterogeneous substances combine to form a palatable whole. i i ox THE ACROPOLIS. 3i I found one old fiiend — Fran9ois, the false Janissary, the intrepid guide, the armed confronter of robbers, aud the enthusiastic spouter of Homer, whose mingled wit, activity, mtelligence, and ferocity, have been described at length by the Countess de Gaspariu, the Rev. Dr. Strauss, and your humble servant. The day after our arrival, his Albanian nose and formidable moustache entered ray room, followed by himself and his voice of surprise and welcome. As a natural consequence, he was booked as the future compa- nion of our Hellenic journeys, aud we took up our quarters in liis house. Through him, I at once procured from Pitta- kys, the Conservator of Antiquities, a ticket of admission to the Acropolis, and we devoted the next day to our first visit. Fortunately— as so much of one's satisfaction depends on the luck of his first impression — the day was a gift from heaven ; not a wind blowing, not a cloud floating, and so warm that we threw open all our window^s. Hyraettus, Corydallus, and Parues melted mto vapory purple in the distance, but the nearer hills shone clear against the bluest of Grecian skies. Frangois came at noon to accompany us. All Athens was in the streets, and the crunsou jackets and clean white fustanellas of the palikars sparkled far aud near through the dismal throng of Frank dresses. We passed down Hermes street to the outskirts of the city, in order first to visit the Temple of Theseus. This edifice, the best- preserved of all ancient temples, stands on a mound at the foot of the Areopagus, on its western side, overlooking part of the modern city. Its outer colonnade of Doric pillars, tinted with a rich golden stain, is entire ; the cella is for . the most part so, aud Uttle but the roof is wanting. It is 36 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. Binall, but veiy beautiful, and with such a background !— the olive groves of the Academy, Colonos and Parnes. Our way Avas through the dejDression between the Areo- pagus and the Pnyx, but Fran9ois took us aside to show ns the smooth, rocky slant on the Nympheon, down which the sterile dames of Athens were wont to shde, in order to remove their reproach. The pregnant women also per- formed the same cei'emony, it is said, in order to ascertain the sex of the unborn child, through the inclination of the body to the right or left. It is an exposed steep plane of native rock, with a rough seat at the top, polished very thoroughly by the action of so much expectant maternity. F. seated himself and slid down, in order to show us how the act was performed, affirming that the belief still exists, and that many of the Athenian women of the present day continue the practice. At last we had climbed the bare surface of the hill, and stood before the ancient entrance of the Acropolis — a slop ing pylon, now closed by a wooden grating. An arched way through a Venetian wall on the right admitted us to a sort oi' ruinous terrace, overlooking the theatre of Herodes Atticus, which has recently been excavated down to the floor of the arena, and now shows its semickcular tiers of seats up to the topmost gallery. Here we stood directly under the south-western corner of the wall of the Acropolis, over the shoulder of which, hke an ivory wedge in a field of lapis-lazuli, gleamed a corner of the pediment of the Par- theiv m. Who could stand looking down into a theatre ol the time of Hadrian, when the Periclesian temple of Pallas Athene beckoned to hiri from the sky ? ON THE ACROPOrJS. 37 We turned back, climbed a little further, entered a gate- way, exhibited our ticket (a month's permission to visit the AcropoHs), and then passed through another wall to the broad marble staircase leading directly up to the Pro- pylaea of the Acropolis. This staircase has been cleared of the rubbish of sixteen centuries, the dislodged stones have been partially replaced, and the work of restoration is gra- dually and carefully progressing, so that in the course of time the ancient entrance will be almost reconstructed. On the right hand, the steps for pedestrians remain in their original position, and in the centre are fragments of the inclined plane, roughened by parallel grooves, for the feet of horses and the wheels of chariots. Above us, tenderly enshrined in the blue air, rose the beautiful Doric pillars of the Propylaja, bereft of capital and architrave, but scarcely needing such a crown to perfect their exquisite symmetry. " You are now going up the same steps where Pericles walked," said Fran9ois. Not only Pericles, but the curled Alcibiades, the serene Plato, the unshaken Socrates, the di/ine Phidias, Sophocles and ^schylus, Herodotus and Themistocles, and — but why mention names, when the full sunshine of that immortal era streams upon our pathway ? And what is it to me that they have walked where I now walk ? Let me not be wheedled out of my comfortable indifference by the rhythmic ringing of such names. The traveller comes here expecting to be impressed by the asso- ciations of the spot, and by a strong effort he succeeds in impressing himself. Repeat the same names for him else- where, and he will produce the same effect. But for mo, I am hardened against conventional sentiment ; I have 38 TEAVBLS IN GREKCE AjSTD liUSSlA. seen too much to be easily moved; I can resist the magic of ancient memories, no matter how classic. What is it to me that Pericles walked up these steps — that the gilded robes of Aspasia swept these Pentelican slabs — that Phidias saw the limbs of a god in the air, or Sophocles chanted a chorus as he walked ? They were men, and I am a man, too — probably in many respects as good as they. Had I lived in their time, I should no doubt have looked upon them without the least awe — have slapi^ed them on the back, and invited them to dinner. Now why should their ghosts shake me with weak emotion, and rob me of my cool judgment ? No. I shall be indiiferent. So meditating, I walked up the steps. When we rea/^.hed the first range of pillars stretched across the stairway, and came upon tlie level of the abutments which project on either hand, we stopped. On the end of the right terrace stands the little temple of JVike Apteros, or Wingless Vic- tory, which has been recovered, piece by piece, and re- erected in its original form. Opposite to it is a massive square pedestal, twenty feet high, on which once stood, according to antiquarian surmise, equestrian statues of the sons of Xenophon. The little temple is a jewel of a structure not half so large as that of Vesta at Rome, and consists only of a cella with four Ionic columns at each end. Neverthe- less, it lightens wonderfully the heavy masses of masonry against wliich it stands, and though neither in the lines of its erection, nor in any other important respect, hurmonizmg with the colonnades of the Propylaja, I defy any one to show wherein it does not harmonize with the general impression produced by this majestic front. I restrained ON THS ACROPOLIS. 39 my impatience awhile, to view it, and was well repaid by the siglit of tlie bas-relief of Victory untying her sandals, the conjectured work of Phidias. The pillared portal, one colonnade rising above another, as the rock ascends, now received us. Capitals and archi- traves are gone, except those of the last rank, and huge blocks of the superb marble lie heaped in the passages between the columns. Beautiful as these are, lightly as their tapering stems rise against the blue vault, the impres- sion created by the Propylsea is cheerful and elevating. And when you turn, looking down through the fluted vista, over the Areopagus, over the long plain of the Cephissus, sliunmeriiig silverly with the olive groves of the Academy, to the pass of Daphne and the blue hills of Salamis, you feel no longer the desolation of ruin, but inhale, with quiet enjoy- ment, the perfect harmony of the picture. The Proi)yl£ea still form a portal which divides two worlds. You leave modern and mediaeval associations behmd you, and are alone with the Past. Over the ram- parts of the Acropohs, you see no more of the mountaiua or the distant JSgean islands than the oldest Greek — large outlines, simple tints, and no object distinct enough to tell whether it be modern or ancient. The last of the portals is passed : you are on the summit alone with the Parthenon. You need no pointing finger: your eye turns, instinctively, to where it stands. Over heaps of ruin, over a plain buried under huge fragments i)f hewn and sculptured marble — drums of pillars, pedestals, capitals, cornices, friezes, tri- glyphs, and sunken panel-work — a wilderness of mutilated Art- -it rises betv/een you and the sky, which forms its onlj 40 TKAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. backgi ound, and against which every scar left by the infidel generations shows its gash. Broken down to the earth iu the middle, like a ship "which has struck and parted, with the roof, cornices, and friezes mostly gone, and not a column unmutilated ; and yet M'ith the taAvny gold of two thousand years staining its once spotless marble, sparkling with snow- white marks of shot and shell, and with its soaring pillara imbedded in the dark-blue ether (and here the sky seems blue only because they need such a background), you doubt for a moment whether the melancholy of its ruin, or the perfect and majestic loveliness which shines through that ruin, is most powerful. I did not stop to solve this doubt. Once having looked upon the Parthenon, it was impossible to look elsewhere, and I drew nearer and nearer, finding a narrow lane through the chaos of fragments piled ahnost as high as my head, until I stood below the western front. I looked up at the Doric shafts, colossal as befitted the shrine of a goddess, yet tender and graceful as flower-stems, upholding without effort the massive entablature and the shattered pediment, in one corner of which two torsos alone remain of all the children of Phidias, and — to my confusion I must confess it — all my fine resolves were forgotten. I was seized with an overpowering mixture of that purest and loftiest adrai- ration which is almost the same thing as love, and of unmi- tigated grief and indignation. Well — consider me a fool if you like — but, had I been alone, I should have cast myself prone upon the marble pavement, and exhausted, in some hysterical way, the violence of this unexpected passion. As it was, I remained grimly silent, not venturing ON THE ACROPOLIS. 41 to speak, except when Fran9ois, pointmg to the desj oiled pediment, said : " All the other statues were carried away by Lord Elgin." The strong Anglo-Saxon expression I then made use of, in connexion with Lord Elgin's name, was not profane, under such provocation, and was imme- diately pardoned by the woman at my side. "We ascended the steps to the floor of the temple, walked over its barren jjavement past the spot where stood the Btatue of ivory and gold, past the traces of hideous J3yzaiv tine frescoes, to the centre, where the walls and colojinades on either hand are levelled to the very floor, and sat down in the marble chairs of the ancient priests, to contemplate the Avreck in silence. Oh, unutterable sorrow ! — for all the ages to come can never restore the glory which has here been destroyed. Ye may smile, ye yet unshaken columns, secure in your immortality of beaxity, but ye cannot take away the weight of that reproach uttered by your fallen brethren. Man built them, man ruiued them, but he can no more recreate them than he can rebeget ihe child which he has lost. In their perfect symmetry was solved the enigma of that harmony which is the very being of God and the operation of His laws. These blocks of sunny marble were piled upon each other to the chorus of the same song which the seasons sing in their ordered round, and the planets in their balanced orbits. The cheerful gods are dethroned ; the rhythmic pulsations of the jubilant reli- gion which inspii-ed this immortal work have died away, and Earth will never see another Parthenon. The air was perfectly still, the sky calm as Summer over- head, and, as we sat in the marble chairs, we looked out 42 TKAVELS IX GREECE Ain> RUSSIA. ovc- the ruins and the parapet of the Acroi olis, to the purple hills of Pentelieus and Parnos in the north and west, and to the ^gean Sea, flashing in the sunshine like a pave- ment of silver between the shores of Attica and -^gina Poros .md Hydra, in the distance. The glorious landscape, bathed in all beautiful tints, and lilling the horizon Avith swelling curves and long, vanishing outlines, Avore that soothed and tranquil air whicb a day of Summer, falling suddenly in the lap of Winter, always brings with it. But there was no solace for me in the sunny repose of the Gre- cian world below. I sat in a temple dedicated to Eternal Sorrow — " So beautiful, if Sorrow had uot made Sorrow more beautiful than Beauty's self" — and u grief, in which there was no particle of selfishness, overcame me. Is it egotism to mention these things ? Or can I tell you Avhat the Parthenon still is, better than by confessing how it impressed me? If you want feet and yards, cubic measure, history and architectural technicahties, you shall have them — but not to-day. Let me indulge my sacred fury ! After awhile, Braisted desperately lit a cigar, saying : " 1 must have something between my teeth, or I shall grind them to pieces. I would destroy all the later architec- ture of Europe, except the Duomo at Milan, to restore this." So, almost, would I. For this is the true temple of Divinity. Its perfect beauty is the expression of love and joy, such as never yet dwelt in the gromed arches of Gothic aisles, or the painted domes of Roman worship ON TUR ACUOrOI.IS. But Raskin says that Grecian architecture is at.heistic,'' whispers a neophyte of the fashionable school. Then tel Raskin, wlio is so sagacious in some things, so capricious ir others, that, in endeavormg to be terse and origmal, he has simply been absurd. I will not say a word against the solemnities of Gothic Art, which he declares to be the only religious form of architecture; but I ask, is there no joy, no cheerfulness, no comfort, no hopeful inspiration, in our religion ? If there is, God has no better temple on earth than the Parthenon. Atheistic? Prove it, and you glorify Atheism. You may take models of tlie Parthenon, at home, you may take drawings and photographs, and build up any super-tran- soendental theory out of such materials. Then come here, stand in the midst of its ruin, listen to the august voice which yet speaks from these sunburnt marbles, and unless you be one of those narrow souls who would botanize upon his mother's grave, you will fall down upon your knees and repent of your sins. I thought all these thoughts, and a thousand more, while sitting in the marble chair, fronting the vacant pavement of the sanctuary of Pallas Athene. I did not care for the dethroned Pallas, nor her dead worshippers ; I thought not of myself nor my race, of Greeks or Americans, of 400 b.c. or 1857 A.D. I was possessed with the spirit of the glo- rious temple around and above me. And the reflection came, mvoluntarily : Are not the triumphs of human art the sublimest praises of Him who created the human mind ? What conceptions of a Deity guided tl e hand which daubed yonder barbarous frescoes, and that which raised these 44 TRAVKLS IN GKEECE AND RUSSIA. perfect pillars? What ancient or modern Saint dares to sneer at Heathen Greece, wliere Socrates spake, and Pliidias chiselled, and Ictinus built, glorifying God through the glory of ]\[an for all time to come ? "VVe Avalked slowly away, and looked down from the northern rampart upon modern Athens, the whole of which lay spread out beneath our feet. It was a depressing — I had almost said disgusting — sight. A company of dirty Greeks were gambling in the street at the foot of the Acro- polis ; the bells were ringing in the churches, and some bearded priests, with candles in their hands, were chanting nasally and dismally, in slow procession; still further, shabby fiacres moving to and fro, slovenly soldiers in German uni- forms, country people with laden asses, and beggars by the wayside. The King's Palace shone bald and broad at the foot of Mount Lycabettiis, and the new portion of the city, with its square German houses, stretched scatteringly away over the brown swells, until the eye passed it to rest, relieved, on the olive orchards of Colonos and the fair blue gorges of j\Iomit Parnes. We went through and around the Erechthcion, and then slowly picked our way through the wilderness of ruin to the Propylaea agaui. But, as I descended the steps of the Acropolis, I remembered Mho had walked there — not Peri- cles, nor Plato, nor -^achylus, nor Demosthenes — but Ictinos, the builder, and Pbidias, the sculptor of the Par thenon. CHAPTER V. WINTER LIFE IN ATHENS. OuB first week in Athens ^^as spent at the Hotel d'Orient, whose large, dreary, uncomfortable apartments we were glad to leave. The nominal cost of living at this establish- ment is ten francs a day, for which, however, one only receives a bed and two meals, the latter neither choice nor plentiful. Everything else is an extra charge, at the high- est possible rates. Our little fire was kept alive with bits of ancient olive-tree roots, at the rate of a franc and a half the basketful. The landlord and servants endeavored to make up for their awkwardness and neglect by a cringing obsec^iiousness, which only rendered them more disagree- able. The other Athenian hotels, I understand, are con- ducted on the same principle. Like all other establish- ments of the kuid in the Orient, they are probably good enough in Summer, when fresh air is the traveller's greatest luxury. At the end of eight days we migrated to the pandocheion of Fran9ois, in a pleasant situation near the University 40 TUAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. Hero we found less pretentious and more comfortable apar^ inentB, and equally good meals, at a reasonable price. The doors and windows wore shaky and admitted the wind, it is true, but our sitting-room fronted the south (w ilh a view of the Acropolis and the rice, might become exhausted. Via bi;rned the olive aud the vino, the cypress and the pine, twigs of rose-trees and dead oabbage-stjUks, for aught I know, to feed our one little sheet-iron stove. For full two months we were obliged to keep up our fire from morning until night. Know ye the land of the cypres? and myrtle, where the llowers over blossom, the beams ever shine? Here it is, wiih almost snow enough in the streets for a sleighing party, with the Uissus frozen, and with a tolerable idea of Laj)land, when you face the gusts which drive across the C-cphissian plain. As the other guests were Greek, our mode of living was similar to that of most Greek families. We had coffee in the morning, a substantial breakfast about noon, and din- ner at six in the evening. The dishes were constructed after French and Italian models, but the meat is mostly goat's flesh. Beef, when it appears, is a phenomenon of toughness. Vegetables are rather scarce. Cow's milk, and butter or cheese therefrom, are substances miknown in Greece. The milk is from goats or sheep, and the buttei generally from the latter. It is a wliite, cheesy material, with a slight flavor of tallow. Tlie wine, when you get It cmmixcd with resin, is very palatable. "We drank that of WINTER LIFE IN ATHENS. 47 Santorin, with the addition of a little water, and fonnd it an excellent beverage. There are also three Gennau brew- eries in Athens, which produce Bavarian beer. Last and not least, the water, especially that of the fountain of Callirhoe, is delicious. The other inmates of our house consisted of a Servian Greek, with his family, from Thessalonica, and three Greek ladies from Constantinople. They were all wealthy j)crson.s and probably good specimens of the Greeks of their class Two of the ladies received their education in ^Irs. IlilFs school, and spoke French pa8s:ibly well. The Servian was an amiable fellow, devoted to his wife, whom he had brought to Athens for her health, but who lay for weeks at the j)oint of death. She had her bedroom scrubbed soon ailer our arrival, and slept in it innnediately afterward. Besides spending the coUlest of the winter nights in prayer in a church, her husbauil brought a couple of priests every day to help her by the chanting of nasal liturgies. Onco they came in the middle of the night to administer the sacrament to her. As the poor woman survived her spiritual treatment, the material remedies administered to her must have been of remarkable efficacy. Although lier complaint was simply an inflammation of the lungs, the three Fanariote ladies finally left the house, through dread of an infection. During their stay, they never appeared at breakfast, their custom being to remain in a loose imdresa until evening. They generally lay in bed until noon, and Theodori, the chamber-man, carried in the dishes to them. The afternoon was devoted to dress, and the evening to cards. Their faces were daily brightened by a new coat 48 TltAVEI-S IX GKEECE AND RUSSIA. of paint (an almost universal practice among the Greek ladies), and one of them, who was a widow for the second time, was conlined to her room two days every fortniglit, by an ilJtiess, from wliich she always recovered with an astonishhigly jet-black head of hair. Our intercouise, however, was mainly with the foreign residents, and our Greek acquaintances were made, fc»r the most part, at their houses. The latter have the reputation of being rather claimish, and do not oj)en their doors readily to strangers, though Mr. Hill, Dr. King, and others who have resided in Athens for many years, are on intimate social terms with many Greek families. Whatever the cause may be, there is certainly more reserve exhibited towards foreigners than in most otlier countries in Europe. The contrast with Sweden and Norway, in this respect, is ^ery great. I nuide the acquaintance of a number of Greek gentlemen, but very few of them asked me to visit them at their houses. There is nothing particularly Greek in the physiognomy of Athens. The houses of the better sort are German in outward appearance, while the poorer dwellings resemble those of the Italian villages. A few squat, ancient clmrches, which have a mellow flavor of the Lower Empire, remain here and there, and the new ones are likewise Byzantine, but of a plainer and less picturesque stamp. The only modern building which has any pretensions to architectural beauty is the University. It is a low structure, well-pro- portioned, and with an inclosed portico of Pentelican mar- ble, the })il]ars of which are finely relieved against the sot^ oeutral-orancce stain of the inner wall. The old Turkish WINTER LIFE IN ATHENS. 49 town was biiilt close against the foot of the Acropolis, on the northern side. Scarcely a single building was left stand* mg at the close of the Revolution, and only a mosque or two (now appropriated to other uses) remain in anything like their former state. The new town has stretched itself northward to the foot of Mount Lycabettus, and north- westward across the plain toward Col onos. For some years, apparently, nothing was done toward regulatirg and improving the streets, and they present the same tangled labyrinth as in most Oriental towns. The newer portions of the city, however, are well laid out, with broad, hand- some streets, and spacious main avenues, converging to the palace as a centre. The city Ls uitersected by two principal thoroughfares — Eolus street, which starts from the Temple of the Winds, at the foot of the AcropoUs, and takes a straight course through the city to the plain of the Cephis- sus, and Hermes street, commencing in the middle of the square in front of the palace, and rmining south-westward to the foot of the hill on which the Temple of Theseus stands. The course of the latter street is broken in one place by an ancient church, around which it diverges in two arms, leaving the old, brown, charmingly-picturesque little building standing like an island in the midst. Above thla interruption, its appearance, with the long white front of the king's palace closing the ascending vista, is astonishingly like that of the GarX-Johansgade^ in Christiania. Athens is a little smaller than the latter capital, having at present about 30,000 inhabitants. It would be interesting to insti- tute a series of comparisons between Norway and Greece, \)oth new nations of nearly equal age, population, and 50 TUAVELS IX OUEiSCE AND KUSSIA. resources, but peopled with races of very diilerent Mood and chaiacter. Except during the severely cold weather, Athena is aa lively a town as may be. One-tburth of the inhabitants, I Bhoiild pay, arc always in the streets, and many of the mechanics work, as is common in the Orient, in oi)en shops. The coffee-houses of Beautiful Greece, the Orient, Olympus, Mars, tfcc, are always thronged, and every afternoon crowds may be seen on the Patissia Koad — a continuation of Eolua street — where the King and Queen take their daily exer- cise on horseback. Tlie national costume, botli male and female, is gradually falling into disuse in the cities, although it is still universal in the country. The islanders adhere to their hideous dress with the greatest persistence. With sunrise the country people begin to appear in the streets with laden donkeys and donkey-carts, bringing wood, grain, vegetables, and milk, which they sell from hou^a to house. Every morning you are awakened by the short, quick cry of " gala! gala j'" (milk) followed, in an hour or two, by the droning announcement of '"'■ anthomird kai masti-i-i-ika I^^ (mastic and orange-flower water). Venders of bread and coffee-rolls go about with circular trays on their heads, call- ng attention to their wares by loud and long-drawn cries. Later in the day, peddlers make their ap])earance, with pack- ages of cheap cotton stuffs, cloth, handkerchiefs, and the like, or baskets of pins, needles, buttons, and tape. Thej proclaim loiully the character and ]»rice of their articles, the latter, of course, subject to negotiation. The same cu* tom pre^■ails as in Turkey, of demanding much more than the seller expects to get. Foreigners are geneially fleeced WINTER LIFE IN ATHENS. fil 1 little in the beginning, though much less so, I btlieve, than hi Italy. Nevertheless, I cannot quite endorse the opinion expressed by Lord CarUsle and Professor Felton with regard to Grecian honesty. I do not know why travellers should have said that there are few beggars in Athens. In reality, there are a great many, both stationary and itjnei' ant. The former, of both sexes and all ages, sit at street corners and on the sunny side of walls, where they keep up an incessant exhortation to the passers-by, to give an alms for the sake of their souls, and those of all their relatives. I noticed that the Greeks very frequently give them a few lejita^ sometimes with the remark that it is for their souls' sake. One of the beggars, a blind old man, who sits m Hermes street, was formerly a noted captain of piiates m the Archipelago. He lost his sight by the explosion of a package of cartridges, and now subsists on charity, while many of his comrades are rich and move in respectable society. The beggars wlio go from nouse to house are still more numerous, but equally suc- cessful in their business. The Greeks have this prominent virtue, that they care for their relatives who are in want, \A'ithout considering it any particular merit. The municipal government of Athens is perhaps a httle more imperfect than that of New York. The Deraarch is appointed by the King, out of three candidates chosen by electors, never with regard to his fitnet^s for the office, but from his capacity to make a pliant tool of the Court. There are courts of justice, a police system, and regulations foi houses, streets, &c. ; but the main object of the govern meiit, as with our own city — until recently, at least — has 52 lllAViiLS IS GllKECE AND RUSSIA been the good of its members lacher than thiit of the pub lie. The streets are supposed to bo lighted, but it is not safe to go beyond either of the two principal thoroughfares without carrying a lantern. There was a lamp opposite to our residence, which was usually hghted about midnight, after everybody had gone to bed. In our street, which was one of the broadest and finest in Athens, various excavations and levellings were carried on for two months, and at night there was neither a lamp nor a bar to prevent persons from falling into the pits. The Queen's Mistress of Ceremonies, Baroness Plnskow, while on her way to a ball at the Turkish Minister's, was precipitated, in her carriage, down a perpen- dicular bank three feet high, running across the road. The French Secretary of Legation, who, for safety, took the opposite side of the street, went down a still higher bank,^ broke his carriage, bruised his limbs, and lost all his deco- rations in the mud. This state of things favors the thieves who still abound in the city. Atliens is no longer besieged by banditti, as it was about four years ago, but burglaries and highway robberies are frequent. The Winter of 1857-8 was the severest in the memory of any inhabitant. For nearly eight weeks, we had an alternation of icy north-winds and snow-storms. The ther- momotor went down to 20° of Fahrenheit — a degree of cold which seriously affected the orange if not the olive trees. Winter is never so dreary as in those sc.iuthern lands, where you see the palm-tree rocking despaiiingly in the biting gale, and the snow lying thick on the sunny fruit of the orange groves. As for the pejiper trees, with their langing tresses and their loose, misty foliage, which line the WLNTJSR LIFE LX ATHENS. 5S broad avenues radiating from the palace, they were touched beyond recovery. The people, who could not afford to pur- chase wood or charcoal, at treble the usual price, even though they had hearths, which they have not, suffered greatly. They crouched at home, in cellars and basements, wrapped in rough capotes, or hovering around a mangal^ or brazier of coals — the usual substitute for a stove. From Constantinople we had still worse accounts. The snow lay deep everywhere ; charcoal sold at twelve piastres the oka (twenty cents a pound), and the famished wolves, descend- ing from the hills, devoured people almost at the gates of the city. In Smyrna, Beyrout, and Alexandria, the Whiter was equally severe, while in Odessa it was mild and agreea- ble, and m St. Petersburg there was scarcely snow enough for sleighing. All Northern Europe enjoyed a Winter as remarkable for Avarmth as that of the South for its cold. The line of division seemed to be about the parallel of lati- tude 45°. Whether this singular climatic phenomenon extended further eastward, into Asia, I was not able to ascer- tain. I was actually less sensitive to the cold in Lapland, duiing the previous winter, with the mercury frozen, than in Attica, within the belt of semi-tropical productions It would be an interesting task for some one to collect and compare the meteorological records of that Winter, with a view of ascertaining the causes of these singular fluctua iions of temperature. CHAPTER VI. '^ A GREEK BAPTISM. During id/ residence in Athens, I neglected no oppor- tunities of witnessing the ceremonials of the Greek Church, especially those which are associated with the domestic life of the people. In the East, the sacraments of the Church have still their ancient significance. The peoj^le have made little or no spiritual progress in a thousand years, and many forms, Avhich, elsewhere, are retained by the force of habit — their original meaning having long since been lost sight of — are still imbued with vital prmciple. They have, therefore, a special interest, as illustrations of the character nd peculiar phases of the popular belief. The Rev. John H. Hill — whose missionary labors iu Gieece, during the last thirty years, have made his name BO well known to the Chiistian world — befriended me in every possible Avay, and I was indebted to him for the means of observing some features of Grecian life, not gene- rally accessible to the curious traveller. So when, one windy morning in January, I received a note from him, A GRKEK BArnsir. 55 inviting us to attend the baptism of a cliild in a Greek family, I east aside Grote, my Romaic grammar, and the unfinished letters for home, and set out for the Mission School, ^olus street, down Avhich we walked, deserved its name. Icy blasts blew from the heights of Parnes and filled the city with clouds of dust. I should Uke to kno\^ whether Socrates and Alcibiades walked, bare-legged and bareheaded, wrapped only in the graceful folds of the chlamys, in such weather. The winter-wind of Athena bites through the thickest overcoat ; and you look at the naked figures on the temple-friezes Avith a shudder. Those noble youths in the Panathenaic procession of the Parthenon, who bestride their broad-necked Thessalian horses, are very fine to behold ; but give me pantaloons and thick stockings, rather than such unprotected anatomy. Mr. and Mrs. Hill accompanied us to the residence of the happy parents, which was in the older part of the city, near the Temple of the Winds, and just under the Acropolis. The mother was a former pupU of the Mission School. She and a younger sister had been left orphans at an early age, and were taken and educated by Mrs. Hill. They inherited some property, which was in the charge of an uncle, who had succeeded in making away with the greater part of it> leaving the girls destitute. About a year and a half pre- nous, a rich Athenian bachelor, of good character, applied to Mr. Hill for a wife, desiring to marry a girl who had been educated in his house. The elder of the sisters attracted him by her intelligence and her skill as a house- keeper, though she was far from beautiful, being deeply |jitted with the small-pox. The result was that he married sG TKAVELS IN GREECE AND EUSSIA. her, took her sister also to live with him, and, through law suits which he instituted, recovered nearly all the property, out of which the two had been defi'auded. This was a pleasant history in a world, and particularly in a land, where justice is not the rule; and we were glad of the chance to be present at the baptism of the first child. The parents received us at the door. We were kindly welcomed, as friends of Mr. Hill, and ushered into a room where the other guests — all Greeks, and some thirty or forty in number — were already assembled. It was an Athenian room, Avithout stove or fire-place, and wanned only with a brazier of coals. I therefore retained ray over- coat, and found it still cold enough. Everything was in readiness for the ceremony, and the family had evidently been waiting for our arrival. The priest, a tall, vigorous Macedonian — a married man, w'lio had come to Athens to educate his sons — and the dea- con, a very handsome young fellow, with dark olive com- plexion, and large languishing eyes, now prepared them- selves by putting long embroidered collars over their gowns. They then made an altar of the chest of drawers, by placing upon it a picture of tlie Virgin, with lighted tapers on either side. Then a small table was brought into the centre of the room, as a pedestal for a tall, tri-forked wax-candle, representing the Trinity. A large brazen urn (the baptismal font) was next carried in, the priest's son, a boy of twelve, put coals and incense into the censer — and the ceremony began. The godfather, who was a venera- ble old gentleman, took his station in front of the font. Beside him stood the nurse, holding the babe, a lively boy c A. GREEK BAPTISM. 51 of six weeks old. ISTeither of the parents is allowed to be present duriag the ceremony. After some preliminary chanty and crossings — ^in the latter of which the whole company joined — the priest made the sign of the cross three times over the infant, blowing in its face each time. The object of this was to exorcise and banish from its body the evil spirits, which are sui> posed to be in possession of it up to the moment of baptism. The godfather then took it in his arms, and the Nicene Creed was thrice repeated — once by the deacon, once by the priest's son, and once by the godfather. A short liturgy followed; after which, the latter pronounced the child's name — " Apostolos^^ — which he had himself chosen. It is very important that the name should be mentioned to no one, not even the parents, until the moment of baptism : it must then be spoken for the first time. The position of godfather, in Greece, also carries with it a great responsibility. In the two Pi-otestant sects which still retain this beautiful custom, it is hardly more than a form, complimentary to the person who receives the office, but no longer carrying with it any real obligation. Among the Greeks, however, it is a relation to which belong legally acknowledged rights and duties, still further protected by all the sanction which the Church can confer. The god father has not only the privilege of paying the baptisma expenses, and presenting the accustomed mug and spoon, but he stands thenceforth in a spiritual relationship to the family, which has all the force of a connexion by blood. For instance, he is not permitted to marry into the family within the limits of consanguinity prohibited by the Church % 65 TKaVKUS IX GKEECE AND lU'SSIA. — A\ hich extend as far as the ninth degree, whatever that maybe. He also watches over the child with paternal care, and in certain cases, his authority transcends even that of the parents. The priest and deacon put on embroidered stoles (rather the worse for wear), and the former rolled up his sleeves. IJasins of hot and cold water were poured into the font, and taid by the month, and turned his agreement to pro lit by rigidly observing every saint's-day. ' He was indebted to the lessons he gave me for the means of buying an over- coat, and always came into my room half frozen from hie tireless chambers ; yet, with that inordinate vanity which characterizes the Greeks of all classes, he declared that he was not obliged and did not wish to teach, but condescended to do so for the pleasure of visiting me ! Next door to us there was a small, one-story house, inhabited by a poor family. The daughter, a girl of twelve or thirteen, attended tbp Arsakeion, or Seminary for Girls, a gift of Arsakis to the Greek people, just across the street. The ridiculous little chit must have a servant to carry her two books those thirty paces, and we sometimes saw her, when the school was over, waiting beldnd the door, not daring to appear in the street with books in her hand. Nearly all the girls wlio came to the Arsakeion (some two hundred day-scholars) were similarly attended, yet they were mostly from fainiliefl of moderate means. New-Year's Day (Jan. 13, New Style) was celebrated very much as it is with us, by a mutual interchange of visits, in the morning, however, there was a Te Denm at the Church of St. Irene, which was attended by the Khig, Queen, and all the principal personages connected with the Govern ment. This is one of the four or five occasions when theii Majesties — one of whom is a Catholic, and the other a I'ro 78 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. t(!st:iiit — are ol)liged to attend Greek service. The King keeps a Jesuit priest ami the Queen a Lutheran clergyman from Holstcin, both of ■\vlioin perform service in the Royal CLapel, but at diflVMeiit iiours. I went to hear the latter, and found a small congregation, conq»osed exclusively of Germans. The English Church, of which Mr. Hill is minis ter — the only instance, I believe, in which an American clergyman has been appointed Chaj)lain to an English Leg;v tion — is a solid building, of the plainest kind of Gothic, whicli looks as if it had strayed away fiom some new rail- road town in England. The Russians also have a very neat Byzantine chai)el, with detached belfry, ^llie fine singing of the choristers, who are mostly boys, attracts many per- sons. The Russians have had taste enough to harmonize and thoroughly reform the chants of their Church, yet without destroyhig their solemn and antique quaintness. The elements of the music are retained, but reduced to order and made eflective ; whereas, in the Greek Churchy the chanting is of a character acceptable neither to men noi angels. An attempt has recently been made here, also, to substitute harmony for chaotic discord ; but the Patriarch, knowing how much of the power of the Church depends on its strict adherence to supenmnuated forms, refuses to sano- tion any such innovation. To return to the Te Dcum, the tedium of which I endured for half an hour. The King and Queen, who arrived in their state coach and six, were received at the door of the church by the Metropolitan, or Archbishop of Athens, a venerable old man with ilowing gray beard, wearing a mag- nificent stole of crimson embroidered with gold, and a cap GKEEK FESTIVALS, RELIGIOUS AND CITIC. 79 Shaped Ukc a pumpkin .rith one end sliced off. Behind Inm were a retinue of priests, who, with their mild faces, Ion- beards, and flowing hair, resembled the Apostles some- what though their robes were of ^cidedly gayer color and finer texture. After the lloyal pair, came a mass of Mnns- ters, Generals, Judges, the Senate and Assembly, and others, in uniforms, ribbons and orders, or palikar costume, filling up the main aisle, which had been kept clear t.r thein° The King and Queen were conducted to a dats m front of the altar, where they remauied standh.g diirmg the ceremony. On this occasion, the latter wore the Greek dress, which, though she had slightly outgro^v-n it, became her very well. The red cap set off to advantage her rich, dark-brown hair, and her handsome shoulders showed yet tUirer above the jacket of crimson velvet, embroidered with gold I noticed that the King crossed himself at the pro- per times, while the expression of the Queen's face was rather that of repressed mirth. Indeed, with all proper reverence for the feeling of reverence in others-wUh no disposition to make light of sincere religious feelmg, how- ever expressed-it was almost impossible for me not to smile or stop my ears, at the tremendous nasal braymgs .vhich now and then shook the church. The bulls of Bashan, bellowing in concert, would have made music, com- pared to it. Again I say, Ictinus worshipped God better, IN hen he buiit the Parthenon. The festival of Epiphany is celebrated in a peculiar mamier The Archbishop repairs to the Piraeus, and, after appropriate services in the church, walks with the priests in solemn procession to the harbor, where, with certain 80 TRAVKLS IN GUKECli AKI» KUSSIA. nasal exclamations, he casts a cross into the sea. This ii called the Blessing of the Waters, and is supposed to he ot great advantage to vessels, in preventing storais and ship wrecks. A number of sailors, who are at hand watching the moment, plunge after the cross. The lucky finder takes il to the Palace, where he receives a present from the King \t Volo, in Tlassaly, the same ceremony is performed with \hv addition, that, by a special miracle, the waters of the sea become j)erfectly sweet, and are only restored to saltness when the cross touches them. Of course, no one is heretic enough to disclose a doubting spirit, by tasting the water. The Greeks also fast during three days at this time. At other periods, besides Lent, there are partial fasts : some days, they can cat fowl, but not flesh ; others, oil and olives, but not fowl. In fact, the kitchen occupies a.s important a place as the Church, in the observance of the Greek Faith. The stomach and the soul have a shigu- lar sympathy, and salvation is attained not more by prayers than by an orthodox diet. After Ei)i[)liany came the festival of the Three llier- arclis — St. Gregory, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom. This is also celebrated by loafing, as well as by homilies in the Churches. I did not attend any of these, as I was not suf ficiently advanced in the language to profit by them. The roached Canal-street wharf, on which was erected a large triumphal arch of evergreens, with the Swedish flag floating over it. "Mr. Barnum," I asked, "who put tnat up ?" " An enthusiastic pubhc. Sir," he replied with great gravity, and a peculiar twinkle of his lofl eye. Here, how- ever, I noticed three or four private decorations, but of the rudest kind. The public was evidently pleased, for the Greeks have a childish delight in flags, music, firowork>i, GREEK FKSTTVAT-S, RELIGIOTS A.VI) mviC. 85 and the like. As the Carnival Week was to ccintnence the next day, masks already hegan to appear in tlie street, and the hilaiity of tlie religious festival lent its character to the political one. A few days before, the King's brother Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, arrived on a visit of congra lidation, accompanied by Maurer, one of the Bavarian IJegents who managed Greece during the King's minority. Austria also sent a dejiutation, consisting of Lieut. Field- Marshal Farr, and the sons of Pi-ince Mettemich and Baron Prokesch-Osten, to congratulate the King. These visits, together witli the arrival of English, French, Russian and Dutch vessels-of-war at the Piiaeus, gave an unusual dash and brilliancy to Athenian life. The ceremonies consisted of a Te Deam at the cljurch in the morning, official visits of congratulation afterwards at the i)alace, and a grand state ball hi the evening. As we had already heard one Te Deum on New- Year's Day, and had no wish to endure the crowd and the chanting a second time, Ave betook ourselves to Hermes street, and found a convenient place to see the cortege, in a gap between two companies of soldiers. At ten o'clock, the tiring of cannon and the blast of trumpets announced that the King had left the palace. Presently, a mounted officer appeared, cantering lightly do\vn the street, and followed by half-i-dozen wild-looking mountaineers, in their coarse white woollen dresses, bare-headed, and witli long hair streaming in the wind. As they ran and leaped along, .urning back now and then, they were picturesque enough ♦o pass for a company of satyrs dancing before the chariot of Bacchus". After them came another coTnj.any nearly i\f 88 THAVELS IN GREECE AND Kl'SSIA. wild, but bearing large blue and white silken banners, with various inscriptions and devices, and running at full speed. These, I was told, wore tlie represcntalives of the various trades, bearing the banners of their guilds. The Royal Carriage, which now appeared, was surrounded by a dozen more of them — rough, stalwart, bare-headed fellows, \\ illi flashing eyes, and hair tluit tossed in the wind as they s]>rang. They gave life and character to the spectacle, which would have been a frigid aftair without them. The King's appearance was the signal for a general cry of "Zi7o/" {vive, or hurrah!) lie looked hajjpy and excited, and his pale face was pleasantly flushed as he acknowledged the greetings. The Queen was all conde- scension, as usual. On the front seat sat Prince Adalbert, a burly, red-fiiced fellow, with the air and expression of a prosperous brewer. He contrasted unfavorably with the King, and the Greeks already disliked liim. If he had any pretensions to the crown of Greece, his visit at that time was unlbrtunate. The ^Ministers, Generals, Foreign Ambas- sadors, and other digidtaries, followed in a long procession, which was about a quarter of an hour in passing. We afterwards went to the Palace, and witnessed the return, in vvhich the countrymen and the tradesmen with their banners ♦vere the most conspicuous objects. There was, however, very spontaneous and hearty cheering from the thousands assembled, when the King came out on the balcony. Various official personages were cheered as they arrived to pay their respects, ani it was perhaps a significant sigc that the loudest zitos were for the Russian Minister. I attended the ball in the evening, whicli was b.it s GREEK FESTIVALS, RELIGIOUS AND CiriC. B"! repetition of the one I have ah-eady described. The ncxl day, there was a great gathering at tlie Temple of Theseus, where tlie multitude were regaled with a hundred and fifty roasted sheep, several hogsheads of wine, and cart-loads of bread and onions. As we had not been informed of the hour, the dinner was over before we reached the spot, and I am indebted for a description of it to the King himself, who described it to me with evident i)leasure, at a ball two days later. Among other incidents, a peasant, more than a hundred years old, appeared before the King and Queen, drank their healths out of a big bottle of wine, and danced the Romaiica before them M'ith a good deal of spirit. While we were there, the barrels were on tap, and the tradesmen were dancing around their banners; but, out of five thousand people, I did not see ten who were intoxi- cated. I believe the Greeks to be the soberest Christians in the world Three days afterwards there was a select ball at the Palace, but here the Grecian element was less conspicuous, the foreign guests receiving the preference. Then the Demarch of Athens gave a grand ball to the King and Queen, in the Theatre. It was a frightful jam, more than a thousand persons being crammed into the httle building. I endured it for about an hour, and then left, to save my ribs and lungs. Finally, on the evening of the seventh day, there was a brilliant display of fireworks from the open 3pace in front of the palace, winding up With a vrild Romaic dance by soldiers holding burning blue-lights in their hands. In appearance, in sound, and in smell, the spectacle was absolutely infernal. 88 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. On the 25th of January, Sir Tlionias Wyse, the Englisl Mmisier, gave a grand ball, in honor of the Princess Royal's marriage. All the hiL,'li dignitaries, short of roy alty, were there, with more female beauty than I have seen gathered together for many a day. There were no Phi- dian faces, no pure antique j)rofiles, notldng even so sweet and 80 stately as the caryatides of the Erechtheioii, but Buperb hair, gloiious dark eyes, fringed by long lashes ripely-curved Southern mouths, and complexions varyiiiL' from the clear tint of sun-stained marble to the perfect white and red of Circassia. Conspicuous among the Greek girls were Photine Mavroinlkhali, grand-daugliter of old Petron Bey, a Spartan beauty, tall, proud and state- ly, and ]\Iiss Black, daughter of the Maid of Athens. 1 was talking, as I supposed, to a young Hydriote girl, with the sweetest Madonna fiice tied up in her embroidered handkerchief, but af.v-r.vards learned that she had been a widow for five years past. Her mother, who was almost equally beaiitiful, did not appear to be ten years older. OHAP'lEli lA. AN EXCUKSION TO CltKTB. Aftkb wa ting a month for a cessation of the cold and stormy weather, tiiere seemed to be at last some promise of a cliange for the better, and I made preparations to eave Atliens for a few weeks. The festi\ilies connccled U'ith the King's Jubila3um closed on the evening of the 12th of February ; the frolics of the Carnival had become worn out and spiritless, and but two more days intervened before the commencement of Lent, during which time the Greeks do real penance, and are melancholy from bodily, not from spiritual causes. Lent in Athens is inaugurated by a uni- versal gathering of the people before the colunms of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, where they consume their first lea7i meal in public, and dance for the last time before Easter. An unmense quantity of onions, leeks and garlic is consumed on this occasion, and the spectacle b therefore calculated to draw tears from the contemplative observer I did not, however, consider it worth while to lose a week of good weather for the purpose of attending this festival 00 TJ;aVK!.S in GIlLUiCK AND RUSSIA. Our destination was Crete, the least visited yet niosl interesting of all the Grecian islands. (I use " Grecian" in the ancient, not the niodcrn sense. Crete has been, since 1G69, subject to Turkey.) Braisted and I, accompanied by Fran9{)is as draguuian and purveyor, with his kit, camp beds, and a multitude of Arabic saddle-bags, left our joint mansion in Atlicns, and descended to the Pira)us. The steamer Mhich was to take us to Crete was just coming into the harbor, with the L-3rd High Comnjissioner of the Ionian I: RUSSIA. and an unlimited supj^ly of Avatev were all that we oLtaincJ The monk informed us that the monastery was dedicated to St. John, and was celebrated for the abundance of its honey ; but neither honey nor locus-ts could he give ua Behind the chapel was a vault in which they put the dead monks. When the vault gets full, they take out the bone? and skulls and throw them into an open chamber adjoiuijig, where their daily sight and smell furnish wholesome lessons of mortality to the survivors. Frangois was so indignant at the monk's venerable filthiness and the Lenten fare he gave us, that he refused to pay anything " to the Chui-ch," as is delicately customary. AVe descended on foot to the monastery of Katholiku, which we reached in half an hour. Its situation is like that of San Saba in Palestme, at the bottom of a split in the stony hills, and the sun rarely shines upon it. Steps cut in the rock lead down the face of the precipice to the deserted monastery, near which is a cavern 500 feet long, leading into the rock. The ravine is spanned by an arch, nearly 50 feet high, at one end of which is a deep, dark well, wherein refractory monks were imprisoned. The only living thing we saw was a shepherd-boy, who shouted to us from the top of the opposite cUffs. Of St. John the Hermit, whom the monastery commemorates, I know no more than I do of St. John the Hunter, who has a similar establishment near Athens. At Agia Triada, we found things different indeed. As we rode up the stately avenue of cypresses, between vine- yards and almond trees in blossom, servants advanced to take our horses, and the hegoumenos^ or abbot, shouted^ AK EXCUKSION TO CnETE, 09 '• Kalos orizete l"*^ (welcome) from tlie top of the steps With his long gown and rotund person, he resembled a good-natured grandmother, but the volumes of his beard expressed redmidant masculinity. We were ushered into a clean room, furnished with a tolerable library of orthodo^t volumes. A boy of fifteen, with a face like the young Haphael, brought us glasses of a rich, dark Avdne, something like Port, jelly and coffee. The size and substantial charac- ter of this monastery attest its wealth, no less than the flourishing appearance of the lands belonging to it. Its large court-yard is shaded with vine-bowers and orange trees, and the chapel in the centre has a fa9ade supported ^ by Doric columns. >-cl,. .^l .- It was sunset when we reached Kalepa, where we stopped to dine with the Pasha, according to previous arrangement. He has a country-house handsomely furnished in the most luxurious European style, the walls hung with portraits of prominent living sovereigns and statesmen. On the dinnei*- table was an epergne of pure gold, two feet long and eighteen inches liigh ; the knives, forks and spoons were also of the same metal. He had an accomplished French cook, and olfered us, beside the wine of Crete, Burgxmdy, Rhenish and Champagne. He drank but sparingly, how- ever, and of a single kind. After dinner, I had a long conversation with him on the state of the Orient, and was delighted to find a Turk in his position imbued with such enlightened and progressive ideas. If there were nine men like him, the regeneration of the East would not be so difficult. One man, however — unless he fills the very liiglicst .administrative position — is almost powerless. 100 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. when the combined influence of the Euroi:)can Powers if brought to bear against him. Before the close of 1858 Vely Pasha was recalled from Crete, and the good works he had begun completely neutralized. The real condition of aflfairs was so thoroughly misrepresented that in all the newspapers of Europe but a single voice (the correspondent of the London Times) was raised to do him justice. CHAPTER X. A CRETAN JOURNEY. My plan of travel, on leaving Klania, was to visit the wild mountain region of Sfakia, which lies beyond the White Mountains, in the southwestern corner of the island. This district bears a similar relation to the rest of Crete, as that of Maina does to Greece, being inhabited by a savage remnant of the ancient race, who, until within a very few years, have maintained a virtual independence. It is in Buch out-of-the-way corners that the physical characteristics of the original stock must now be looked for. I have long believed that some rills of Hellenic blood must still continue to flow on the ancient soil, untouched by those Slavonic and Ottoman inundations which have well nigh washed it cut of the modem race. I was quite sure that in Sfakia, where a dialect, conjectured to be the old Cretan-Doric, is Btill spoken, I should find the legitimate stock — the com- mon, not the heroic tj^pe, preserved ahnost intact. The passes of the White Mountains are difficult at all seasons, %i?d I ascertained that the xyloscala^ or " wooden ladder,'' 102 TRAVELS IN GRKECE AND RUSSIA. by which I had intended to descend into Sfakia, was not tc be reached on account of the snow ; but there is anothei road around the eastern base of the mountains, and 1 determined to try it. The Pasha endeavored to dissuade me from the attempt The roads in Crete," said he, " are absolutely frightful and though, as a traveller, you must be prepared for any experience, yet, when the season is bad, they become quite impassable, even to the natives. I have had a carriage- road surveyed and located from here to Heracleon, and a small portion of it is already finished, near Rhithymnos ; but the people oppose it with all their might, and at least five or six years must elapse before enough is done to demonstrate to them the use and value of such improve- ments.* I am satisfied that Turkey will never advance until she has means of communication suflScient to make her internal resources available. This is the first step towards the regeneration of the Orient — and the only first step in the path of true progress. The power and civiliza- tion of Europe rest on this foundation." There is great truth m these remarks, as, indeed, there was in the Pasha's views on the Oriental question. They disclosed an enlight- ened and practical mind, the rarest apparition among tha Governors of the East. At last, on the morning of our departure, the Pasha sent me Captain Nikephoro, a dashing Sfakiote chieftain, who was ordered to accompany us through the territory, as guide and guard. He w^as a tall, handsome fellow, with * The building of this road was the main cause of the rebelUoa ir Crete, a few raontlis later 1 A CRBTAN JOURNEY. 103 fiery black eyes, raven hair and nioustaclie, and an eagle's beak of a nose. A pair of long, silver-mounted pistols, and a yataghan, with a silver hilt and scabbard, adorned hia belt. Hadji Bey wore his blue imiform and sabre, and was mounted on a sturdy gray horse. The chief muleteer, Anagnosti, who was chosen for us by the Consul's drago man, as an honest and skilful man (and whom we after- wards discharged as the very opposite), was also mounted, BO that, "with our two baggage-mules, we made quite a respectable caravan. The Consul, who had hospitably entertained us during our stay, accompanied us to the gates of Khania, and we set off on our first Cretan journey, in the midst of a soft, thick rain. The road to Suda, four miles, is a broad, carriageable way, leading through the rich plain of Khania. Peasants were busy plowing the mellow, dark-red loam. Vineyards, olive orchards and wheat-fields succeeded each other, and the flourishing villages on the loAver slopes of tlie mountains on our right, glimmered through the gray veil of the fall- ing showers. Suda is a deep, beautiful bay, open only toward the north-east, where an old Venetian fortress, on a rocky island, commands its mouth. The ground at it head is marshy, and near the shore there are salt pans. Vely Pasha, however, had the intention of draining these marshes and building up a town on the spot. A bettei situation, in fact, could scarcely be found on the island. Our road followed the shore for a short distance, and then began to climb the base of Mount Malaxa, which towered far above us, its summit wrapped in clouds. This is probably the ancient Berccynthus, the scene of theldjear 104 TEAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. Dactyls, where fire was first brought down from heaven^ and metal forged. Antiquaries are divided in oj)inion, some affirming that the mountain is of calcareous rock (which it certainly is) — others that it is schistose, and may therefore contain veins of metal. I do not see that this question is of much importance. All myths had a location, of course, and in the days when they formed a part of the prevalent religion, men were not in the habit of testing them by inquiry and research. Malaxa corresponds, geo- graphically, with the position of Berecynthus, and we need not trouble our heads about the rest. Clumps of myrtle and oleander filled the glens, and the mastic shrub, sage and wild thyme covered the stony shoulders of the hills. We still plodded on in the rain, passing here and there a ruined keep, climbing rocky lad- ders, or slipping on the polished surface of an old road, where the stones had been laid together in some sort of order. After three hours, when we were all tolerably wet, cold and himgry, we crossed the crest of the shore hills and came upon the broad table-land of Apokorona, at the east- ern base of the White Mountains. Cheered by the hope of soon reaching our destination — a monastery at Paleoka- stron, on the site of Aptera — we hurried on to a little village. The people crowded to the doors to see us and give us direc- tions. " Good day, palikar !" said a Avoraan whom 1 greeted. The men, all of whom had very cheerful and friendly faces, accompanied us a little distance to jjoint out the road, and tore down the stone fences for our mules, that we might find a shorter way across their fields. The plain of Apokorona presented a pleasant picture ol A CEETAN JOUENEY. 105 fertility and cultivation. Wheat-fields, divided by stone fences, and dotted with clumps of olive-trees, stretched aa far as the eye could reach. In half an hour we reached some of the ruins of Aptera. Hewn blocks, among them fragments of small Doric pillars, were scattered over the Boil, and along the highest part of the hill ran a low wall of square stones. A little further was the monastery, a mas- sive square stone building, standing in the midst of some ruins of the Roman time. The place is a Metokhi^ or branch, of the Monastery of St. John, on Patmos. It is occupied only by one priest, a married man, who rents from the Government a large tract of the land lying round about it, for 12,000 piastres ($500) a year. He received us in the court, ushered us into a small leaky room, and in due time ire procured a meal of eggs fried in oil, fi-esh cheese-curds, md coarse but good bread. Notwithstanding Lent had commenced, the priest was willing to furnish heretics with the means to break it, for a consideration. We tried to dry our soaked garments over a brazier of coals, and gave up all hopes of proceeding further that day. Aptera ( Wingless) derives its name from the combat between the Sirens and the Muses, wherein the former were stripped of their wings, and plimging into the sea, became the rocks of Leucse, w^hich lie in the mouth of the Bay of Suda. The ruins near the convent are those of cis- terns, undoubtedly of Eoman construction. One of them IS nearly one hundred and fifty feet long, with a branch at right angles. Another is a triple vault, in a nearly perfect Btate, its walls of diAdsion resting on four arches of cut stone On inquiring for the Cyclopean walls, the priest said thej 106 TRAVELS IK GREECE AND RUSSIA, were further to the eastward. Captain Nikephoro pnt o\\ his thick capote to keep off the rain, and accompanied us Along the brow of the mountain, for the distance of nearlj' half a mile (which was as far as we traced it), runs a polygonal wall, composed of huge undressed masses of rock. Its breadth is seven feet, and its greatest height twelve, the upper portion having been either thrown down 01 carried off. The masonry, though massive, is rude, and evidently belongs to the earliest period. In the evening a number of peasants came in with coins, Greek, Roman and Venetian, some of which I bought. Among them were some autonomous coins of Aptera, with a bee on the obverse. The most of them, however, were illegible, and held by their finders at prices far above their real value. We occupied the priest's bed for the night, which was a raised platform across the dry end of the room. The sacerdotal fleas were as voracious as Capuchin friars, and though they were distributed over four persons instead of two, they murdered sleep none the less. Next morning the rain continued, but after a long consultation and much delay, we set out for Rhithymnos. Riding over the plain for an hour or more, through fine old orchards, we reached a new khan about the breakfast hour. A priest and some wayfarers were within, smoking their narghilehs and drink- ing the pale-red Cretan wine. In Crete the wine is not resined, as in Greece, and we can therefore get at its natural flavor, which is fully equal to that of the ordinary mnes of Spain. I much prefer it to the renowned wine of Cyprus, notwithstanding Mrs. Browning's Bacchic paean tc the latter. In Greece the wine was no doubt resinous in A CRETAN JOURNEY. 10? ancient times. The pine-cone topping the staff of Bacchus is probably one symbol of the fact. By adding the raw resin — wliich is collected by tapping the pine trees — it is not only more easily preserved, but may be increased by the addition of water. It is a most wholesome beverage, but the flavor, to an unaccustomed palate, is horrible. In front of the khan a silvery waterfall gleamed through the olive trees, and Braisted and I walked thither, accom- panied by the faithful Sfakiote, Avho never allowed us to get out of his sight. The place reminded me of the sources of the Jordan, at Banias. A stream large enough to drive a cotton factory gushed out of the earth at the foot of a pile of rocks, fell over a mossy dam, and rushed away through the meadoAvs towards the sea. Nikephoro informed me, however, that it dries up in summer. Our road, for some distance after leaving the khan, was a mere scrambling track over stony ridges, impassable for anything except the sure-footed Cretan mules. Our course Avas a remarkably tortuous one, winding hither and thither with- out any regard to the direction we should go. We at last discovered that Anagnosti was as ignorant as he was lazy, and did not know the road. Fran9ois thereupon took fire with his usual readiness, and we had a storm of Greek epi- thets. " I have always heard," said he, " that the Cretan Turks were scamps, but now I see that it is the Cretan Christians who are so. St. Paul told the truth about this lying race." After a while we reached an old monastery, near a village called Karidi (The Nut), on a hill overlooking the interior valleys. The houses were ruuious and half deserted, but 108 TEAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. tlie orauge, olive, and carob trees were of fine growth, and the barley fields of unusual richness. In another hour we euiue upon a village called Exo})olis, on the brow of a steep hill overlooking tiie valley of Arrayro. A dreary rain was f-ettuig m, and lladji Bey declared that it Avas impossible to reach the next place before dark ; so we took up our (piar- ters in the house of an old fellow wlio called himself the chief of the village. It was a hut of stones and mud, without a window, and with a roof through which the rain leaked in Uttle streams ; but it was at least slightly better than out of doors. There were much better houses in the village, but all were rootless and in ruins. Captain Nike- phoro accompanied us to a Turkish tower of hewn stone, whence we had a striking view of the wild valley below. Hadji Bey lodged in the cafe, a dark, windowless hut, where they gave us cups of ourut barley for coffee. Some Mussulmans and Christians were within, disputing violently, in loud, screaming voices. The Cretans are the most argu- mentative people in the world. We cannot ask the simplest question without gettmg a different opmion from every by- stander, and thereupon ensues a discussion, in which every- body is edified except ourselves. The people informed us that they had had snow and rain for a hundred days previ- ous — a thing unheard of in the island. Many of the oldest oUve trees, as we had occasion to notice, had been broken down by the weight of the snow upon their limbs, and a great niunber of sheep and goats had perished. The captain was probably the richest man in the village. His wealth consisted of a field of barley, four sheep, five goats, f'ur pigs, and an ass. lie was about seventy yeaiif A CRETAN JOURNEY. 109 tld, had a gray beard, but his youngest child was only five. Both he and his wife exhibited a laudable curiosity to learu the customs of the eklambrotati (Their Brilliancies !) the \asilikoi anthropoi (Royal Men), who had honored bis liut Avith theii* presence. They took care to be on hand when we undressed, and they came and went so frequently during the night as to disturb our rest materially, but I discovered an evidence of their attention in the morning, on finding that I was covered with various diity garments, placed under the holes in the roof, to intercept the droppings. Li the morning the woman came up to me, suddenly fell upon her knees, kissed my muddy boots, and then arose and kissed my hand, before I fairly noticed what she was about. I gave little Levteri, who sat in the chimney-corner, a piece of money, whereupon he did the same thing, and his luo- Iher said : " May God permit you to enjoy your sove- reignty many years !" When we arose it was still raining, slowly, steadily, dis- mally. It was evident that we nmst renounce all hope of visiting Sfakia, for in such weather the single road mto that region was already unpassable. We therefore dis- charged Captain Nikephoro, who had been detailed for this special service, parting with the splendid fellow with genuine regret. Hadji Bey, also, wa.s disinclined to set out. It was quite natural that he should wish to make thuigs as easy as possible ; he was travelling for our j>leasure, not bis >)wn. However, I determined to get mto good quarters at Rhithymnos, and as soon as the rain held up a little, the mules were packed in spite of Anagnosti's curses, and we set out. Descending the hill by a fiightful path, altematt 110 THAVKLS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. rock and quagmire, we reached the river of Arinyro. The remains of an old Venetian fortress are upon its banks, and a short distance further a Turkish castle, mosque and klian, dismantled and deserted. Even here, on the sea-level, the enow had made great havoc among the olive trees. Fmally wo emerged upon the sea-shore, where the sand and peb bles made better footing for our mules, but the north-east wind, laden with rain, swept upon us with full force. Hadji Bey and the muleteers were in constant idarm dui'ing this part of our journey, assuring us that the Sfakiotes, who live during the winter in the neighboring village of Dra- mia, frequently pounce upon and plunder travellers. "Bui you need not be afraid of them on such a day as this," I suggested. " Oh, this is just the weather they choose for their attacks," said the Bey. By the shore large timbers had been collected, for the purpose, we were told, of build- ing a mud machine for the port of Khania. At last we struck the hills again, which here thrust out a bold, rocky promontory, the base of which the sea has gnawed into a thousand fantastic forms. After scrambling for some time over the insteps of the hills, we reached a tremendous gorge, cleft into their ver} heart, down the bottom of which rushed a rapid stream Near the sea were the abutments of a massive sloping bridge, the arch of which was entirely gone. It had the i]Dl)earance of having been overthi-own by an earthquaki., and Hadji Bey informed me that it was entire only sixty years ago. We were now upon the track of an ancient road, fragments of the pavement of which we saw in places. The gorge was inclosed by precipices of blue lime- A CEETAN JOUENEY. lU Stone rock, whose fronts were stained with brignt orange colored oxydations. In color and outUiie the picture was superb. The geological formation of Crete is a continua- tion of that of the mainland of Greece, the rock bemg principally the same 2}alo7nhino, or dove-colored limestone. Our road beyond this was the next thing to imprac- - ticable. The rock, channeled and honeycombed every- where by the action of water, was worn into a series of deep holes, filled with soft mud, in and out of which our raules plunged. On every headland stood a ruined watcli- tower, of the Venetian or Turkish times. After more than two hours of this travel, we caught sight of the fortress of llhithymnos, crowning a projecting cape some distance ahead. Two minarets and a pahn-tree, rising above the gray liouses of the town, relieved the view a little, but had it been ten times more dismal, the sight would have been a welcome one to us, in our cold, sore, and hungry condition. Soon afterwards we came to a very wild and deep ravine, spanned by a bridge of a double row of arches, one above the other — undoubtedly a Roman work. We now struck upon the new road, which fully justified Vely Pasha's description. It was a broad, solid, substantial, JEJn^Iish highway, even better than the wants of the island demand, iwo or three hundred men Avere at work, hauUng the broken stone in hand-cars, or breaking them in the shelter of natural caves in the side of the hill, ^ye pressed on, passed the village of lepers, whose houses are stuck like swallows' nests in the interstices of a solitary mass of rock, and at length entered the town by a long, low, gloomy gate. CHAPTER XI. OUB IMPKISONMKXT AT UIIITUYMN08. We looked upon Rhithymnos as a port of refuge after our stormy journey, and it was therefore a matter of some importance to decide wliere we should go. The Pasha had given me letters to the Turkisli Governor and the Greek Bishop. As a Protestant, I was equally an infidel in the eyes of both, but tlie Turk is more hospitable than the Greek, everywhere, and the Bishop, besides, was fa- mishing in the leanness of his Lent ; so I directed Hadji Bey to conduct us to the Governor. We passed through a street of bazaars, wholly Moslem in appearance, and soon reached the residence of the Kdimakan^ Khalini Bey, neai the port. He was absent at the Council, but a servant — ftt a hint from our Hadji — conducted us to a large, unfur- nished room, one-half of which was a dais, covered with straw matting, and had our baggage brought up. Soon afterwards the Governor arrived. Pie v.-as a stout mnn of about fifty, "with an open, pleasant countenance. He was a native of Monastir, in Macedonia, but hag OUn IMPRISONMENT AT UIIITUYMNOS. ll.J served iu Syria and Egypt, and even spent some montlis in Paris. He shook hands cordially, ushered us uito his divan, a low, barely-furnished room, and then read the Pasha's letter. I begged him to assist us in obtain ing lodgings in the town, but he declared at once that he would be greatly mortified if we thought of leaving Ilia house. He considered us his guests, and would ieel highly honored if we would accept such poor quarters as he could give, so long as we might choose to stay. After making all allowance for Oriental exaggeration, there was still enough left to justify us in accepting the Governor's hospitable oflfer. P'ran9ois managed to hint delicately to him that we were almost famished, and an early dinner Avould be very acceptable. Coffee and pipes were at once ordered, and repeated again, Avith many apologies lor the delay, for a long time elapsed before dinner was announced. The table was set in our room, in quite the European style, with two large bottles of red Cretan wine. The meal was plentiful and good, although the dishes were mostly Turkish. We had soup, pillau, wild fennel, stewed in oil, a salad of spinach, kid with a eauce of eggs and lemon juice, and yaourt^ which I had not seen since my pilgrim;ige through Asia Minor. We retired to chibouks and coffee in the divan, and then ensued a long conversation between the Governor anfl Fran9oi8, in alternate Turkish and Greek. I imderstood enough of the latter language to see that F.'s remarks were dexterously turned to oiir advantage. He spoke of us as Beyzadehs^ or hereditary Beys. After giving an account of our vi^it to Khania and the very hospitable reception of 114 TBAVEL8 IN GllEKCE AND RUSSIA. the Pasha, he related our foi-mer travels in the East, and added something about my journeys in various paits of the world. The Governor was much pleased to learn that 1 was more interested in the country, its productions and people, than in its antiquities, concerning which he seemed to entertain no very high opinion. " But is that the Bey- zadeli's only object in travelling?" he asked. "Does he not get tired of going about the world so nmch ?" " Tell his Excellency," said I, " that there is nothing better than to know, from personal experience, the difterent nations of the earth ; to learn their languages, to observe their cha- racter, habits, and laws, and thus to find out what is good in each." " Mashallah, but that is true enough," was the answer. "And then," added Fran9ois, " whatever the Beyzadeh sees, or hears, or experiences, during the day, he writes down at night. Every day he writes, and takes all the papers home with him. You shoiUd just see him write! It would take three men to keep pace with him — his pen goes so fast. He has made more than sixty thousand books, all about his travels." " Stop !" said I, " explain to the Governor that I have written six books only, but that perhaps ten or fifteen thousand copies of each have been printed and sold." "I^old prdffmataf^^ (great things I ejaculated the Governor. " But," inquired the Secretary, " what does he make these books for ? why are so many of them sold?" "Don't you see," said Fran9ois, "that there are many millions of persons in America who cannot go over the world as the Beyzadeh does, but they want tc know about other countries. >Tow, when they buy one of OtlK IMPRISONMENT AT KHITHTMNOS. 115 ifiese Looks, they find in it all the papers which the Bey zarleh writes every night, and they know just as much aa he does." Tlie Governor exhibited much more than the ordinary Turkish intelligence, and was exceedingly curious to hear all the news of the world. Fortunately, he had consideration enough to retire early to his hai-em, and leave us to our beds. On the morrow, it still rained, in the same dreary, hope- less manner. The first thing we did was to discharge our lazy, ignorant, insolent Anagnosti, and his mules. .Ily was rogue enough to demand more than the price agreed upon in Khania, which was double what I had paid in Syria for horses. We counted out the proper sum, which he scorn ■ fully left l.ving upon the table, went out and got drunk, and then came back and took it. During a pause in the rain, the Governor sent a Serjeant with us to show us the fortress, one of those massive, irregular "Venetian affairs, for the construction of which lands were ruined and people robbed and starved. Over the gate, and in panels on / every bastion, was the proud lion of St. Mark, his head in every inst^ce knocked off by the Turks. Splendid bronze guns lay dismoimted on the raraj^arts, and even the neg- lected walls were cracking and falling in j^ieces. The amount of labor and treasure expended by Venice on fortifications is almost incredible. No wonder that the oppressed Cretans joyfully hailed the Turks as deliverers from her iron rule. We shed poetic tears over her fall — we prate of Turkish barbarism, Turkish oppression, Turkish vandalism, when it is really Venice tliat has despoiled and imi;overished th« Levant. Thank God that slie has fallen] lie TKAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. 8;iy I. Behead the winged lion — let the harlot, not the bride of the sea, sit in her ruined palaces, and lament, like Tyre, for the galleys that come no more, bringing tribute to her lust! The Governor issued from his harem at an early houi and came to join us at coffee. He had a China service, and gave us Turkish zerfs of delicate silver filagree work, as egg-cups. We had also hot milk with our coffee, and crisp rolls, covered with grains of sesame. I was a little sur- prised to find that his habits were so much Europeanized, but the truth leaked out that he was only imitating French cus- toms temporarily, on our account, tlie cups, plates, spoons, tfec, being borrowed for the occasion, some of one person and some of another. Two lieutenants of gend'armes, in their uniform, acted as waiters, getting free board in the Governor's house, in consideration of their services. Their wages were 150 and 300 piastres (^0 and $12) a month. At midday we had a breakfast, consisting of as many courses as the dinner, and composed of the same dishes. I sent ray letter of introduction to the Bishop, or Despot^ as he is termed. He was ill with rheumatism or gout, but sent word that he would receive us in the afternoon. The Governor politely accompanied us to his residence, lie was a stout, plethoric fellow of sixty, with large gray eyes, a venerable gray beard, and a countenance which expressed nitelligence, shrewdness, and coldness. We were enter- tained with preserved quinces and water, followed by pipe« and coffee. The conversation related principally to hi.s ailment, and is not worth repeating. Fran9ois was rather scandalized because I ignorantly used the ordinary G)eel OUR IMPRISONMENT AT RHITHYMNOS. 117 tbrm of address, "c eitgeneia sas''^ (your nobility) instead of ''your holiuess," in speaking to him. The attendants were young priests in apostolic hair and blue velvet jackets. The Despot was evidently suifering, and we made but a hort stay, congratulating ourselves, as we left, that we Lad made choice of the Governor for our host. Towards evening, we received a visit from Mr. Wood ward, the English engineer who had charge of the new road. He had been a year and a half in Crete, and seemed very glad to get a chance of speaking his own language again. His account of the people went very far to conlinn my own impressions. They are violently opposed to im- provement of any kind, and the road, especially, excited their bitterest hostility. They stole his flag-poles, tried to lireak his instruments, and even went so far as to attack his person. He was obliged to carry on the work undc the protection of a company of Albanian soldiers. The Cretans, he stated, are conceited and disputatious in their character, to an astonishing degree. His greatest difficulty \vith the laborers on the road was their unwillingness to be taught anything, as it wounds their vanity to confess that they do not know it already. They even advised him how to use his insti'uments. K a stone was to be lilted, eveiy man gave his advice as to the method, and the day would have been spent in discussing the diflferent proposals, if he had not cut them short by threatening to fine every man who uttered another word. Their pockets are the moat sensitive portion of their bodies, and even vanity gives way to preserve them. The law obliged the population .>r each district, in turn, to work nine dxys annually upon 118 TEATELS IN GBEECaS AND RUSSLV. the road, or commute at the rate of six piastres a day This was by no means an oppressive measure, yet men worth their hundreds of thousautls were found in the ranks of tlie laborers, in order to save the slight tax. Some of the villages were just beginning to see the advantage cf the road, and, had a few miles been complete*!, the engi- neer thought the opposition would be greatly diminished- Nothing but an enlightened despotism can accomplish any good with such a poi)ulation. In tlie evening, the British Consular Agent, an Ionian Greek, paid us a visit, and there was a long fumarium in the Governor's divan. The Agent, Avaxing confidential, began explaining to the Governor, how it was possible to cheat in selling oil. " When you buy your oil," said he, " get the largest cask you can find — the very largest that is made — and fill it. You must have it standing on end, with the cock quite at the bottom. When you sell an oka of it, the pressure forces it out in a very strong stream ; it becomes inflated with air, and the measure is filled with a less quantity of oil. You can make a gain of three per cent, in this way." He then went on to describe othe. methods by which, all together, the gain might be in- creased to fifleen or twenty per cent. Fran9ois becoming s.mpatient, cried out : " Now I see that the ancient Greeks were perfectly right, in having the same god foi merchants and thieves !" The Governor laughed heartily, but the Agent, considerably nettled, exclaimed ; " Do you mean to speak of me as a thief?" " No," answered Fi'an9ois, with the greatest coolness ; " I speak of you as a merchant." At this the Governor laughed still more OUR IMPRISONMENT IN RIIITIITMNOS. 119 loudly, and the discomfited Agent was obliged, by Oriental politeness, to laugh too. The same person attacked Frangois violently for his disbelief in the annual Easter miracle at Jerusalem, pro- claiming that the fire actually came down from IleavLn, and none but an infidel could doubt it. The belief in tliis blasphemous imposture, I may here remark, is almost nni versal among the Greeks. F., who has a hearty detesta- tion of all Christian paganism, broke out with, "A miracle, indeed ! I can perform as great a miracle with a lucifer match. Ask tlie patriarch of Jerusalem if he knows what phosphorus i-i ! If he can turn Mount Ida into a lump of cheese, so that we nan all cut from it as long as wo like, I should call that a miracle worth something — but you go to Jerusalem and })ay five hundred dollars to save your soul, by lighting a candle at his lying bit of wax !" The Gover- nor, who had been at Jerusalem, enjoyed the dispute, until he found the parties were getting too much excited, when he adroitly changed the subject. On Monday morning the weather changed, but for the worse. A violent storm of wind and rain set hi, which continued the whole day and night, and the greater part of the next day, making us compulsory guests of the (Tovernor. I was at first rather embarrassed at this long trespass upon his hospitality, but finding he was quite wealthy, and judging that our visit was rather a pleasant mterruption to the monotony of his life, than otherwise, resigned myself to our fate. His kindness and courtesy, in fiict, never flagged, and we should have been much more comfortable had he been less anxious to show ua 120 Tl'.AVKLS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. attention. After coffee, we must sit in liis divan until the nour for Council arrived. On his return therefrom, lie sent to let us know, and ask if we would not take a jtipo with him. The afternoon was passed in the same manner and the evening devoted entirely to pipes and conversa- tion. Our room was so cold and leaky, that our only alter native was the divan and its restraints. Seeing, on Tues- lay, that there was no hope of change in the weather, I \ roposed to engage mules for Megalokastron, or Candia, but the Governor refused to send for them. " What would the Pasha say," said he, " if I should let you depart now ? No, you are here, and here you shall stay until the weather is better." On the fifth morning, finally, when the storm had somewhat abated, although a heavy sea thundered on the beach, I prevailed upon him to order mules for us. With the aid of Fran9ois, I managed to give the Gover- nor a tolerably clear idea of our country and its form of government, and to obtain from him, in return, some infor- mation concerning the administration of Crete. The only tax, it appears, is that paid in kind, by the agricultural population — one-tenth of the produce. Not only is there no direct tax on real estate, but trade of all kinds is entirely rixempt, and pays nothing. In Greece, the burdens are much heavier, fon* the agricultural tax is the same, and in addition, all sorts of trades and occupations are made to pay heavily for their license. The revenue of Crete is about half a million of dollars annually, which is just about suflicient to pay the expenses of its Government. Were a just and equal system of taxation introduced, the revenue •night be doubled without oppressing the people The OUR ntPRISONMENT IN EHITHYMNOS. 121 du-eot tendency of the present system is to discourage thfl most important branch of industry. Crete is one of the richest islands in the Mediterranean, and there is no reason why it should not support now, as it once did, a population of a milUon. We often hear it stated that the reforms which the Sut tan has sanctioned, are only so many paper proclamations, wliich are never actually put in force. This has been very much the case in European Turkey and Asia-Minor, here- tofore, but a new order of things is commencing. The Hattihumayoon, or bill of Religious Liberty, promulgated just two years previous, was in full force in Crete at the time of my visit. Singularly enough, the greatest opposi- tion to it arose from the Christian, not the Turkish, popu- lation. A conspiracy was already on foot to procure the removal of Vely Pasha, because while he had allowed two hundred and f(yrty families of Cretan Turks to embrace Christianity, he had protected some five or six Christians who voluntarily became Moslems, from the fanaticism of the Greek mob. " In Europe," said he to me, " we are called fanatical and intolerant, but I sincerely think we are less so than the Oriental Christians. I consider the HattJ- humayoon a just and necessary measure, and am deter mined to keep it in force, and it is discouraging to find that the very people who are the most benefited by it, con- spire to thwart me." He had given, under the Sultan's direction, 100,000 piastres towards the building of the new Greek Cathedral in Khania. What Christian government ever helped to build a mosque ? What Catholic country ever gave funds to a Protestant Church ? Let us, heredi- 122 TRAVELS IN GliEBCE AND EUSSIA. tary Pharisees that we are, leara a lesson of Christian tolerance from the infidel ! On the sixth morning we broke away from Rhithymno^ against the good Governor's will. But five days had exhausted our patience, and some gleams of sunshine, touching with gold the solitary snowy cone of the Cretan Ida, set us in motion. Our destination was the Grotto of Melidoni, then the ruins of Gortynna, and the conjectTired site of the famous Labyrinth. CHAPTER XII. IBS CAVERNS, MOUNTAINS, AND LABTh #i df 8 OF CEETE. The village of Melidoni, where we stopped on the i»tter- noon of our departure from Rhithymnos, lies in the midst of a very beautiful and fertile valley, between Mount Ida and a group of barren hills on the coast. It was a very flourishing place before the Revolution, but is now for the most part a heap of ruins. The houses are built on a flat foundation of solid rock. We threaded the narrow lanes to a sort of cafe, where a group of lazy villagers were col- lected, and waited while Iladji Bey went off to summon the Governor. The latter came after a while, looking flushed and bewildered; he had been drunk, and was trying to appear as if he had not been. He was quite a young man and a brother of one of the Pasha's secretaries. He imme- diately treated us to coffee of burnt barley, and then con- ducted us to his house, which had an upper room, dry and tolerably decent. It was too late to visit the celebrated grotto of Melidoni, which is in the side of a mountain tc 124 TRAVELS IN QREECK AND RUSSIA. the westward, so I went upon the house-top, and succeeded in getting a sketch of Mount Ida, between the showers of rain. It rose in one splendid, sweeping peak of unbroken snow, from a base of lower summits, girdling the central cone. Under tliese, again, were bare and bleak masses, glooming blue and purple in the shadows of heavy clouds, while Ida shone ^^'ith an angry lustre in the streaks of sun- set light which came and went, as we gazed. This was our only near view of the glorious mountain, though we after- wards scaled many of its rugged buttresses. Ismail Bey, the Governor, gave us a good dinner in the evemng, with many apologies that he could not entertain us more woithily. Tlie Greek priest and some subordinate officials came to pay their respects, and the former very courteously assisted the servants in waiting upon the table. His own fare was confined to olives and some of ourWv iar, but he drank his share of the wine, and heaped our platf«s with the forbidden flesh. We had already given u^j eating ham, except in a raw state, out of consideration for Iladji Bey, who was nearly starved whenever we had any of it cooked. Noticing that he looked with a longing eye at the wine, Fran9ois offered him a glass. He had previously declined, like a good Mussulman, but this time he said, "If you will not report it at Khania,'' and swallowed the beve- rage with great satisfaction. The most genial and fraternal spirit pervaded the party, and there was every evidence of the truth of what I had heard — that the Christians and Turks of Crete, in the villages, live together in the most amicable manner. It is not always easy to distinguish them, outwardly. Many of the Turks have Christian names, and THE CAVBENS, MOUNTAINS, ETC., OF CKETE. 126 even have their children baptized by the Christian priests. There is little of that bitterness of feeling between them which exists in other parts of the Ottoman Empire. In the course of the evening, the priest asked me : " Did Youi Brilliancies come to Crete in your own steamer, or did you hu'e one of the Austrians?" The Governor gave us his own bed, and retired to lodge in a friend's house. He was very anxious that I should take his portrait, and I could do no less than comply, in the morning. The like- ness was admitted by all the villagers to be veiy good, but he was greatly disappointed because I did not represent his light-blue undercoat, which Avas covered by another of a darker color 1 His secretary, a Christian, stood near me, and veiy kindly suggested what colors I should use. Some drawings of seajjorts which he had made were pasted on the walls, and, thinking that he might have some little talent that way, I explained to him that his houses should be made with upright lines, or they would appear to be tum- bling down; but no, he knew better, the houses were right. He knew all about drawing, and nobody could teach him anything. "We walked up to the cave in the rain, accompanied by three or four of the villagers. Notwithstanding the entrance is in full view from the valley, they lost their way in climbing the mountain. The grotto of Mehdoni is said to be almost equal, in extent and beauty, to that of Anti" paros. It was dedicated of old to the TaUgean Hermes, in an inscription which is said stiU to exist, near the entrance, although I looked in vain for it. In modern times, it haa obtained a melancholy notoriety from the fate of the inha 126 TEA.VELS IN GKEECE AND KUSSIA. bitants of Melidoni, who took refuge in it during the rebel lion against the Turks. In 1822, when Hussein Bej marched upon the village, the inhabitants, to tne numbei of three hundred, took refuge in the cave, taking with them their valuables, and provisions sufficient for six months. The entrance is so narrow and steep that they were perfectly secured against an attack, and the Turks, in their first attempt, lost twenty-five men. Finding that they refused submission on any terms, Hussem Bey ordered a quantity of combustibles to be brought to the entrance and set on fire. The smoke, rolling into the cavern in immense volumes, drove the miserable fugitives into the remoter chambers, where they lingered a little while longer, but were all eventually suffocated. The Turks waited some days, but still did not dare to enter, and a Greek captive was finally sent down, on the promise of his life being spared. The Turks then descended and plundered the bodies. A week afterAvards, three natives of the vUlage stole into the cavern to see what had become of their friends and relatives. It is said that they were so over- come by the terrible spectacle, that two of them died within a few days. Tears afterwards, when the last ves- tiges of the insurrection had been suppressed, the Arch- bishop of Crete blessed the cavern, making it consecrated gi'ound, and the bones of the victims were gathered together and partially covered up, in the outer chambei*. After crawling under the low arch of the entrance, we found ourselves at the toja of a very steep and slippery plane, about fifty yards in depth. The descent was a mat- tar requiring precaution, especially as the vaiilted roof kepi THE CAVBRNS, MOUNTAINS, ETC., OV CliSTB. 12 < the same level, and our wax tapers were more and moi € feeble in the yawning gloom. At last, we reached a level floor, and found ourselves in a vast elliptical hall, about eighty feet in height, and propped in the centre by an enormous stalactitic pillar. On all sides, the stalactites hung like fluted curtains from the very roof, here,in broad, sheeted masses, there dropping into single sharp folds, but all on a scale of Titanic grandeur. As our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, the roof expanded into loftiei arches, and through the Gothic portals opening on our left gleamed spectrally the pillars of deeper halls. Kounded bases of stalagmite arose on all sides, some almost within reach of the giant icicles which grew downward to meet them, while a few others had already touched, and re< sembled a water-spout, the column of which is about to part in the middle. Under these grand and silent arches, under the black banners of eternal Night, lay heaped the mouldering skulls and bones of the poor Christians. They could not have had a more appropriate sepulchre. Following our guides, we entered a smaller hall, superbly hung Avith di-apery of gleaming alabaster, and then, crawl- ing along a low passage and down an almost perpendicula* descent of about fifteen feet, found ourselves in the great hall of the cavern, which is 150 feet long and about 100 feet high. The rock is almost entirely hidden under the immense masses of stalactite, which here take the wildest and most startling forms. Indeed, as a specimen of stalac- titic formation, the cavern sm-passes anything which I have ever seen. The floor of the last hall is composed of large masses of rock which have fallen from above, and descends 128 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND BUSSIA. rapidly to the further end, where there are three smaL chambers. Here the last of the victims perished, reached even there by the stifling fumes of sulphur and resin kindled at the mouth of the cave. Skulls rolled away under our feet, and on one of the stalagmites lay a long, thick braid of woman's hair. The atmosphere was heavy and stifling, and a sickening odor of mortality still exhaled fron the ghastly remains. We returned to the entrance hall, and then explored another branch, which terminates in a deep pit, down which you see the iiuted white curtams, fold falling behind fold — the roof, apparently, of still deeper halls, which have never yet been explored. Many of the largest stalactites were broken off by the earthquake which desolated Crete in October, 1856. Another beautiful ap- pearance in this part of the cavern was that of a series of frozen cascades, falling in broad, thin sheets from the horizontal shelves of rock. Greatly as we were impressed by these wonders, however, we were not sorry when our exploration was at an end, and we could climb the slippery plane to daylight again. Ismail Bey had in the meantime killed a fine turkey for us, and we were obliged to postpone our departure until it was cooked. The priest again ate with us, and compla cently munched his olives while we attacked the succulent quarters of the fowl which the Governor laid before us. At noon, we started in the rain for Axos, the distance whereaf from Melidoui it was impossible to ascertain, some saying it was two, some three, and some six hours. A violent dis* cussion at once arose, and I became convinced that if the Cretans are not liars, according to Epimenides and St THE CAVERNS, MOUNTAINS, ETC., OF CRETE. 12& Paul, they at least call themselves so. Our road, for some distance, led through a wild, broken, but remarkably fertile region, through orchards of immense olive, interspersed with clumps of plane and crab-trees, the former completely overgrown with gigantic grape-vines. Some of the olive- trunks were full six feet in diameter, showing an age of from ten to fifteen centuries. The ground was strewed with limbs broken off by the snow. This forcible pruning, however, will rather benefit the trees than otherwise, as the people are in the habit of leaving them entirely to nature, when, by judicious pruning, their yield might be greatly increased. Seven years ago, the olive-trees in Attica were so much injured by a cold winter, that it was necessary to cut off all the tops. For two or three years, the people lost their crops, but now the trees produce as they have never done before. In the district of Melidoni, during the winter, upwards of 12,000 sheep and goats had perished from the cold. We at last came upon the large, rapid river of Axos, the ** rapidum Gretoe veniemus Oaxen'''* of Virgil, which we were obliged to ford twice. Passing a picturesque foun- tain, shaded by plane-trees, we climbed up a steep, rocky hill to the village of Gharazo. This place, which is cele brated for the beauty of its women, contains many fine old ruined buildings, apparently of the Venetian time. The three women we saw were hideous creatures, greatly to our disappointment. We stopped at the house of the captain of t^ie village, where Iladji Bey vrished us to halt for the night, as the rain was increasing, but the captain cruelly 88)' d to him : " I wish you would pay me for the last time 180 TEAVKLS IN GREECE AJ^D EUSSIA. you were here." I determined to push on to Axos, but ae everybody gave us a different direction, we were obliged to hire a villager as guide. Hadji Bey was rather disconsolate at the prospect, and sang no more of his doleful songs of love that day. We now commenced ascending the north- em spurs of Ida, and the scenery was of the wildest and grandest kind, though dreary enough in the pelting rain, which increased every hour. AU the steep mountain slopes, far and near, were covered with vineyards, which produce the excellent red Cretan wine. There are fortunes to be made by some one who has enterprise and skill enough to undertake the business of properly preparing and exporting the wines of Crete. The vines, I learned, are much more exempt from disease than in Greece and the Ionian Islands. They are subject, however, to the ravages of a caterpillar, for the expulsion of which, when all other means have failed, a singular superstition is employed. The insects are formally summoned to appear before the judicial tribunal of the dis- trict, in order to be tried for their trespasses, and the fear of a legal prosecution, it is believed, will cause them to cease at once from their ravages ! K this be true, cater pillars are the most sagacious of vermin. In some parts of Crete, a not less singular remedy is applied. It is one of those peculiar customs which most travellers, hke th historian Gibbon, express " in the decent obscurity of a learned language ;" but I do not know why I should not say that the remedy consists in an immodest exposure on the part of the women, whereat the worms are so shocked that they drop from the vines, %vi'iggle themselves into the THE CAVERNS, MOUNTAINS, m'C, OF CRETE. 13i After riding for nearly two hours along a lofty con b, we approaclied the wild gorge once crowned by the ancient Axos, through scattering groves of fine oak-trees. The only ruins in the modern village are a Byzantine chapel and some Roman brick-work, but there is a small fragment of Ctclopean wall on the summit above. We rode at once to the captain of the village, who invited us into his house, or rather den, for it was a long, low pile of stones, heaped against a rock, without window or chimney. The interior was divided into several compartments, some for beasts and some for men — the former being more comfort- able than the latter. We crept into the dark hovel, where we were at least secure against the rain, except such as came through two holes in the roof, out of which a portion of the smoke escaped. The captain, an old Christian, dirty enough to be a saint of the Greek Church, and with a long, venerable white beard, kindled a fire to dry our Avet clothes, giving us the alternative of either being blinded by the smoke or returning into the rain. Finally, the wet wood burned into coals, Fran9ois fried some eggs, the tillage supplied excellent wine, and we made our hermitage as endurable as possible. The captain, whom we were obliged to invite to dinner, made inroads upon our stock of caviar^ the only thing he dared eat. He had a spacious bedroom, which we hoped to occupy ; but he had not yet learned Turkish hospitality, and we were obliged to sleep in the kitchen, with the rain trickling through the roof ipon our heads. A number of the villagers came during fche evening, to stare at us, and ask questions. We endea- vored to get some information from them respecting the 132 TKA-VELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. road to Hersfcleon, but finally gave up the attempt ha despair. Frangois completely lost his patience, and pro tested that in the whole course of his life he had never lodged in such holes, or been brought into contact with sach a rascally get of people. St. Paul, referring to the Cretan poet Epimenides, says : " One of themselves, even a prophet of their own said. The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true." It is just as true at the present day, as applied to the Cretan Christians, and to many, but not all, of the Turks. I scarcely know which disgusted me more, during the jom-ney — the beastly manner of life of the Cretans and their filthy bodily habits, or their brazen falsehood and egregious vanity. In the morning, it rained as before, but I was determined to leave Axos, even if we had to take refuge in a similar den. The muleteers, nevertheless, refused to stir. " Kill us, if you like," they said, " but we will not move in such weather." I gave them until noon to decide, declaring that I should then take a mule, ride to HeracJeon, and return for them with half-a-dozen Albanian soldiers. Fran- 9ois, however, employed the more potent argument of a jug of wine, and, in proportion as they grew wet within, they became indifferent to the Avet without. At noon, they were ready. The villagers brought us a great number ot coins, Greek, Roman, Arabic and Venetian ; they were mostly obliterated, but I succeeded in finding some copper pieces with the symbols of ancient Axos upon them. The captain demanded an exorbitant price for the use of hip house, and the quarrel which ensued made us regret agair THE CAVKRNS, MOUNTAINS, ETC., OF CRETE. 13S that we were not among the Turks. We had engaged a man as guide to the next village of Kamariotes, and when we were about to start, he coolly turned to the villager? and asked : " Which way must I go ? I never Avas there but once, and that was in the night !" He had previously told us that he knew every step of the road. We passed through the gap behind Axos, and then turned eastward into the heart of the wild, barren moim- tains. It was no road, but a stony ladder, which we traversed, and any animal but a Cretan mule would have broken his neck in the first half mile. We kept along one of the spurs of Ida, near the line of snow, through a dreary wilderness, for two hours, when we reached the next village. It was a miserable forlora place, and the lanea between the houses were so deep in snow that it was impossible to pass through them. We learned, however, that there was another place, called Asterakia, three or four miles fm-ther, and determined to push on. Upon hearing this announcement, Hadji Bey, whose whining love-plaints had already been soaked out of him, became desperate. " I forbid you," he shouted to Frangois ; " / have charge of the Beyzadehs, and they shall stop here !" We laughed, turned our mules' heads, and went on, whis- tling. Looking back, after we had gone half a mile, we saw the Hadji and the baggage mules following us in sad, funereal procession. After crossing another ridge, a long oheerful valley, sprinkled with groves of noble oaks, brought as to Asterakia — " The Little Star," but a more appropriate name would be " The Little DunghiU." We Avent into the captain's house. The firat room wm 134 TltAVKLS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. a stable, containing two asses and four pigs, fhrougb this we reached a small windowless den, where two of the ancient Muses were baking bread, while a sick man lay upon a floor, under a heap of thorny furze. The women seemed angry at our intrusion, and I sent Fran9oi8 to seek other lodgings, but he soon returned, saying that this was a palace compared to the other dwellings. The captain, who Avas very anxious that we should st;iy, gave his com- mands, and the tragic Muses immediately became comic, in their cheerfulness. We gave some advice to the sick man, who had a violent cold, with some fever, but the women said : " It is no use giving him anything ; if he don't get well, he will die." They baked their bread in a small oven, heated with dry broom and furze. The neigh- bors came in to witness our dinner, and partake of our caviar, which was an unheard-of delicacy in those parts. They were a lively, good-humored set, but had the same tatal inability to answer a question. I asked one how far it was to Heracleon, but he answered that he had never been there in all his life. "We were now, fortunately, M-ithin an easy day's joumey of the town, and when the morning dawned with a lower- jig sky, but without rain, we encountered no opposition from our guard and attendants. The road led over wild mountain ridges for some miles, when we struck upon the hasiliko dromos^ or Royal Road, from Rhithymnos to Ueracleon. It is an old Venetian way, roughly paved in parts, so that the rugged mountain side is preferred by tluj mules. At last, from a ridge at the foot of StrombolL a conspicious conical peak, we saw the sea again, and the THE CAVERNS, MOUNTAINS, ETC., OP CRETE. 13c. warm, green plain of Candia, lying far below us. To the eouth-east, out of the plain, rose the dark, isolated mass of Mount Juktas, the sepulchre of Jupiter. Behind us, under the eaves of the clouds, glimmered the snows of Ida, his birthplace. The remains of the tomb of the " Father of gods and men," who was worshipped in Crete as late aa the eighth century, are still to be seen on the summit of Juktas — a parallelogram of hewn stones, eighty feet in length. Eleven days of continuous rain had given us a surfeit of Cretan travel, besides which the mountain roads were becoming impassable, and the streams too high to be forded. I therefore renounced my project of visiting the ruins of Gortyna, on the southern side of Mount Ida. In themselves, the remains of the ancient city are insig- nificant, but in the adjacent mountain there is an excava- tion, known all over Crete as "Tlie Labyrinth." TVe know that the famous labyrinth constructed by Dadalus was in the vicinity of Cnossus, the site of which is about three miles from Heracleon, and plainly \'isible from its walls. There are numerous caves in the neighboring hills, which may have given rise to the tradition ; but the labyrinth of GortjTia is undoubtedly a work of art. It is of great extent, and the exploration of it is a work of some danger, owing to the number and intricacy of the various passages. The English engineer at Rhithymnos, who explored it by means of a bag of chaff, which he scattered as he went, considers it to have been a quarry. The natives are frequently bewildered and lost in it, and hence they never enter it without fear. This place exliibiip 136 TKAVKLS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. certainly all the characteristics of the fabulous labyrinth except its location. On the latter ground, I believe antiquaries reject it entirely. The symbol on the coins of Gortyna is Europa and the bull, while those of Cnossus have a groimd-i)lan of the labyrinth on the obverse. I procured one of the latter at Axos. I learned that a splendid sarcoi^hagus had been recently exhumed near Hierapetra (the ancient Hieraptyna), on the southern shore of the island. The sides contain bas-reliefs representing the combat for the shield of Achilles. It was at Arvi, near the same place that the sarcophagus with the triumphal procession of Bacchus, now in the Museum at Oxford, was found. It would be a veiy easy matter, said ray informant, to get possession of this interesting relic, and smuggle it out of the island. I mention this fact for the benefit of those especially interested in such matters. CHAPTER XIII. TWO DAYS WITH AN ARCHBISHOP. The chief city of Crete is knowTi in Europe by its Ve- netian name of Candia, which during the Middle Ages was applied to the whole island. The country people, however, invariably speak of it as Megalo-kastron, or the Great Fortress, while the educated Greeks, both in Crete and elsewhere, have restored the ancient name of Hera- cleion, which was a small seaport, near Cnossus. Of these names, the latter is preferable, and I therefore employ it. Both among Greeks and Turks, the island has always retained the name of " Crete," instead of the bastard Ve- netian name of " Candia," which is only just beginning to be relinquished in Europe, The latter word is never heard in the Orient, and we have no longer any right to use it. I have given the classic name as the only correct one. At Heracleion, as at Rhithynmos, I was provided with a double recommendation, through the kindness of Vely Pasha, and the choice of taking up my abode either with 138 TRAVELS UV GREECE AND RUSSIA. the Turkish Governor, or the venerable 3Ietropolitan (Archbishoij) of Crete. The hate manifested towards tht latter by the bigoted Greek party in the island, and their intrigues to have hira removed by the Patriarch of the Church, at Constantinople, convinced me that he must be a good man, and I therefore determined to claim hia hospitality. We reached the city early in the afternoon, in a very battered and rusty condition, splashed with mud from head to foot, and, as we threaded the streets on our jaded mules, were the objects of general curiosity. Ti'avellers are yet so scarce in Crete as to be personages of some importance. Hadji Bey guided us to the Metropoli- tan's residence, a large, rambling building, with three sepa- rate court-yards, a chapel and large garden. His Holi- ness was not at home, but we were courteously received by Several priests and a secretary who spoke Italian. They at once appropriated a room to our iise, entertained us with pipes and coffee in the large audience room, and then considerately allowed us to withdraw and change our clothes. Presently the arrival of the Metropolitan was announced, and we found him waiting for us at the foot of the steps. His age was sixty-thi-ee ; he was a little under the medium height, but erect and commanding in his appearance, with large, intelligent, benevolent gray eyes, a strong, straight, Albanian nose, and a majestic silver beard, which fell to his girdle. He wore a long, cinnamon-colored robe, over which was a dark-green pelisse, trimmed with fur, and the usual round black cap of the Greek priesthood, which somewhat resembles an inverted sauoe-kettle. There was ■nVO DATS WITU AN ARCHBISHOP, 13£ no fear of mistranslating the look of welcome upon thai reverend face, or the cordial grasp of his extended hand. The extent of his hospitality wiU be better understood when I state (what we only learned on leaving) that he had made preparations for his departure into the interior on the morrow, and immediately postponed the journey on our account. Still holding my hand, he led us up-staira to the divan, called for glyko (sweets) ^a delicious jelly of strawberries prepared at Constantinople — pipes of the finest Rumeli tobacco, and coffee. I then gave him the Pasha's letter and a few lines of greeting from Elizabeth of Crete. With Frangois' help — as it was rather a delicate subject — I said to him that we would not trespass upon his hosj^i' tality further than to make use of the room allotted to us, as we were provided with every other requisite. He ap parently acquiesced, to our great satisfaction, and I dis- patched Frangois to give into the charge of some Turkish baker, for cooking, a brace of hares which we had picked up at Asterakia. Shortly afterwards, however, when we had retired from the audience, two priests came to bring us back again, stating that we were to occupy the divan. I protested, but in vain. The Metropolitan would hear of nothing else, and as the evenings were still cool, he ordered a huge mangaly or brazier of coals, upon which were laid strips of lemon peel, to neutralize the gas and perfume the apartment. It was a lofty, spacious room, with a raised seat covered with damask at tlie further end, and a thick straw matting on the floor. The only ornaments were some Byzantine pictures of the Sacrifice of Abraham, the 140 TRAVELS IK GREECE AND RUSSIA. IVIurder of Abel, and Joseph's adventure with Potiphar'e wife — singular ornaments for an ecclesiastical residence As I was resigning myself to this hospitality and its conse quent restraints, the Metropolitan stated that dinner would 80on be ready. So it appeared that we were doomed tc eat at his table, also. Dinner with an Archbishop, in the- midst of Lent! We were desperately hungry, and the hares, I thought, must be nearly done by this time. Fare weE, visions of the savory roast, and the odoriferous stew ! Garlic and pulse are our portion. It was after dark when we Avere summoned, and descend- ed together to a lower room, where the Metropolitan sat down to the table with us, while two priests stood by to wait upon us. There were two salads, a plate of olives, and some bread. We groaned in spirit, as we thought of the flesh-pots of Egypt — as the officials of a European Court groaned, Avhen they beheld an American Mmister's temperance breakfast. Enforced holiness is even worse than enforced teetotalism. The priests handed us j)lates of soup. Hot gruel, I thought ; but no, it had a flavor of chicken, and before the plates were emptied, a heretical boiled fowl was placed under my very nose. Then, O miracle ! marched in our bares, drij^ping with balmy sauce — cooked as never hares were cooked before. Meanwhile the ruby blood of Ida gushed in our glasses, and we real- ized in its fullest sense the unreasonableness of Lent — how much more contented, grateful, and recognizant one feela when feasting than when fasting. I could not help ejacu- lating, in all sincerity, ^'■Doxasi 'o theos!^^ All this time, the good old man was contentedly eating rWO DAYS WITH AN ARCHBISHOP. 141 his salad a? I olives. "This is liberal and truly Christian,' I said to Frangois. "Oh," replied that worthy, "his Holiness V as sense enough to know that we are no better than atbeJsts." In fact I do not doubt that, in the eyes of the two attendant priests, we were utterly lost. During the whole of our stay, we fared sumptuously The table groaned twice a day under its weight of fish, flesh, and fowl, and, so far fi-oin being shocked, the Metro- politan benevolently smiled upon our mountain appetites. I explained to him that the Protestants eschewed outward observances of this kind, considering that the fast should be spiritual and not bodily. In order to make the matter clearer to him, I referred to St. Paul's remarks on the sub- ject of circumcision. "I understand it very well," he replied, " but we cannot do otherwise at present. My health suffers under the observance, but if I were to violate it, I should be chased from my place at once." I must confess I have a higher reverence for the vu'tue of hospi- tality than we seem to set upon it at present. When a Turk regales a Christian with ham (as it happened at Athens the same winter), when a lenten priest roasts his turkey for you, when an advocate of the Maine Law gives his German friend a glass of wine, when some of my own anti-tobacco friends at home allow me to smoke a cigar in the back-kitchen with the windows open, there is a sacrifice of self on the altar of common humanity. True hospitality involves a consideration for each other's habits — not our ex- cesses, mind you, but our usual habits of life — even when they differ on such serious grounds as I have mentioned. But I have dined with Vegetarians who said, " Meat is un whole- 142 TBAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. some, so my conscience will not let me give it to you," or with the Ventilators, who proclaimed that "fires in bod rooms are deleterious" — and I have been starved and frozen. The Metropohtan, finding that I spoke a very little Greek, insisted on dispensing with the aid of an interpreter. The purity of his accent, after the harsh Cretan dialect, in fact, made it comparatively easy for me to understand him, but it kept my brain constantly on the stretch to follow the course of his conversation, and to find suitable repUes, He was a native of Epirus, of which province he was Bishop for ten years, before coming to Crete. He was therefore, of Slavonic, not Hellenic blood. It is well known that Bishoprics and Archbishoprics in the Greek Church are marketable commodities in the hands of the Patriarch, and Frangois says, with how much truth I know not, that our host's place cost him 300,000 piastres ($12,000). It seemed certain, however, that he would not be allowed to keep it long — he was far too enlightened and progressive for the owls and bats who haunt the darkness of Eastern Christi- anity. His first act was to establish a school at Heracleion, and already sixteen hundred children of both sexes were receiving instruction in it. All his influence had been exerted in persuading the monasteries of Crete, which are the very hives of indolence and rapacity, to establish schools for the peasantry with a portion of their ample revenueM ; but only three or four of them consented to do so. In his endeavors, also, to assist Vely Pasha in carrying into force the JSattihumayoun, be incurred the hostility of the ultra- Greek party, who called him, in derision, the "Tiirko- polite." It was very cheering to light upon M evidence TWO DAYS WITH AN ARCHBISHOP. 143 of true progress, in the midst of tlie disheartening esperi ences which constantly meet the traveller in Greece and the Oiient. But what availed all his efforts ? In six months aftei our visit, he was dead, Vely Pasha was dismissed, and Europe was satisfied. The day after our arrival, the Metropolitan accompanied us on a walk through the city. The place was totally de- stroyed by an earthquake in the year 1856, between five and six hundred people perishing in the ruins. Advantage of this has been taken, in rebuilding, to widen the streets and improve the general plan of the town, though not to such an extent as the Government designed, on account of the violent opposition of the people. One sees everywhere heaps of ruins. As we walked through the streets, followea by the two secretaries, the tradesmen and mechanics in the bazaars saluted the Metropolitan by rising to their feet, and in return he gave them his benediction by lifting two fingers. We first called upon the Turkish Governor, a young man, whom I should have set down anywhere as an American, from his face. He offered us house, horses, and everything else in his power, but we only accepted an ofiicer as guide to the fortifications and the old Venetian arsenal. The former are of immense strength and solidity, and the bronze guns of St. Mark still grin through the embrasures of the sea-wall. The port is quite small, and partly choked up with sand. It is pi-otected by a mole, which is tumbling down, with a deserted fort at the extremity. Considerable commerce is carried on with other ports of the Levant, and even with England, the principal exports being soap, oil, wine, silk, and wool. 144 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. The arsenal is one of the most curious relics of the ]\Iid die Ages which I have ever seen. It is a massive stone building in tlie Palladian style. One side was thrown down by the earthquake, and the other walls cracked in many places from top to bottom, but fortimateiy not beyond the possibility of repair. It is completely stored with ai*ms of all kinds, heaped together in great piles and covered with rust. Scores of cannon, with their cai-riages, lean against the walls ; great haystacks of swords rise above one's head ; heavy flails, studded with spikes, lances, arquebusses and morning-stars are heaped in dusty confusion along the length of the dark hall. In the upper story is a space evi- dently devoted to trophies taken in war. To every pillar is affixed a wooden shield with a Latin motto, j-round which are hung helmets, pikes, rapiers, and two-handed swords. There are also a multitude of tents, cordage, and kettles of balsam, which was used in makino: plasters for the wounded. Everything appears to be very much in the same condition as it was left by the Venetians, two centuries ago. The officers gave me leave to select an arrow from the sheaves of those weapons, cautioning me, however, not to scratch myself with the point, as many of them were poisoned. The Metropolitan's secretary, who longed for a Christian relic, secretly slipped one of them up his sleeve and carried it off. We then visited the Venetian cathedral, afterwards a mosque, and now, owing to the earthquake, a beautiful ruin. While I sketched it, the two secretaries who stood near, conversed about us. "How is it," asked one, "that the Americans have Hellenic faces ? The officers of the frigate TWO DATS WITH AN ARCHBISHOP. 14fc Congress all looked like ancient Greeks, and so do these two !" The remark v.\as evidently intended to be overheard, for notliiug could be further from the truth. We had at last sunshine again, and the twenty palms of Heracleion waved in the balmy au*, which brought them greeting from the near Libyan shore. Ida rose unclouded m the west, its superb pinnacle just visible aboA'e its buttresses of gilded snow, while over the warm wheat-plains and the low hill of Cnossus towered Juktas in lonely grandeur, as if proud to be the sepulchre of Jove. I projected a ride thither, but the Thunderer's tomb was not to be trodden by profane feet : the snow still lay deep on the summit, and the monks of the monastery of Arkhanic, at its base, reported that the mountain was inaccessible. We went the romid of the schools in company with the Metropolitan, who introduced us both to teachers and scholars, making a short address to each class. The more advanced boys were reading Xenopbon, which they parsed and explained with great glibness. I was delighted to see such a number of bright, intelligent faces, especially among the younger boys. Their eager, earnest expression was an evidence that their attendance was not compulsory. The Metropolitan was kind enough to translate a few words to them, for me, and I really felt, as I told him, that such a sight was better than a ruined temple. He informed me that Vely Pasha intended establishing a school in the city, in which both Greek and Turldsh children were to be taught together, and I was very glad to find that he was himself Htrongly in favor of the measure. But if this plan evei succeeds, it will be in spite of the Ch-eek population. 146 TKAVELS IN QEEECE AOT) rwTJSSIA. Outside tlie walls, there is a separate village for the lepers, as at Rliithf liinos. These unhappy creatures are obliged to leave their native villages as soon as the disease makes its appearance, and consort with those who are cut off from intercourse with the healthy population by the same fate. The disease, in Crete, although presenting nearly the same features as in Norway, is slower in its operation and less hideous in its appearance. It is not considered contagious, as there are many instances on the island of a leprous man being married to a sound woman, and the reverse, without communicating the disease. The children of such unions are sometimes healthy, even. The number of lepers in Crete is upward of 1,200, and is at present on the increase, the disease invading even Sfakia, where it has hitherto been \mknown. It has been ascribed, as in Nor- way, to the use of salt fish, together with excessive quanti- ties of oil, and especially new oil, which has a fiery, acrid quality, which it loses after a few months. The filthy ha- bits of life of the Cretans no doubt assist in developing the disease. The Medical Inspector of Heracleion, a French physician, informed me that all his endeavors to cure or check it had been in vain. He was very decided in the opinion that it was not contagious. He mentioned to me, as a very curious fact, that venereal diseases are unknown on the island The same gentleman was weU acquainted wdth Sfakia, and his enthusiastic description of tlie people made me more than ever regret that I could not have visited them. He considers them Cretans of unmixed blotd — the legiti- mate descendants of the ancient stock, asserting that they TWO DATS -WTTH A^ AECHBISHOP. 14 'J Btill retain all the physical marks of the old Hellenic race, both in face and form, tn fact, one sees more Greek facea m a day in Crete than during a year in Athens. But in the greater part of the island the type has been modified by additions of Saracenic, Venetian, and Turkish blood : only in the mountain fastnesses of Sfakia does the true race of Minos exist. "We left Heracleion in the Austrian steamer after a sojourn of sixteen days in Crete, and returned to Athens by way of Syra. Our parting with the noble old Metropo- litan was the parting from a revered friend, and Fran9ois, who acknowledged that he had at last found one priest worthy of his office, kissed devoutly the hand stretched ont to take his own. / / ^ CHAPTER XIV. THE EARTHQUAKE AT CORINTH. A WEEK after my return from Crete, I again left Athcni for a tour through the Peloponnesus, which I could not enter upon sooner on accoimt of the severity of the wea- ther. The party consisted of Braisted and myself, accom- panied by the indispensable Fran9ois, all three mounted on sturdy, plodding horses, and two baggage animals imder the charge of our agoyats^ Pericles and Aristides. We had the necessary store of provisions, with two beds, a camp-table and stools, without which it is still impossible to travel with any comfort in Greece. Athens is semi- civilized, but the greater part of the country remains in a state of comparative barbarism. The day of our departure augured a fortunate journey. It had stormed on the previous day, but now the azure pavement oi heaven shone new-washed in the beams of the rising sun, and all the sounds and colors of Spring were doubly fresh in the crystalline air. A cool wind blew from the west, and every tint of the landscape Avas retouebe. THE KARTHQUAKE AT COKINni. 149 and restored with the loveliest effect. The elder-trees iii the gai'deus had already put on their summer dress; the tall Grecian poplars stood in a green mist of blossoms; the Avillows dropped their first tresses of milky emerald, and the pink petals of the almond flowers showered upon the earth. The plain of Attica, over which we rode, through «he olive grove of the Academy, was like a paradise. The wheat was already high enough to ripple and shift its coloi in the wind, and the vines, among wliich tlie peasants were busily working, pruning the last year's shoots and heaping the earth between the rows, were beginning to put forth their leaves. As we turned, at the pass of Daphne, to take a farewell look at Athens, I was more than ever struck with the unrivalled position of the immortal city. The Acropolis is the prominent object in every view, and the rock-crested Lycabettus, with its pyramidal front, harmo- niously balances it on the north, both being exquisitely relieved against the blue background of Hymettus. I never saw a more superb sea-color than that of the Gulf of Salamis, as it shone in the distance, between the pale pinkish-gray walls of the pass. It was a dazzling, velvety blue-green, covered with a purple bloom, and shone with a semi-transparent lustre, like that of a dark sapphii'e. Neither brush nor pen could represent it. The Bcarlet anemones just opened, burned like coals of fire by the road-side, wild almonds and hawthorns hid their crooked boughs in a veil of blossoms, and the lily and asphodel shot forth new leaves. It was a day loaned from the treasury of heaven, and we shouted, as we rode, from an overplus of animal joy. We breakfasted at the tomb of 150 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. Straton, rode over the rioh plain of Eleusis, passed the horned Mount Kerata (Cuckold), the eastern headland of Cithaeron, and reached Megara m the afternoon. I noticed the ease with which good roads may be made m Greece, The soil abounds with broken limestone fragments, wliiuh only need shovelling together and rolling, to make an excellent macadam, not exposed to the chance of being jijured by frosts or heavy rains. On the plain of Megara no road at all had been made, and yet there was a very good carriage track. In spite of this, however, the means of internal communication in Greece are inferior to what they were in the days of Homer. Soon after leaving Eleusis, a few clouds gathered, the wind fell, and the sky darkened in such a manner that we feared a most unfavorable change in the weather. The landscape became singularly cold and dreary, and our spirits were unaccountably dejoressed. The foliage lost its bright color, the distant hills became dark and dull, the lively sounds of bird and beast ceased — in short, some gloomy spell seemed to have fallen upon the world. I tried in vain to shake off the uncomfortable weight, but it clung to me like a nightmare, and the fact that I could not account for it worried me still the more. On reaching Megara, however, we saw boys with bits of smoked glass, and the whole thing was explained. Our testimony, therefore, to the moral effect of a solar eclipse may bo taken as perfectly impartial, and it may serve to explain the alarm felt by savage races on the occurrence of such a phenomenon. The tcwn of Megara is built in a dip between two hillfi THE EARTHQUAKE 4T COKI^Tn. 151 w^'nicTi rise out of the middle of the plain. It has a lively, bustling air, and shows some signs of progress. Large and handsome houses are springing up in the midst of the one- storied heaps of rough masonry which usually constitute a Greek town, and although about every fourth building is a church, the population must be considerably above a thou- sand. The plain on one side was a vast green floor of wheat, rye, and barley ; on the other it was simply plowed^ and would be partially planted with maize or beans. Next year the order of crops will be reversed, and so from year to year, in regular rotation. Manuring, or any improvement of the soil, is never thought of, and the plow is the same kind used by Ceres, when she planted the first grain. I was glad to see, however, by the orchards of young olives, and the encroachments of fields upon the bases of the mountains, that the area of this rude cultivation is extend- ing. The city museum of antiquities is a dark, dirty hut, in which are three headless statues, one of them presenting its back to the visitor. During the evening the streets rang with the voice of a crier, who went around calling upon all those who were not at work, to attend church. This custom is probably borrowed from the Moslem call to prayer, but the cry is by no means so musical and impres- sive The next day we crossed the Geranean Mountains by the pass of the Skyronian Rocks. The breakneck bridle- path follows the chariot-road constructed by Hadrian, of which the massive supporting walls remain in many places. The Greek Government has at last commenced the task of constructing a new road, which will probably be finished in 152 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. the course of twenty years, although it might be done in twelve months, thereby completing the communication between Athens and Corintli. The haunt of the robber Skyron, destroyed by Theseus, was near the southern liiml of the mountains, where they tower high overhead, gaping .\^ith caverns, and showing white breaks in their tawny ©range fronts, where huge fragments have fallen oif. Near the sea, the marble rock, smoothed and polished by the rains of thousands of years, rises like a hewn wall to the height of more than a hundred feet. Whether Skyron was a strong wind which blew travellers off tlie cliff, or whether he was a real, live robber, is a question over which scholars may break their heads. A more important fact is that there are bands of robbers in the Isthmus now, and no chariot roads. Thence to Kalamaki was a ride of four hours, over a plain almost entirely covered with mastic, wild olive, and the Isthmian pine — unplowed and uninhabited. In one spot, heaps of rough sulphur were piled on the seashore, and we saw, in the face of the mountains on our right, the quarries whence they came. As we approached Kalamaki, the ruin wrought by the earthquake which visited the Isthmus on Sunday, February 21, became evident. In the whole town but two houses appeared to be uninjured, and those of which the walls yet stood were so damaged as to be entii'ely uninhabitable. The town was a mass of hideous ruui — a more heap of stones and broken tiles, out of which the rafters and roof-trees rose like the shattered spars of shipwrecked vessels. The khan where we had breakfasted on our way to Athens, was level with the earth ; a large THE EARTHQUAKE AT COKINTH. 15^: house opposite was so riddled and cracked that it resembled a basket, and great gaps, stiU yawning in the earth, showed how terrific had been the upheaval. The quay had suuk perceptibly, and a barrack at its extremity, split ck^an into two equal parts, leaned outward, threatening to fall at any moment. The people told us tliat the whole thing was t^e work of a second. It came like a thunderbolt, out of a clear sky, with no previous sign of warning. The sound and the shock were simultaneous ; houses fell, the earth heaved up and down, cracked open as it rose, and when the cracks closed again as it sank, streams of water spouted up from them like fountains, high into the air. Four per- sons were killed, and but two wounded. We could learn very little as to the probability of getting quartera for the night nearer Corinth, but determined to push on. A mile from Kalamaki our road passed over the site of the renowned Isthmian games. The inclosure of the stadium is still distinctly marked by the heaps of hewn stones, but of the temple of Neptune there are only shape- less fragments. As we rode over the deserted stadium, Braisted broke a branch of Isthmian pine as a souvenir and I repeated Schiller's " Gods of Greece:" " Then like palaces arose your temples, "^-sy Lived for you each old, heroic game ; Nj-; At the Isthmus, rich with crowns and garlands, "Si^ Chariots thundered to the goal of fame." Two miles more brought us to the quarries whence Corinth and the Isthmian temples were built — vast hollo W8_ waUed by the hewn rock, their extent denoting the amount 154 TRAVELS IN GREECE ANT> RUSSIA. of material drawn from them. The plain was part.ally cul tivated, its rich, mellow loam, more moist than that of Attica, producing admirable crops of wheat. We stopped at the village of Hexamilia, about an hour's ride from Corinth, as there was no habitable house in tho latter town, and the tents furnished by government barely sufficed for the destitute inhabitants. Hexamilia, though so near Corinth, suffered less than Kalamaki, which appears to have been directly on the line of the greatest vibration. Lutraki, only five miles distant, on the western shore of the Isthmus, escaped with comparatively trifling damage. We found quarters for the night in the house of the Demarch — a handsome two-story building of hewn stone, one end of which had been thrown down. Nevertheless, enough was left to shelter us from the rain, which began to fall heavily. A few of the houses in the village were levelled to the earth, but the most of them escaped with cracked walls, broken roofs, or the loss of a gable. No- body was injured, but among the hills to the south four peasants and about thirty goats were killed by the falling of a mass of rock, in the grotto where they were lying. The Demarch, who was a good-humored, communicative fellow, with rather more than the ordinary intelligence, informed me that he was in Corinth when the earthquake occurred. In a moment, he says, came the thunder and the shock. The houses all fell together, and there was such a dust that one man could not see another, standing near him Many of the citizens were at the office of the Demarch, intending to elect new candidates. The walli THE EARTHQUAKE AT COni>Tn. 155 fell, but fortunately fell outwards, and nobody was injured In another house a number of children were dancing, while their mothers were gathered together to talk scandal. The latter succeeded in holding up the fulling roof until the children escaped, and were then, in turn, rescued by some men. Twenty-five pei'sons were killed on tlie spot, or afterwards died of their wounds, and the number wounded was estimated at over fifty. This slight loss of life, Avheu compared with the extent of the catastrophe, is explained by the fact that the earthquake took place between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when the inhabitants are mostly out of doors. While the Demarch was relating to me these particulars, tliere was suddenly a sound like distant artillery, and the house trembled slightly. " There it is again !" said he ; " we have heard it every hoiw or two since the beginning." In the evening there was another shock ; two during the night ; and at six in the morning, while we yet lay in bed, one so violent that some stones were dislodged from the wall, and rattled on the floor over our heads. This latter was accompanied by a deep, hollow, rumbling sound, whieli seemed at the same time to be under and around us. It was probably ray imagination which gave me the impression that it came from the west and rolled towards the east Although we were convinced that the worst was past, and that we were no longer in any danger from these shocks, theiT uncertain recurrence and mysterious threatening character gave us a vague feeling of alarm. The Demarch, his brother, their wives and children, our agoyats and our- selves all slept on the unpaved floor of the house, but the 156 TRAVliJ-S IN GKEECE AND KUSSIA. family wore so accustomed to the shocks that tliey nc longei paid any attention to them. As it was raining next morning, we waited until nearly eleven o'clock, when, finding no signs of a change, we set out in the storm. A ride of half an hour brought us to Corinth — or rather what had been Corintli — for, although a few houses were standing, they Avere cracked from top to bottom, and had been abandoned. The greater part of the city was a shapeless heap of ruins, and most of the in- habitants seemed to have deserted it. Some tents had been pitched, and a few rough wooden barracks erected, which, at least, sheltered them from the Aveather. The force of the shock appeared to have been of about the same violence as at I^gl^iaki, All accounts concurred in representing it as a sudden, vertical upheaval, not accom- panied with hoi'izontal waves, and the fact that nearly all the walls fell outward, verifies this statement. The central line of the force undoubtedly passed through or very near Corinth and Kalamaki, in a direction about E. N. E. and W. S. W. On either side of this central line the force must have diminished in very rapid proportion, as Hexa- milia, not two miles distant from it, appeared to have been visited by a shock considerably less violent, and a village five or six miles westward from Corinth, sufiered but little damage. At Megara, on one side, and Argos on the other, the earthquake was sensibly felt, but without producing the slightest effect. The shocks, which still continued, were confined to tht neighborhood of Corinth. They did not pass the Geranean Mountains on the north, or that range on the south which THE EAl:TilQ\'AKE A'i' COKI.NTH. 15V divides the valley of Neniea from tlie plain of Argos. Thia limitation of the operations of the earthquake is itle were pitcliing quoits in the streets, and at a cafe where we stopped to rest, twenty-five men were i)laying cards. A Greek officer, who spoke some French, accosted us. I learned afterwarda that he had been banished from Athens on account of liis peculations being discovered. The richness of the soil, he said to me, makes the people idle : they raise two crops & year, have amply sufficient for all their wants, and work no more than they can help. " You want a Governor despotic enough," I said to bim, "to take all these able-bodied idlers and make them clean the Augeaix stable in which they live." In fact, all the labors of Hercules need doing over again in Greece. The Hydra inhabits the Lernoean marsh ; the Uon crouches in the valley of Nemea ; and there is more than one wild boar in the forests of Erymanthus. Fever, flood, droutli, and fire are at their old ravages, and they are doubly ferocious Avhen they have reconquered a territory once wrested from them. We spent a night in Nauplia, and climbed the embattled rock of the Palamidi. The town is small, being squeezed into a narrow space between the lower fortress and the water. The houses are lofty, well-built, and dirty, as in Italian seaports, and there are two diminutive squaras, one of which has a monument in honor of Demetrius YpsilantL It has been decreed to erect another to Capo d'lstria — the only efficient ruler Greece has had — ^but some years have pasfled, and the first block of marble is not yet cut, Ir ARGOLIS AND AnCAIilA. 163 place of it, we found triumplial arches of calico comm^ morating tlie recent festival, arid an Ionic pillar with an istonishiug capital supporting a pasteboard figure of the King. Workmen were just taking to pieces the Dorio columns of lath and muslin which had been erected in the princi])al streets. Outside the gate there was anothei triumphal arch, the supports of which had given Avay, so that it leaned at an angle of forty-five degrees, threatening to fall and block up the road. I could not look upon these monstrous decorations without intense disgust. One does not expect Greece to build new Parthenons all at once, but such pitiful gimcrackery is wortliy only of Ashantee or Timbuctoo. The morning was mild and cloudless. A light breeze blew from the west, scarcely rippling the beryl sheet of the Argolic Gulf, while the wide, amphitheatric plain basked in the fairest sunshine. We mounted the steps of the fortress — 860 in all — and were Avell repaid, not so much by the fortifications as by the glorious Argive panorama around us. The position is one of immense strength, the lock being almost precipitous on the sea side. Eastward, t falls into a narrow ridge, connecting it with two hills of nearly equal height, but too distant to command it. The fortress, like all Venetian Avorks of the kind, is much larger than nf^cessary, consisting of several detached forts inclosed within one wall of circuit. The principal batteries bear the names of Phocion, Epaminondas, and Miltiades. The place is now used as a State Prison, and we had the satis- faction of seeing some ten or twelve manacle 3 brigands in a dirty court-yard. 164 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. We were two days in riding from Nauplia to Tripolitza, There is a broad carriage-road the whole way, a distance of nearly forty miles, the construction of which is due to local enterprise, 300,000 drachmas having been subscribed in Tripolitza alone. The only fault in the work is that it is too well done for the needs of the country. It is carried over two branches of the Parthenian Mountains by zigzags of so easy a grade that the actual distance is trebled, and horsemen stick to the old road in preference. The work- manship is good, although a little ragged in places, and the bridges are admirable. The Government newspaper, the Elpis^ recently stated, in its summing up of the benefits which Greece has derived from the reign of Otho, the amount of the roads which have been made. I find the total length of these roads to be less than 120 miles; while, if we subtract those which have been constructed simply for the convenience of the Court, and not for the good of the country, there Avill remain barely fifty miles. The Greeks pay, and their friends say : " Don't ask too much of us ; we are young and poor ; we have not the means to accomplish more." Yes ; but you build a palace for two millions ol dollars ; you support a useless army of military and naval leeches ; you give to the Court whenever the Court asks, and you give nothing to the people. You adopt the policy of Venice, the Eastern Empire, Turkey even, instead of looking for example and guidance to the countries which now lead the van of civilization. Riding southward along the beach, after leaving Nauplia, we passed the Government stud, established for the puri)Ose of rearing cavalry horses. Fran9ois knew the Stallmeister AEGOLIS AND ARCADIA. 165 a Mecklenburger named Springfeldt, who had long been in Russian service at Warsaw. We spent an hour with the tall, strapping, good-humored fellow, who was delighted to talk German again. He had been there three months, and eeemed very well satisfied with his situation. The stallions, he said, were mostly of Arabic blood, some of them very fine animals ; but no judgment had been exercised in the breeding, and the colts were generally inferior. He enter- tained us with "pitch-wine" (as he called it), of excellent quality, at five cents a bottle. At the end of the Argive plain is the little village of Miles, where Ypsilanti gained a splendid victory over the troops of Ibrahim Pasha, and Col. Miller greatly distin- guished himself. On the left is the Lernjean marsh. The road now climbed across the Parthenian mountains, with a glorious backward view from the summit ridge. Nauplia, the gulf and plain, lay at our very feet, bathed in a flood of airy gold, while the summits at hand rose dark and cold under the descending folds of a heavy rain-cloud. Beyond- the ridge opened a stony basin, six miles in diameter, and arid enough to be the home of the Danaidoe. Passing the nuns of a pyramid, we descended to our resting-place for the night, the khan of Achladokambos (the pear-garden). At the village of the same name, on the hill above, the people stole the King's silver plate when he breakfasted there on on« of his early journeys through the Morea. The next day we crossed a second range of the mountains The road was thi-onged with asses laden with bar-iron or bales of dry-goods, boimd inland, while an equal number, carrying skins of oil or great panniers of eggs — provision 166 TilAViXS ES' GREECE A>T) EU5SIA. for the approaching Easter days — descended to the coast. We also met a convoy of mrJes, h^den with money, pro- tected by a gnard of soldiers. From the top of the ridge ■we saw the great central plain of ArcadLi, which is between two and three thousand feet above the level of the sea. Here the season was nearly a month later than on the plain of Argos, and the comitry had a gray, wintry look. There is no sufficient drainage for this plain, and hence parts of it are marshy and miasmatic. One to whom poetry has made the name of Arcadia a golden sound, the key to ^ landscapes of ideal loveliness, skies of perpetual Spring, and ^ a pure and happy race of men, will be bitterly disappointed I as he descends from the gusty Parthenian Hills. In this •*-v^ bleak region, surrounded by cold, naked moimtains, with *: its rough barbaric Slavonian population, and its filthy den ^of a capital, he will not recognise one feature of the Arca- H dia of his dreams. But so it is : the " heUa etd OaW ord''^ of ^^^sso and Hesiod never existed and never can exist, and rcadia, which is for us the musical name of a beautiful impossibility, signifies no more to the modern Greek than Swampscot or Sheboygan. Tripolitza soon appeared in sight, at the foot of the mountains which inclose the plain on the west. It is an immense straggling village — a mere mass of red tile-roofs — aad we found the interior oven less attractive than the dis- tant view. Crooked streets, heaped with filth and inter- rapt ed by pools of black mud, lead between rows of roughly- built, dirty stone houses, inhabited by people as rough and iirty as they. On entering the place, we were assailed by a multitude of beggars : all the children seemed to have AKGOLIS AXD ARCADIA. ICl adopted this profession. The female costume is picturesque, and struck me as being truly antique in character. It con- sists of a white muslin petticoat, over which is a short tunic of blue cloth, with a bright red border, open in front ; a ^rdle around the waist, sleeves of yellow or some gay color, and a loose white handkerchief enveloping the head. Most of the men have Slavonic features, but I saw, in all, perhaps half a dozen true Hellenic faces. In the aftenioon we set off for Mantinrea, distant eight miles to the northward. Four miles from Tripolitza, the plain turns westward around an angle of the mountauis, disclosing a higher and drier level, abounding in vineyards which were separated by hedges of thorn and blackberry. Our road was upon green meadow tm-f, straight across the plain. The low, white walls of Mantinaea now met the eye, at the foot of a round, gray hill, over which towered the snow-streaked summit of Qrchomenos. On approach- ing the place, we could readily imagine the S})ot where Epaminondas fell, and the part of the hill from which he directed the battle in his dying moments, until a second daughter of victory was bora to perpetuate his lineage. The foundations of the turreted walls can be traced throughout their whole extent, the fii^st three courses being as perfect in many places as when first laid. It is conjec- tured that the remaining portion was of brick. Black sun-clouds rested on all the mountains, as we rode away from Tripolitza. For three hours we followed a rocky bridle-path, crossing the ridge at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. By noon the chilly uplands were passed ; the hills suddenly fell av.-ay, and we saw far below us, warm in 168 TRAVEI.S IX GUKECE AND RUSSIA. the sunshine, and stretchhig off to the bhie Lycaean Moun tains, which girdled it with a splendid belt, the valley oi the Alpheus. Dense copses of shrubbery, studded with gnarled oak trees, covered the mcuntaiu sides; the blue crocus and pale star-flower spangled the sunny banks; fresh grain-fields and meadows of sprouting turf bright- ened the immense valley, and the red roofs of towns, with cypi'esses rising from their midst, dotted it here and there. Away to the right was Karytena, the rock-fortress of Colo- cotroni; in front Sinanu, on the site of ancient Megalo- ))olis; and to the left, at the entrance of a defile command- ing the road to Sparta, Leondari. Descending to the floor of the valley, we rode over th^ oozy turf to Sinanu, a scattering town, with broad, grassy streets. We tnet many shepherds in shaggy sheepskin capotes and with long crooks in their hands. The people came in a body to the dirty little cafe where we halted, in order to stare at us. Three or four spruce young palikars offered to accompany us to the theatre of Megalopolis, which is about half a mile to the north of the town. As Franyois had told them that I spoke both ancient and modern Greek, they plied me with questions the whole way, and I Avas sorely troubled to keep up my reputation for scholarship. These people were almost entirely of Slavonic blood, which is no doubt the predominating element in Greece. Groups of villagers sat in the sun — 'aappy Arcadians! — and skilfully explored each other's heads. Both Sinanu and Leondari were very rich places under the Turks, but are now miserably jtoor, or seem to be so. The country Greeks hide their money, and are therefore often richer thnn O^at appear. CHAPTER XVI. POUR DAYS AMOIJG THE SPAETANS. Lkondaki, where we passed the night, is on the frontiei of Sparta, but still in Arcadia. Here Alpheus, from his " glacier cold " on Tajgetus^ rushes down the hills in pur suit of his Dorian Arethiisa. Here is still the rural paradise of ancient Greece, with its pure air, its sweet waters, its seclusion and peace — but alas ! the people. We overlooked long tracts of oak forests — nothing but oak — some ancient trunks, gnarled and hoary with a thousand years, and younger woods covering the gently-rounded knolls. The morning was divinely clear and briUiant, but cold, with a thin sheet of ice on standing water. In an hour and a half, after threading scattering groves of oak and ilex, we passed E low bar connecting Taygetus with Mena3lus on the noilh, and this, as I rightly guessed, was the water-shed between the Alpheus and the Eurotas — the boundary of Sparta. In the splendor of the day, every feature of the landscape had its clearest form and its richest coloring, and fi-om the beds of daisy and crocus at our feet to the snowy pyramids 170 TEATELS Df GREECE AND RUSSIA. of Taygetus, high above us, everything spoke of life and of Sibling. There is a village called Longaniko, in a very wild position, high up under the very crest of the moun tain, which supplies the Morea with physicians. The boys are even sent to France and Germany to complete their studies. During the day we met with numbers of peasants, dri\^ng asses laden with bundles of young mulberry and olive trees, from the nurseries of Sparta. There was re fVeshing evidence of improvement, in the amount of new gi'ound brought under cultivation. As we approached Sparta, the road descended to the banks of the Eurotas. Traces of the ancient walls which restrained the river still remain in places, but, in his shifting course, he has swept the most of them away, and spread his gravelly deposits freely over the bottoms enclosed be- tween the spurs of the hills. The clumps of poplar, willow, and sycamore which lined the stream, and the thickets of blackberry, mastic, ilex, and arbutus through which our road wound, gave the scenery a charmingly wild and rural aspect. The hills — deposits of alluvium left by the pre- Adamite floods — took the most remarkable forms, showing regular terraces, cones, pyramids, and bastions, as they fell off towards the river. ToAvards evening we saw, at a dis- tance, the white houses of modern Sparta, and i)resently Bome indications of the ancient city. At first, the remains of terraces and rampai-ts, then the unmistakable Hellenic walls, and, as the sui)erb plain of the Eurotas burst upon us, stretching, in gai-den-like beauty, to the foot of the abrupt hills, over which towered the sun-touched snows of Taygetus, we saw close on our right, almost FOUR DATS AUtOXG THE SPAr.TANS. 17'I the only relic of the lost ages — the theatre. Kidiug across a field of wheat, which extended all over the scene of the Spartan gymnastic exhibitions, we stood on the proscenium and contemplated these silent ruins, and the broad beautiful landscape. It is one of the finest views in Greece — not so crowded with striknig points, not so splendid in associations as that of Athens, but larger, grander, richer in coloring. The plain, watered by the unfailing Eurotas, is covered with luxuriant vegetation, and opens its fruitful lap to the noonday sun. In warm conn- tries water is the great feitilizer, and no part of Greece is so Avell supplied in this respect as Sparta. Sesides the theatre, the only remains are some masses of Roman brickwork, and the massive substructions of a small temple which the natives call the tomb of Leonidas. I walked over the shapeless rubbish which covers the five hills, without a single feeling of regret. There were great fighters before Agamemnon, and there are as brave men as Leonidas to-day. As for the race of military savages whom Lycurgus — the man of ice and iron — educated here, who would wish to restore them ? The one virtue of the Spar- tans — bravery — is always exaggerated, because it is their only noble trait. They wore coarse, cruel, treacherous, and dishonest, and while they acted in tv/o or three instances as a shield to Greece, they dealt the perfidious stabs through v\'hich she perished at last. In art, literature, science, and philosophy, we owe nothing to Sparta. She has bequeathed to us only a few individual examples of splendid heroism, and a code which, God be thanked, can never be put in practice again. 172 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. "We spent the night in a comfortable house, which actually boasted of a floor, glass windows, and muslin cur- tains. On returning to the theatre in the morning, we turned aside into a plowed field to inspect a sarcophagus which had just been discovered. It still lay in the pit where it was found, and was entire, with the exception oi the Ud. It was ten feet long by four broad, and was remarkable in having a division at one end, forming a smaller chamber, as if for the purpose of receiving the bones of a child. From the theatre I made a sketch of the valley, with the dazzling ridge of Taygetus in the rear, and Mistra, the niediseval Sparta, hanging on the steep sides of one of his gorges. The sun was intensely hot, and we were glad to descend again, making our way through tall wheat, past walls of Roman brickwork and scattering blocks of the older city, to the tomb of Leonidas. This is said to be a temple, though there are traces of vaults and passages beneath the pavement, Avhich do not quite harmonize with such a conjecture. It is composed of huge blocks of brec- cia, some of them thirteen feet long. I determined to make an excursion to the mountain dis- trict of Muina, which comprises the range of Taygetus, and the promontory of Tenarus, between the Laconian and Messenian Gulfs. This is a region rarely visited by travel- Iius, who nre generally frightened off by the reputation of its inhabitants, who are considered bj the Greeks to be bandits and cut-throats to a man. The Mainotes are, for the most part, lineal descendants of the ancient Spartans, and from the decline of the Roman power up to the pre- sent century, have preserved a virtual independence in FOUR DAYS AMONG THE SPAKTANS. 174;' their mountain fastnesses. The worship of tht, pagan deitios existed among them as late as the eighth century. They were never conquered by the Turks, and it required considerabU) management to bring them under the rule of Otho. A Greek poet, fifty years ago, ^VTites of them : " Let all honest men fly from them as from a serpent. May the plague and the drought blast them all !" Dr. Kalopo- thakes, a born Mainote, who received his medical education m Philadelphia, assured me, however, that I should not meet with the least difficulty in travelling through the country. My principal object was to ascertain whether the ancient Greek face and form still exist among those whose blood may be presumed to be purest of all the fragments of the ancient stock. A thorough investigation of the cha- racter and habits of the people necessarily requires a fami- liar knowledge of the language. Startirg at noon, we passed through the modern Sparta, which is well laid out with broad streets. The site is superb, and hi the course of time the new town will take the place of Mistra. We rode southward, down the valley of the Eurotas, through orchards of olive and mulberry. In one place some thirty men were at work, digging up the plain with large hoes, in order to plant a vineyard. The proprietor, a handsomely-dressed palikar, with pistols in bis belt, was directing the labor. We now entered a tangled maze of rough alluvial hills, threaded by frequent -:tream& which came down from Taygetus. Here we met a proces- sion of ragged but very good-humored young fellows, the last of whom carried a cross decorated with gilt paper and laurel leaves. A Spartan, who was riding with us, saic' \1i TltAVELS IN GKEECE AND RUSSIA. they had been celebrating the festival of St. Lazaias There was the greatest diversity of character in the faces we saw. A very few were of the antique type, some Turk- ish, many Albanese or Slavonic, and some actually Irish in every respect. Our sailors are accustomed to call the Irish Greeks, and the term is more than a mere chance. There are very striking points of resemblance in character — tlie same vanity, talent for rejDartee, tenacity of religious faith, and happy lack of forethought. If the Greeks, on one hand, are more temperate, the L'ish, on t-.e other, are more hospitable ; if the former blunder less, the latter cheat less. We stopped for the night at the little khan of Levetzova. When Francois last visited this place, fourteen years before, he found the khanji lying dead upon the floor, having just been murdered. It was a case of blood revenge, and the assassin came all the way from Smyrna to effect his pur- pose. I asked the present khanji whether the country was quiet. " Here it is very quiet," said he, " but as for foreign parts, I don't know how it is." I saw some cows pasturing here, quite a rare sight in Greece, where genuine butter is unknown. That which is made from the milk of sheep and goats is no better than mild tallow. The people uiformed me, however, that they make cheese from cow's milk, but not during Lent. They are now occuj^ied with rearing Paschal lambs, a quarter of a million of which are slauglitered in Greece on Easter Day. The next morning we rode over hills covered with real turf, a little thin, perhaps, but still a rare siglit in southern lands. The red anemone mantled the slopes as Avith a sheet of &'e ; the furze bushes shone with a shower of golden FOUR DAYS AMONG THE SPARTANS. lit blossoms, wliich wholly concealed their prickly stems, and on moist banks the daisy, violet, buttercup, crocus, and star woi't formed mosaics of sprmg bloom. The hills were dot ted with groves of the oak which produces valonia or nut. galls. But for the mastic and oleander, and the carob-trecs, with their dark, glossy foliage, I could have believed my- self among the German hills at the end of May. In two hours we entered the territory of Maina, on the crest of a hill, where we saw Marathonisi (the ancient Gytbium), lying warm upon the Laconian Gulf The town is a steep, dirty, labyrinthine place, and so rarely visited by strangers hat our appearance created qiiite a sensation. Fran5oi3, as usual, was furious at being catechised, and snubbed the highest officials in the most despotic manner. "When T remonstrated, he replied, " What can one do ? If I ask, 'Where is the khan?' instead of answering, they cry out, ' Where do you come from ? where are you going to ? who are the strangers? what are their names? how old are they? what do they travel for?' Diable! If it was a Turkish country, I should not be bothered in this way. We should be entertained, we should eat, drink, and smoke, before we heard a question ; but good manners among the Turks and Christians are two different things !"' We took refuge in a cafe, and ate our ham and eggs in public, to the horror of the orthodox spectators. I made acquaintance with the teacher of the Government school, who gave the people an excellent character, but lamented their slowness in learning. Fran9ois also found an old ac- quaintance, a former fellovz-soldier in Fabvier's expoditioi: against Scio, who took us to his house and regaled us witb (/ y 170 TRAVBLS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. coffee and preserved quinces. His daughter, a slender, handsome gii'l of sixteen, waited upon us. The father complained that he had not yet saved enough for her dowry, as he could not expect to get her married for less than two thousand drachmas (|333). For this reason sons are more profitable than daughters to Greek parents, and of course much more welcome. As the road beyond Marathonisi is impracticable for laden horses, we engaged two mules, and set out for Tzimova, on the western side of the Mainote peninsula. This is the only road across Taygetus which is passable in winter, as there is a very sudden and singular break in the high snowy range between the two ports. After leaving Marathonisi and the barren little isle (50 by 200 yards in extent) where Paris and Helen passed the first night after their elopement, the scenery suddenly changed. A broad, rich valley opened before us, crossed by belts of poplar and Avillow trees, and inclosed by a semicircle of hills, most of which were crowned with the lofty towers of the Mai- notes. In Maina almost every house is a fortress. The law of blood revenge, the right of which is transmitted fi-om father to son, draws the whole poi^ulation under its bloody sway in the course of a few generations. Life is a running fight, and every foe slain entails on the slayer a oew penalty of retr.biri;ion for himself and his descendants for ever. Previous to the Revolution most of the Mainote families lived in a state of alternate attack and siege. Their houses are square towers, forty or fifty feet high, with massive walls, and windows so narrow that they may be used as loopholes for musketry. The first story is at a FOUE DAYS AMONG THE SPARTANS. 177 considerable distance from the ground, and reached b}' a long ladder which can be drawn up so as to cut off all com- munication. Some of the towers are further strengthened by a semicircular bastion, projecting from the side most liable to attack. The fimilies supplied themselves with tele- scopes, to look out for enemies in the distance, and always had a store of provisions on hand, in case of a siege. Although this private warfare has been suppressed, the law of revenge exists. From the summit of the first range we overlooked a wild, glorious landscape. The hills, wooded with oak, and swimming in soft blue vapor, interlocked far before us, mclosing the loveliest green dells in their embraces, and melting away to the break in Taygetus, which yawned in the distance. On the right towered the square, embrasured castle of Passava, on the summit of an almost inaccessible hill — the site of the ancient Las. Far and near, the lower heights were crowned with tall white towers. The men were all in the fields plowing. They were healthy, tough, symmetrical fellows, and there was old Hellenic blood in their veins. They greeted us in a friendly way, and one whom I questioned concerning the road to Tzimova, an- swered : " It is four hours yet, but I pray you to forgive me, for the road is very bad." For two or three hours we threaded a terrific gorge, through scenery as rugged and grand as that of Norway. On every side were unusual evidences of industry — enormous heaps of stone removed to make room for little grain-plots, barren slopes reclaimed by artificial water courses, and terraces climbing the moun tains until the loftiest strips of green seemed to be stuot 178 TKA.VET.S IN UREECE AXD RUSSIA. against the sheer walls of rock. On expressing my delight at seeing such signs of patient labor, Franyois, who shares the usual Greek prejudice against the Mainotes, answered: '- But all this is tlie work of the women. The men are lazy vagabonds, who sit all day in the villages, and smoko paper cigars. The country is too poor to support its population, and you will find Syra and Smyrna full ol Mainote porters." There may be some truth in thia accusation, but it is exaggerated. At sunset, after climbing a rocky staircase, we reached a little platform between the opposing capes of Taygetus, Avhence we saw both the Laconian and Messenian Gulfs. A still more dreaiy landscaj)e lay before us, and there were no signs of Tzimova. The dusk fell, we dismounted and walked behind our spent horses, and so two hours passed away. Franyois heaped anathemas upon the head of his friend in Marathonisi. "The stupid beast!" he exclaimed; " he told us it was only four hours to Tzimova, and we have already been six ujion the road." I gave him a cigai", the moral effect of which was soon made manifest. "After all," he added, with a milder voice, between the whiffs, " Demetri meant well enough, and if he was mistaken bout the distance, it is perhaps not his fault." " So, Frangois," I remarked, "you find that smoking improves your temper?" "Ah, yes," he answered, " ray body is tc bjame for all the sins I ever committed. I can trace every one to the fact of my having had no tobacco, or not enough to eat, or too much to drink." At last we came upon olive groves, glimmering in the moonlight like the ghosts of trees, and then the scattered towers of Tzimova. I had rOU14 DAYS AMONG THE SPAllTAXS. 179 neglected to procure letters from Dr. Kalopotliakes iii Atliuns to his relatives here, and Fran9ois had but one acquaintance, whom he had not heard of for fourteen years; so we were doubtful whether we should obtain quarters for the night. Reaching a little open place, ho\vever, where some men were assembled, we asked whether any one would receive us into his house. Thereupon stepped forth a man with instant and cordial assent — and to our wonder he proved to be, not only the old friend of Frangois, but one of the relatives of my friend, the Doctor I In five minutes we were installed in the clean and comfortable abode of his Holiness, the Bishop, who was absent, and F., as he set about preparing one of his marvellous soups, whispered to me: "This is what the Turks call destiny, and, ma foi ! they are right. An hour ago I was on the brink of despair, and now the gates ol l*aradise are opened." In the morning Ave visited the other members of the house of Kalopothakes, and were very coui-teously received. The people collected to stare at us, and a pack of boys tramped at our heels, but their manners were entirely kind and friendly. Here the Slavonic element predominated, there being few Greek faces except among the women. The name of the place has recently been changed to Areopohs, though I cannot find that any ancient city of that name e\'er existed here. As we started in the morning on our way up the western base of the Taygetus, a fierce-looking palikar in fustanella and scarlet drawers came towards us, jumping over the stone fences of the gardens. He shook hands with as, scanned us from head to foot, and theii, 180 TBAVELS m GREECE AND RUSSIA.. turning to the Tzimovites who were escorting us, asked, * Who are these ?" " They are Englishmen — travellers," was the answer. "You will go to Vitylo: that is my town," said he to me — '■'■echete egeian !'''' (may you have health) and forthwith strode away. He was the chief o« Vitylo, which is only about three miles north of Tzimo^a, although we were two hours on the way, so terrific is tlie mountain road. Vitylo is built on the brow of a precipice, more than a thousand feet above the sea. Our road, windmg back and forth along the face of the rock, was like a path made by the infernal powers over the mountains which guarded Eden. Far up, apparently trembling in the air, as if giddy with their position, the tower-dwellings of the town over- hung us, but the sheer yellow rocks, piled upon each other like huge steps, were draped with all manner of wild vines, floAvers, and ivy, and every narrow shelf between was a garden of velvet soil, out of which grew oUve and fig trees of enormous size. The people at work in these gardens were all armed. They wove a costume something like that of the Cretans, and the stamp of ancient Greece was upon their faces. A handsome, fierce boy, who was leaning over the edge of a rock above the road, looked me full in the face, and asked, with a sort of savage suspicion, " What do you want here ?" The town was crowded with idlers, with knives in their belts and cigars in theii mouths. Some twenty girls, who came down from the m )untains, such with a donkey-load of furze upon her back, resembled antique goddesses in a menial disguise. No dirt or laboi could conceal their symmetry, and the barbarism of a FOUR DATS AMONG THE SPARfANS. 181 thou&aad years had not destroyed the type of theii" ancient race. There is a curious story connected with Vitylo. About a hundred and fifty years ago, say the people, emigration from Mania into Corsica was frequent ; among others, the family of Kalomiris, or Kalomeros (both names are men- tioned), from Vitylo, who, soon after their settlement in Corsica, translated theu' name into Italian — Bonaparte. From this family came Napoleon, who was therefore of Mainote, or ancient Spartan blood. Pietro Mavromakhalis, it is said, when he visited Napoleon at Trieste, claimed him as a fellow-countryman on the faith of this story. The Mainotes implicitly beheve it : the emigration at the time mentioned is a matter of history, and the fact that the name of Bonaparte previously existed in Italy, is no proof that the Corsican Bonapartes may not originally have been the Kalomeros of Maina. The thing is possible enough, and somebody who is sufficiently interested in the present race of Bonapartes to make researches, would probably be able to settle the question. Our road for the remainder of the day was indescribably bad. For several hours we traversed a stony, sloping terrace on the side of Taygetus, 1,500 feet above the sea, aud crossed by great yawning gorges, which must be doubled with much labor. The people said : " The road is ^ ery good, since our Bishop has had it mended. Formerly it was bad." What is a bad road in Maina ? Mix togethei equal portions of limestone quarries, unmade pavements, huge boulder-stones, and loose beach shingle, and you will have a mild idea of the present good one. There wer« 182 TRAVELS IN GKEECK AND RUSSIA. many villages scattered along the terrace, frequently so close to each other as almost to form a continuous town. The clear water-veins of Taygetus burst to light in spacious stone fountains, over which arose large arches of masonry festooned y^-ith ivy. There were also a great multitude oi churches, many of unmixed Byzantine style, and several centuries old. The people — true Greeks, almost to a mau — accosted us with the most cordial and friendly air. The universal salutation was " /laZos orizete!'''' (welcome), in- stead of the '"'' Kali eniera sas ! ''^ (good-day to you!) M'hich is used in other parts of Greece. Although many of the natives were poor and ragged, we saw but four beggars in all Maina, while on entering Kalamata, the next afternoon, we encountered twelve in succession. The descent to the sea-level was by a frightful ladder, which it required all the strength and skill of our poor beasts to descend. We had dismounted long before this, as riding had become a much greater labor than walking. Pericles, one of our agoyats^ exclaimed: "I was never in this country of Maina before. If I should happen to be fettered and brought here by force, I might see it again • but of my own will, never ! " We passed many traces of ancient quarries, and the sites of the Laconian towns of Thalamse and Leuctra, but a few hewn blocks are all thai remain. After twelve hours of the most laborious travel, and long after night had set in, we reached the little town of Skardamula. A shepherd on his way to the mountains turned back on learning that we were strangers, and as- sisted us to find lodgings. But this Avas not difficult. Al- most the first man we met took us into his lofty tower of FOUK DAYS AMONG THE SPARTANS. 188 defence, the upper room of wliich was vacated for us. The people were curious, hut kind, and I found my likmg foi the Mamotes increasing with every day. Fran9ois, how- ever, would know no good of them, and the Athenians opened their eyes in astonishment when they heard me praise those savage mountaineers. AVe had a ienteu supper of fish and vegetables, and slept securely in our lofty chamber. In the morning we received a visit from the Demarch, who courteously offered us re- freshments. The people who assembled to see us off were very handsome — of the ancient blood, almost -sAithout ex- ception. On ci'ossing the river beyond the village I was so struck Avitli the magnificent landscape that I halted an hour to sketch it. Before us lay Skardamuk, its tall towers rising above the mulberry and sycamore trees which lined the bank. Hills covered with fig and olive, and crowned with the dark shafts of the cypress, rose beyond, a Mainote fortress on every commanding point. On our left issued the river from a gigantic gorge between preci- pices of pale-red rock : a line of bastion-hke hills stood in front of the high purple peaks around which scarfs of morning vapor were continually twisting and unrolling themselves, while, through the gaps between them, glim- mered like fields of frosted silver the snowy cones of the Taygetus. Climbing a high headland of the coast by a rocky ladder, we descended on the other side into a lovely valley, in the lap of which, embowered in cypress groves, lay the village of Malta. Another castle was placed at our disposal, for breakfast, but we coald get nothing except a few egga 184 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. FraiJ9ois was especially ill-humored on finding that nc wine was to be had. " I suppose," said he to the people, " your priest here uses brandy when he celebrates mass." Presently, however, we had a visit from the captain of the gend'armes, who politely inquired whether he could assist us in any way. "Not unless you could give us some wine," answered Fran9ois, rather scornfully. To my surprise, the captain instantly despatched a villager to the priest, who soon came, accompanied by ajar of the desired beverage. The captain now received the most courteous replies to his inquiries, a very genial conversation followed, and we parted from the company in the most friendly manner. The journey to Kalamata occupied six hours, througli scenery as rich and magnificent as that of Italian Switzer- land. The eye ranged from orange orchards and groves of cypress on the rocky terraces near the sea, to forests of fir on the higher hills, bristling with robber towers, while. far above, the sharp white peaks flashed and glittered in the blue. While descending to the plain at the head of the Gulf, where we left the Mainote territory, I met Ariadne, carrying a load of wood on her back. Even in this posi- tion, bent under her burden, she exhibited a more perfect beauty, a more antique grace, than any woman you will see in Broadway in the course of a Aveek. If such be thp Greek race now, in its common forms, what must have been those refined Athenian women whom Phidias saw ? Since I beheld Ariadne, ancient art has become a reality. Early in the afternoon we reached Kalamata, a lai'ge, straggling, busy town, with a dismantled acropolis, and FOUR DAYS AMONG TIIK SPARTAXS. 185 took up our quarters in the " Graud Hotel of Messenia." The filthy rooms of this establishment were not a pleasant change from the airy towers of Mama. All the afternoon, as I sat at the window, the boys tormented an idiot m the treet below, and aU night there was such a succession oi discordant noises through the house, that we got but little Bleep. X HcrV^ H CHAPTER XVII. MESSENIA, ELIS, AND ACHAIA. The plain of Messenia, over which we rode, after leaving Kalamata, is the richest part of the Morea. Although Its groves of orange and olive, fig and ranlberry.^ were entirely destroyed during the Egyptian occupation, new and more vigorous shoots have sprung up from the old stumps, and the desolated country is a garden again, apparently as fair and fruitful as when it excited the covetousness of the Spartan thieves. Sloping to the Gulf on the south, and protected from the winds on all other sides by lofty mountains, it enjoys an almost Egyptian warmth of climate. Here it was already summer, while at Sparta, on the other side of Taygetus, spring had bu just arrived, and the central plain of Arcadia was still bleak and gray an in Avinter. As it was market day, we met hundreds of the country people going to Kalamata with laden asses. Nine-tenths of them, at least, had Turkish faces. The Greek type suddenly ceases on leaving Maina, and I did not find it ngnin, except in a few scatter MESSENIA, ELIS, AXD ACIIAIA. IC? ing instances, during the remainder of our travels in the Peloponnesus. And yet some travellers declare that the bulk of the population of Modern Greece belong to the ancient stock ! On the contrary, I should consider 200,000, or one-fifth of the entire number, a very high estimate. We crossed the rapid Pamisos with some diificulty, and ascended its right bank, to the foot of Mount Evan, which we climbed, by rough paths through thickets of mastic and furze, to the monastery of Vurkano. The building has a magnificent situation, on a terrace between Mounts Evan and Ithome, overlooking both the upper and lower plains of the Pamisps — a glorious spread of landscape, green with spring, and touched by the sun with the airiest prismatic tints through breaks of heavy rain-clouds. Inside the court is an old Byzantine chapel, with fleurs-de-lis on the decorations, showing that it dates from the time of tlie Latin princes. The monks received us very cordially, gave us a clean, spacious room, and sent us a bottle of excellent wine for dinner. We ascended Ithome and visited the massive ruins of Messene the same day. The great gate of the city, a portion of the wall, and four of the towers of defence, are in tolerable condition. The name of Epaminondas hallows these remains, which otherwise, grand as they are, do not impress one hke the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns. The wonder is, that they could have been built in so short a time — 85 days, says history, which would appear incredible, had not still more marvellous things of the kind been done in Russia, The next day, we rode across the head of the Messenian plain, crossed the "Mount Lyesean" *nd the gorge of the 188 TRAVELS IN GEEECE AND RUSSIA. Neda, and lodged at the little village of Tragoge, on the frontiers of Arcatlia. Our experience of Grecian highways was pleasantly increased by finding fields plowed directly across our road, fences of dried furze built over it, and ditches cutting it at all angles. Sometimes all trace of il would be lost for half a mile, and we were obliged to i-ido over the growing crops until Ave could find a bit of fresh trail. So far as I can discover, the Government neither makes nor guards any road in this part of the Morea. Two or three times a year a new track must be made. The bridle-path over Mount Lycseus was steep and bad, but led us through the heart of a beautiful region. The broad back of the mountain is covered with a grove of superb oaks, centuries old, their long arms muflied in golden moss, and adorned with a plumage of ferns. Tlio turf at their feet was studded with violets, filling the air with delicious odors. This sylvan retreat was the birth place of Pan, and no more fitting home for the universal god can be imagined. On the northern side we descendea for some time through a forest of immense ilex trees, which sprang from a floor of green moss and covered our pathway with summer shade. Near here, Fran9ois was once stop* ped by robbers, to whom he gave some wine and tobacco in exchange for a sheep, and persuaded them to sjaare the baggage of two travellers whom he was conducting. We were now in the heart of the wild mountain region of Messenia, in whose fastnesses Aristomengs^ the epic hero of the State, maintained himself so long against the Spartans. The tremendous gorge below us was the bed of the Neda, which we crossed in order to enter the latera) MESSENIA, ELIS, AXD ACHAIA. 189 valley of Phigalia, where lay Tragoge. The path was not only difficult but dangerous — in some places a mere hand's breadth of gravel, ou the edge of a plane so steep that a single slip of a horse's foot would have sent him headlong o the bottom. We intended to stop with the priest, from whom Fran9oia hoped to coax some of his sacramental wine. On hailing a peasant, however, on approaching the village we learned that the. good man had been dead for some months. " What was the matter with him ? " asked F. " Nothing was the matter with him," answered the man, " he died." We thereupon went to the father of the deceased, who received us kindly, and gave us a windy room, with a number of old silver-mounted yata ghans a:.d muskets hanging on the walls. During the evening a neighbor came in, whose brother was shot as a bandit a few years ago. In the kitchen there was a segment of a hollow sycamore trunk, used as a grain chest. Thirty or forty bee- hives, in a plot of ground near the house, were in like manner composed of hollow trees, and covered with broad flat stones. In the morning, a terrible scirooco levanie was blowing, with an almost freezing cold. The fury of the wind was so great that in crossing the exposed ridges it was difficult to keep one's seat upon the horse. We climbed towards the central peak of the Lycaean Hills, through a wild dell between two ridges, which were covered to the summit with magnificent groves of oak. Starry blue flowers, violets and pink crocuses spangled the banks as we wound onward, between the great trunks. The temple of Apollo 190 TRAVELS IK GREECE AOT) ■RUSSIA. Epj^arius stands on a little platform between tlie Iwc highest peaks, about 3,500 feet above the sea. On tlie morning of our visit, its pillars of pale bluish-gray limestone rose against a wintry sky, its guardian oaks were leafless, and the wind whistled over its heaps of ruin ; yot its symmetry was like that of a i:)erfect statue, wherein you do not notice the absence of color, and I felt that no sky and no season could make it more beautiful. For its builder was Ictinus, who created the Parthenon. It Avaa erected by the Phigalians, out of gratitude to Apollo the Helper, who kept from their city a plague which ravaged the rest of the Peloponnesus. Owing to its secluded position, it has escaped the fate of other temples, and might be restored from its own undestroyed materials. The cella has been thrown down, but thirty-five out of thirty-eight columns are still standing. Through the Doric; shafts you look upon a wide panorama of gray mountai.'is, melting into purple in the distance, and crowned by arcs oi the far-oft' sea. On one hand is Ithome and the Messenian Gulf, on the other the Ionian Sea and the Stropliades. We rode lor nearly two hours along the crest of the mountain, looking down into the deep-blue valley of the Alpheus, and then descended to Andritzena, which lies in a wild ravine, sloping towards the river. This is a poor place, with less than a thousand inhabitants. We passed the night at a small village, two hours beyond, and the next day pushed on down the valley to Olympia. As the streams were swollen with melted snows, we had some dil- ficulty in finding a place where the Alpheus was foi-dable. It was about thirty yards wide, with a very swilt current, MESSENIA, ELIS, A^'TJ ACllAIA. 191 and the agoyats were in mortal fear during the transit, although the water did not reach above our saddle-girtha. Having safely reached the northern bank, we now had the Ladon and the Erymanthus to cross, both of which wcro much swollen Pericles and Ari«tide3 crossed themselves, after these streams had been crossed, and really had tlie water been six inches deeper, we should have been swept iway. There is no bridge over the Alpheus, and commu- nication is frequently cut off during the winter. We now trotted down the valley, over beautiful mea- dows, which were uncultivated except in a few places where the peasants were plowmg for maize, and had destroyed every trace of the road. The hills on both sides began to be fringed with pine, while the higher ridges on our right were clothed with woods of oak. I was surprised at the hixuriant vegetation of this region. The laurel and mastic became trees, the pine shot to a height of oiie hundred feet, and the beech and sycamore began to apj^eai . Some of the p.\nes had been cut for ship-timber, but in the rudest and most wasteful way, only the limbs which had the proper curve being chosen for ribs. I did not see a single saw- mill in the Peloponnesus ; but I am told that there are a few in Eubcea and Acarnania. As we approached Olympia, I could almost have believed myself among the pine-hills of Germany or America. In the old times this must have been a lovely, secluded region, well befitting the honored repose of Xenophon, who wrote his works here. The sky became heavier as the day w n-e on, and the rain, which had spared us so long, finally inclosed us in its misty circle. Towards evening we reached a lonely little house, on the 192 n^A.VELS IN GREECE AND EUSSIA banks of the Alpheus. Nobody was at home, bat we buo ceeded hi forcing a door and gettmg shelter for our bag- gage. Fi-anyois had supper nearly ready before the pro- prietor arrived. The latter had neither wife nor child, though a few chicks, and took our burglai-ious occupation very good-humorcdly. We shared the same leaky re of with our horses, and the abundant fleas -svith the ownt.r' dogs. In the morning the clouds broke away, and broad 6un« shine streamed down on the Olympian vale. A ride of twenty minutes brought us to the remains of the temple of Jupiter — substructions only, which have been discovered by excavation, as they are entirely beneath the level of the soil. The vast fragments enable one to guess at the size and majesty of the perfect edifice. The drums of the Doric columns, only two or three of M^hich remain in situ, are nearly eight feet in diameter. The stone employed is the same hard, coarse, gray limestone as that of the temple of Apollo Epicurius. The soil of Olympia — a deep alluvial deposit — undoubtedly contains a rich fund of remains of ancient art; but when shall they be brou.u'ht to light? Prince Piickler-Muskau proposed to the Greek Government to make excavations at his own exjiense, and to place what- ever he found in a museum which he would build on the spot, "but his generous offer was refused, out of a mean jea- lousy of permitting a foreigner to do that which the Greeks themselves will not do for a hundred years to come. The latter boast of their descent from the old heroes, but (old Pittakys excepted) they are greater Vandals than the Turka towards the ancient monuments of their country. Foreign MJLSSKNIA, ELIS, AND ACHAIA. 193 induence has preserved the AcropoUs from being still fur ther despoiled ; foreign scholars have discovered the lost landmarks of Greece ; and foreign money is now paying for the few excavations and restorations which are being car- ried on. Athenian boys hurl stoues from their sUngs at tlie choragic monument of liysicrates and mutilate its exquisite frieze, and the sportsmen who pass Colonos j)epper with shot and baU the marble tombstone over Ottfried Miiller's grave. During my residence in Athens, Sii* Thomas Wyse prevented the builders of the new Catliedral from plunder- ing the Theatre of Bacchus, and it is fear of the opinion of the world, rather than reverence for the Past, which saves many a venerable relic from the like fate. The hills surrounding Olympia are low, and picturesquely srooded with pine. The scenery has a pleasing air of seclU' sion and peace. Broken stones and bricks mrak the posi- tion of the city, which stood on a shelf of the vaUey next the hills, out of the reach of inundations from the river. The temple stood very nearly in the centre, opposite an arm of the valley which enters the hills to the north, at right angles to the course of the Alpheus. Here was the stadium, no trace of which now remains. At one end is a fimall Roman ruin of brickwork, resembling a bath. We here found a wild olive-tree, from which we robbed enough of leaves to make a victor's crown. The vale is nearly deserted, and most of its mellow loam is lying fallow. And this is Olympia, whence, for nearly 1,200 years, the chrono- logy of the ancient world was computed — which has wit- nessed the presence of a greater number of great men tlian any other spot in the world I 194 TRAVELS IK GREECE ^VND EUSSIA. A journey of tAvo clays across the wild mountain country of Erymanthus took us to Kalavryta, in Achaia. We left the valley of the Alpheus at Olyrnjna, and struck into a hilly district, covered with forests of splendid pino. A number of himberraen were at work, wastmg niore than half the wood for the want of saws. After a gi-adual ascent of about a thousand feet, we reached a summit ridge, but instead of finding a corresponding descent on the other side, we saw a broad table-land stretching away to the foot of a second ridge of hills. On this line jDlaiu was the little village of Lala, built on the site of one destroyed during the war. The place was very rich, but now, although about one-tenth of the number of the former inhabitants own the same region, they are miserably poor. The fields for miles around, once bounteous with corn and wine, are lying waste and covered only with a thick carpet of ferns and asphodel. Ascending the second range of hills, we came upon another table-land, covered with an Immense forest of oaks. We rode for more than two hours through this forest, which extends to the foot of the high range of Erymanthus, a distance of eight or ten miles, and even spreads up the mountain sides as far as the region of snow. Most of the trees are less than fifty years old, !jut interspersed among them are noble old trunks of many centuries. The open spaces were carpeted with soft, green turf, and every sunny bank gave a breath of violets to the ail'. The ground was covered with limbs and trunks, slowly rotting aAvay. I saw enough of waste wood during the ride to supply all Athens for five years, but there it will lie and rot, so long as there are no roads in Greece MESSElSriA, ELIS, AND ACHii lA. ] 9£ [I is saddening to see a country so I'icli in natural resoui-cea neglected so shamefully. Leaving the forest at last, we entered the deep, abrupt gorge of the Erymanthus, and spent the night in a lonely khan in the -woods, high on the mountain side. It was a long day's journey thence to Kalavryta, over the back-bone of Erymanthus. Tliis is the main line of communication between the Gulf of Corinth and the south-western portion of the Peloponnesus. The King and all his ministers have travelled it, the people have sent, literally, hundreds of petitions in regard to it, yet not a solitary drachma, so far as I could learn, has ever been expended on it. Xear tlie khan there is a wild mountain stream, which frequently cuts off communication for days. A good bridge over it could be built for 10,000 drachmas; the poor people of the neighborhood have raised among themselves nearly half the amount, yet all their clamor and entreaty cannot pro- cure the remainder. Our hhanji was evidently of Turkish bloo d ; the Greek face is very rare in these parts. We had an exceedingly rough ride of three hours, up the gorge of the Eryman- thus to Tripotamo. The mountains rose on either side to a height of 300 feet above the stream, which thundered down a precipitous defile. Tripotamo is a khan, lying, as its name denotes, at the junction of the three branches of Erymanthus. A few foundation walls still remain from the ancient city of Peophis, which stood on a rocky height, commanding the valley. We noAV followed the middle branch of the Erymanthus up a warm, narrow valley, planted with tobacco and vinea J 96 TRAVELS LN" GREECE AND RUSSIA. The banks were purple with the dark-hued violet, and the air balmy as the breath of Paradise. At the end of the '^alley we mounted the central ridge of the Erymanthean chain — a sharp comb, which appears to connect the group of Panachaiacum with that of Cyllene. From the summit we had a glorious view backwards, down the gorge of the Erymanthus, between the blue foldings of whose mountains we saw the level line of the wooded table-land overlooking the Olympian plain. Before us stretched a similar valley, closed on the north by another mountain range, Avhile the hoary summit of Cyllene sparkled near us on the right, through the crystal ether. Of the four monasteries which we passed, between Tripotamo and Kalavryta, but one was inhabited. The others, so Franyois said, had been seques- trated by the Government. Kalavryta is situated at the eastern end of a high moun- tain basin, which discharges its waters into the katahethra (caiion) where lies the monastery of Megasi^elion. Over it towers the snowy head of Cyllene, in which are the foun- tains of the Styx. It is a busy, picturesque little place, with better houses than one usually finds in the country towns. There was no khan, but the Chief of Police directed us to a house where we obtained quarters. As it had a second story, chimney, and small glass windows, we con- sidered ourselves luxuriously lodged. The next day we went no further than Megaspelion, two hours distant. Our youngest agoyat, Pericles, was quite ill, from the effect of Lent. He had eaten nothing but bread, olives, and raw onions during the whole trip. A single good meal would have cured him, but 1 believe he would sooner have died MESSENIA, ELIS, AND ACHAIA. 19< than have eaten meat before Easter. Our host refused to drink wine, because he had once brought a load offish Ironj Lala to Kalavryta in one day, and is certain he would never have accomplished it, if he had not strictly observed his fasts at the propei time. What has Christianity become ? Is it, as practised by one-half of Christendom, much bettei than the ancient Paganism? Entering the gorge of Megaspelion, Ave had a succession of grand momitain pictures, the naked rocks rising high overhead, almost to the very clouds, while there was barely space between their bases for the Kalavryta River. We saw the monastery, far up on the mountain side, stuck against the face of tremendous cliffs of dark-red rock. A long and steep ascent leads into the amphitheatric hollow which it overlooks, the buildings being hidden from view by a projecting spur until you are close upon them. It is certainly one of the wildest and most singular places in the world. The precipice, which is nearly five hundred feet perpendicular, is hollowed out at the bottom uito three crescent-shaped caverns, penetrating ninety feet into tlie rock. In front of these, a massive wall, sixty feet high, has been built up, and on the summit of the wall, and the rocky floor of the topmost cavern, are perched the chapel and dormitories of the monks — for all the world like a lot of swallows' nests, of all forms, colors, and dimensions. The mountam slope below the monastery is terraced and de- voted to gardens, of which every monk has a separate one, and there are nearly three hundred when they are all at home. The staiicases and passages in the interior of this hive are mostly hewn in the solid rock, and sg 198 TRAVELS EST GRKECE AND RUSSIA. dark and labyrinthine that you must have candles and a Efuide. The monks — to whose piety I \\'ill testify, since I saw liow dirty they were — received us rather coldly, but did not refuse us a room, nor prevent Fran9ois from cooking a bit of mutton. They hurried us off to the church, supposing tliiit we nmst be impatient to behold tlie portrait of the rioly Virgin, sculptured in V3ry black wood, by St. Luke himself. If the portrait be correct, she was a very ordinai-y person. I prefei', however, to throw the blame on St. Lukc, whose pictures are quite as hideous as this bas-relief. The rooms of the monks Avere in harmony with their persons. All the offal of the monastery is throA\Ti out of the windows, and lies in heaps at the foot of the wall, whence its effluvia rise to mingle with the incense in the chapels above. The most spacious part of the building was the wine-cellar, which was well stored. There was no temptation to stay and witness the Easter festivities — indeed, we M'cre too anxious to reach Athens. Two Englishmen, however, who had arrived before us, were spending every night in the church and sleeping in the day-time. The monotony of the nasal chanting is something terrible, and how they endured it six hours a night was beyond my comprehension. So we left Megasi:)elion on megalo sabaton (Great Satur day), in the beginning of a rain. Our jDath climbed the mountain behind the monastery, and followed the crest of a long ridge running towards the Gulf of Corinth. Clouds were above and below us, and a wild, black abyss of storm hid both Cyllene and the gulf. These mountains were thickly clothed 'with firs, the first we had seen in Greece MESSENIA, EUS, AND ACUAIA. 100 The most of them were young, "but here and there rose a feAV fine, tall trunks, which both War and Peace had spared , The appearance of this region showed conclusively how easy it would be to restore the lost forests of Greece — and through them the lost streams. After four or five hour,? ap and down paths so difficult that they would have been very dangerous with horses unaccustomed to such travel, we reached the hamlet of Akrata on the coast, wet, sore, and hungry. A crowd of village idlers collected about the little shop where we stopped to breakfost, and thronged in to see us eat and to ask questions. They had sharp, eager, intelli- gent faces, but all with a greater or less mixture of the Slavonic element. Among them was a handsome boy of sixteen, who, ha^dng studied at the gymnasium of Patras, was put forward as spokesman. "We were the first Ameri- cans they had seen, and they were curious to learn some thing about America. I pointed out one of the boys present as having a genuine American face, whereupon the smart youngster remarked, " That is almost like an insult — it is as much as to say that he don't look like a Greek." " You should, on the contrary, take it as a compliment to your country," I answered ; " the people of a free country have a difierent expression from those who live under a despotism, and if he resembles an American, he resembles a free man." He was a little abashed ; and one of the men asked : " But if it is a free country, what despot [tyrannos) rules you? ' I thereupon, with the help of Fran9ois, gave them a brief description of our Government and country, to which they listened witlt tho greatest attention, asking 200 TKAVKLS IN GKEECK AND RUSSIA. questions which showed a clear comprehension of ra) explanations. I am sure that a group of German or French peasants would not have understood *he subject half as readUy. By this time the rain had not only ceased, but the clouda parted, alloAving splendid gaps of sunshine to stream down on the dark-green gulf, and light uji the snowy top of Parnassus, nearly opposite. Before sunset we reached the village of Stomi, where we spent the night very comfort- ably m a two-story house. The next day was Easter Sim- day, which we had promised to spend with our friend, the Demarch of Hexaniilia. The storm had delayed us con- siderably, but we still hoped, by starting early, to arrive in season for the Paschal lamb. Tiie way, however, was longer than we had counted upon. Following the shore of the gulf, we witnessed the Easter festivities in twenty villages, saluted by everybody with the glad tidings . " Christos aneste''' (Christ is arisen,) — to which Ave gave the customary reply : '■'■Alethos aneste''' (Truly he is arisen.) All were dressed in their gayest garments, and the satisfsic- tion which a hearty meal of meat — the first in fifty days — spread over their countenances, was most refreshing to oehold. There was a continual discharge of musketry from the yoimg paiikars ; and, in the afternoon, the women danced slowly on the shore, in long semicircular companies to the sound of their own screechy voices. The short mantles which they wore, over their white jsetticoats, Avere of the gayest colors, bordered with an ornamental pattern of truly antique and classical form. One of them was ir exact copy of that worn by Ristori, as Medea. MESSENIA, ELIS, AND ACHAIA. 20 i Sending our baggage direct to Hexamilia, and intrusting Ptricles with a message to the Deraarch, that a Paschal lamb she old be bought and roasted for us, we left the shore, and mounted to the rocky platform whereon stood Sikyon, the forerunner and rival of Corinth. We spent a quiet hour in the grass-grown theatre, looking on the gap})hire gulf, and the immortal peaks of song beyond it. It was nearly sunset when we reached Corinth, but I determined to improve the occasion by climbing to the acro2)olis, which we had been unable to do on our former visit, on account of the rain. From the huge rock, nearly tv.'o thousand feet in height, you have a panorama extending from Sunium, the eastern headland of Attica, on one side, to the moun tains <)f Etolia, on the other. It was after dark when our weary horses halted at the Demarch's door, in Hexamilia, The lamb was on a spiL, truly enough, and Pericles and Aristides were turning him with expectant eyes. The Demarch opened an amphora of red, resinous wine (which, having once learned to drink, we preferred to all other), and late at night, by the hght of lanterns, we sat down to our Easter feast. The house was still shaken by the throes of the lingering earthquake, but none of us heeded them. The Demarch, whose red face and starting eyes already told of repletion, tore a rib from the lamb with the remark : " I have already eaten three times to-day, but on Easter one can hold a double portion." It is a fact that there are more cases of illness after this festival, thai at any time in the year. We were all ravenously hungry, and the Demarch was finally left behind in the race. Pericles and Aristides devoured an 202 TEAVELS IX GREECE AND RUSSIA entire quarter, besides an immense omelette, with silent rapture. lietuming by way of Megara and Eleusis, in two days more, we hailed again the beloved Acropolis from the brow of Daphne. CHAPTER XVIII. BYEON IN GREECE. No poet of modern times — not. even Scott among the locha of the Highlands — has left so lasting an impress of his own mind on the scenes he saw and sang of, as Byron. Whe- ther on the Rhine, in Switzerland, Yenice, Rome, Albania, Greece, Stamboul, or Gibraltar, the first hnes that bubble 10 from the bottom of Memory's pool, as some feature oi' expression of the landscajje agitates it, are sure to be his. Epithets struck off like the lucky dash of an artist's pencil, cling so tenaciously to the scenes themselves, that moun- tain, cape, cataract, and temple hurl them back to you, " The Acroceraunean momitains of old name," " Leucadia'? far-projecting rock of woe," Soracte heaving from the plain "like a long-swept wave about to break," Lake Nemi " navelled in the woody hills," the " exulting and abound- ing " Rhine — are all illustrations of this. It is not, as some- body observes, that Byron expresses the average sentiment of cultivated travellers, but rather from the intrinsic excel- lence and aptness of his descriptive epithe^^s, that he is so 204 TRAYBJ.S IN GREECE AND RUSSIA, constantly quoted. Nothing can be finer than the unages — rarely more than a line in length — Avith which Childe Harold is crowded. The disciples of Wordsworth have attein]tted to depreciate Byron as a poet, as Pollok and other Pharisees have blackened his character as a man — but no one can visit Greece without recognising how wonder- liilly the forms and colors of her scenery, the solemn sadness of her ruin, are reproduced in his pages. It is a severe test of a description to read it on the actual spot. The twilight medium of words pales in the broad blaze of Nature ; and as mountain, city, and river flush into living color before your eye, the life-blood seems to be drained from the page in your hand. Only when you be- come familiarized with a landscape, can you venture to open a book in its presence. Classical travellers, it is true, carry their Homers W'ith them to read on the mound of Troy — or their Sophocles, for the Gate of Mycenae ; but this is a bit of agreeable sentiment which we must pardon, In Chamounix, before sunrise, you would scarcely think of reading Coleridge's "Hymn;" Schiller's "Diver" would sound but tamely in the Calabrian Strait ; and I should like to see the man who could repeat any of the many feeble addresses to Niagara, on Table Rock ! Why is it, then, that so many of Byron's descriptions when you have once read them, are given back to you again by Nature herself? Because he wrote in the pre- sence of Nature : impression and expression were simulta- neous; and his pictures, like the open-air studies of a painter, however deficient in breadth, depth, or atmosphere, have the unmistakable stamp of truth. Scarcely any othei IJYIiON m GKKECK. 20A poet painted so directly from the model. His thmidei storm on Lake Leman, written, as one might say, by the flashes of lightning, reminds us of Turner lashed to the foremast of a steamer, in order to study a snow-squall at sea. Tlie first and second books of Childe Harold '>vero written almost entu-ely in the open air. In wandering about Athens, on a sunny March day, when the asphodels are blossoming on Colonos, when the immortal mountains are folded in a transparent purple haze, and the waveless ^gean slumbers afar, among his islands, I never failed to hear a voice steal upon the charmed silence — a young, manly voice, ringing with inspiration, yet subdued by the landscape to a harmony with its own exquisite rhythmuB, chanting : " Tet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild, Sweet are thy groves, and verdant are thy fieldfl» Thine olive ripe as when Minerva smiled, And still his honeyed wealth Hymettus yields ; There the bUihe bee his fragrant fortress builds, The free-born wanderer of thy mountain air ; Apollo still thy long, long summer gilds, Still in his beam Meudeh's* marbles glare : Art, Glory, Freedom faU, but Nature still is fair." Here the simple thought is neither new nor profound but when the blue sky of Greece is over your head ; when the thick olive groves shimmer silverly before you down Lhe valley of the Cephissus ; when the bee rises from hia bed in the bells of the asphodel, and the flavor of the thymy * Pentelicua. '?06 TKAVELS IN GKEECK AND KUSSlA. honey of Hymettus is still on your palate ; when the marble quarries of Pentelicus gleam like scars on the Hue pediment of tlie mountain — then these lines sing themselves into youi brain as the natural voice of the landscape. Although fifty years have elapsed since Byron first visited Greece, his connexion with the later struggle for indepi.-ii donee has kept alive some memories even of that earliei period. No foreign name is so well known to the Greeks AS that ot Veeron (as they pronounce it) ; his portrait always has a prominent place in the Pantheon of the Libe- rators. Mrs. Black, to whom he sang "Zoe mow, sas agapo^'' still lives at the Piraeus, and has transmitted her charms to a lovely Greco-Scottish daughter; and Mavro- cordato, his friend and ally, though blind and octogenjiry, was living at the time of my visit. I knew the physician who attended him at Missoloughi — the same m whose arms Ottfried Miiller breathed his last. Mr. Finlay, the historian of Mediaeval Greece, knew him both at Cephalonia and at Missolonghi, and related to me the circumstances under which he contracted his fatal illness. Some of the particu- lars were new to me ; and as Mr. Finlay informed me that portions of his statement had already been published, I feel no hesitation in repeating them here. It is well known that after Byron reached Missolonghi, he was greatly annoyed and jDcrplexed by the turbulent horde of half-robbers among w'hom he w^as thrown — a set of jealous, clamorous, undisciplined rogues, who were less zealous in the cause of Grecian freedom than in their endea- vors to get a share of the poet's money. Ambitious to achieve some military distinction, and at the same time BYRON IN GREECE. 20t accomplish something for Greece, he enrolled a company of Suliotcs under his own immediate command, and com- menced a strict course of discipline. [I33'ron's helmet, with his crest, and the motto " Crede Biron," is now in the possession of Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, who received it from Count Gamba. It is so small that few men could be found whose heads could be put into it.] He was very punctual in liis attendance at the drill, and disregarded a proper j^i'otection from the weather, fearing that an appear- ance of effemmacy would weaken his influence over his men. Mr. Finlay, then a young and ardent Philhellcnc, was sent with dispatches from Athens to Missolonghi, about the close of March, 1824. After remaining a few days he pre- pared to return ; but heavy rains had swollen the river Achelous, and he was obliged to delay his departure. His plan was, to cross the Gulf of Corinth in a small boat, so as to avoid the risk of being captured by the Turks at Lepanto, and then push on eastward, through the defiles of the Achaian Mountaiiis. One morning, at last, the weather seemed better, and ho set out. Riding eastward over the plain, towards the Achelous, he met Byron on horseback. The latter turned and rode along with him for two or three miles, conversing on the prospects of the cause. Fuially, Byron said : " You'd better turn back ; tlie river is still too high." " I think not," said Mr Finlay ; " but, at least, I'll try it." " You'll be wet to the skin, at any rate," urged Byron, pointing to a heavy black cloud, which was rapidly approaching. " You will be wet, not I," Mr. Finlay an swered, whereupon Byron saying: "I'll see to that,' turned his horse and galloj^ed back towards the town. 208 TRAVELS UT GREECE AND RUSSIA. In a few minutes, however, the cloud broke, ami tlie lain fell in torrents. Byron's house was at the western end of Missolonghi, so that, in order to avoid the breakneck streets, he was in the habit of crossing the harbor in a boat, and mounting his horse outside the eastern wall. On this occasion, he reached the boat in a dripping state, and, being obliged to sit still during the passage, received a violent chill, which Avas followed by an attack of fever Mr. Finlay, finding the river still too high, returned to Mis solonghi, where he was obliged to wait two days longer. Byron then lay upon the bed from whicli he never arose. " One evening," related Mr. F., " he said to Col. Stanhope and the rest of us : ' Well, I expected something to happen this year. It's all owing to the old witch.' We asked for an explanation. ' When I was a boy,' said he, ' an old woman, who told my fortune, predicted that four particular years would be dangerous to me. Three times her predic tion has come true ; and now this is the fourth year she named. So you see, it won't do to laugh at the witches. He said this in a gay, jesting voice, and seemed to have no idea that his illness would prove fatal. Indeed, none of us considered him in a dangerous condition at that time." During his first visit to Greece, Byron resided for several months at Athens, and every fair or inspiring feature of the illustrious region was familiar to him. Two points seem to have especially attracted him — the ancient fortress of Phyle, in the defile of Parnes, through which passed one of the roads into Boeotia, and the sunset view from the Pro- pylaja, or pillared entrance at the western end of the Acro- polis. The latter is frequently called " Byron's View," bj BYEON IN GREECK. 209 the English, and no poet's name was ever associated with a lovelier landscape. Seated on a block of marble op posite the main entrance, which steeply climbs the slope, you look down between the rows of fluted Doric columns, to the Hill of the Nymphs, rising opposite, across the val- ley of the Cephissus, twinkling with olives and vines, over the barren ridge of Corydallus, the mountains of Salamis and Megara, and away to the phantom hills of the Pelopon- nesus, whose bases are cut by the azure arc of the Saronic Gulf. Here was written the often quoted description of a Grecian sunset, commencing : " Slow sinks, more lovely ere his race be run. Along Morea's hills the setting sun — " and every feature of the picture is correct. In the south, you see Egina, cro^vned by the Panhellenic temple of Jupi- ter, Hydra, and Poros; while the " Delphian cliff" on the west, behind which the stiU triumphant god sinks to rest, though hidden from sight by a si:>ur ofParnes, is neverthe- less visible from the sides of Hymettus. To me, this view had an indescribable charm. Apart from the magic of its immortal associations, it is drawn and colored with that exquisite artistic feeling, which seems to be a characteristic of Nature in Greece, and therefore takes away from the almost despairing wonder with which we should otherwise contemplate her perfect temples. We the more easily comprehend why Proportion should have been an inborn faculty of the Grecian mind — why the laws of Form, with all theii* elusive secrets, should have been so thoroughly mastered. The studied ii'regularity of the 210 TKAVEI>5 IN GKEKCE AJO) RUSSIA. Parthenon, the result of wliich is absolute sj^mmetry, was never attained by matLeniatical calculation. It sprang from the inspired sagacity of a brain so exquisitely educated to Order, that it could give birth to no imperfect concei^- tion. Ictuius caught the magic secret (which all Apostles of the Good Time Coming would do well to learn), that Nature abhors exact mathematical arrangement — that true Order and Harmony lie in a dej^arture from it. IJy violav- ing the aj^parent law, the genume law was found. A few days before leaving Athens, I rode out to Phyle, which is about eighteen miles distant. The weather was intensely hot, thermometer ninety-one degrees in the shade, and a strong sirocco wind, blowuig directly from Afiica, wrapped the mountains in a fiery blue film. A rapid trot of two hours brought us to an Albanian village at the foot of Parnes, where we halted for breakfast, and to rest our exhausted horses. The inhabitants have the reputation of being robbers, and probably deserve it. They seemed to have no regular occupation, and the number of well-armed, lusty, yellow-moustached, and long-nosed fellows lounging about, was, in itself, a suspicious circumstance. They were, however, very courteous to us, and I have no doubt we might have lived for weeks among them with entire se- curity. At the little inn, where we ate our cold chicken and caviar, moistened vnlh. resinous wine, several of the villar gers were collected, in Hvely conversation ^vith a keen, quick-eyed fellow from a distant village, ^vhose witty remarks and retorts diverted them exceedingly. One wild, yomig scamp jumped up at intervals, and executed BYRON IN GREECE. 211 Steps of the palikar dance, or romdika^ and another, lolling lazily in a corner, sang fragments of a song he had learned in Crete : " All OD "i Sunday morning, On Easter and New-Year's day, The bells of Holy Coustantine They ring so loud and gay." The tide of fun ran high ; and I regretted that my im- perfect knowledge of the language did not allow me to enjoy it with them. Fhially, however, one of the villagera called out to the jolly stranger : " Nicola, tell us that story of your second marriage. Giorgios here, and Costandi, and Kyrie Franyois have never heard it." " Oh, yes !" shouted the others ; " that was a capital trick of Nicola's. You must all hear it." Nicola thereupon began the story — his quick blue eyes dancing in wicked delight under his shaggy brows at the very thought of the trick. " You must know," said he, " that my first wife died about a year and a half ago. Well, she had not been dead long, before I found out that I must fill her place with somebody else. It's poor business living without a wife, especially when you've been used to having one. But I was as poor as the Holy Lazarus, and how to get a hand- some girl, with a good dower, was more than I knew. At last I remembered Athanasi, the fat innkeeper in Kuluri, where T had spent a night a year or two before. lie had a daughter, handsome and nimble enough; and five hundred drachmas, they said, would go with her. I must be Atlia oasi's son-in-law, I said to myself. Now, I am no fool 212 TKAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. and presently I hit upon the right plan. I washed my fustanellas, put on my best clothes, and started on mj horse (it's not a bad animal, you know) for Kuluri. But first, I took ray big saddle-bags, and filled them with bra- ken horse-shoes and other such bits of iron. Then I threw in all the money I had — about ten or twelve silver dollars — locked the bags, and hung them over my saddle. As I jogged along the road, Avith the metal jingling under me I said to myself ' Ho ! Papa Athanasi, get the bride ready • your son is a-coming ! ' "When I drew near Kuluri, I put my horse into a trot, so that everybody heard the jingle as I rode. I went straight to Athanasi's, hung my saddle-bags up in a place where I could always keep my eye on them, and ordejed dinner. ' The best that can be had,' said I, ' it will be paid for !' The dinner was fit for a bishop, I must say, and no lack of wine. When I was satisfied, I asked Athanasi, ' Who cooked for me ?' ' Oh,' says he, ' it Avas my daugh- ter, Heraclea,' ' Let her come, then,' says I : ' I must tell her how good it was.' Then I unlocked my saddle-baga before their eyes, gave a dollar to Athanasi, and another to his daughter. I jingled the bags well as I carried them out — and heavy enough they were — and then rode away. " The next week, I came back and did the same thing, but when Heraclea had gone to the kitchen, I said to Athanasi : ' Your daughter pleases me ; I should like to marry her, and even if her dowry is not so high as I have a I'ight to ask, I will take her.' He looked at me, then at my saddle-bags, brought another bottle of wine ; and sc BYBOX LN^ viEEEOE. 215 the thing was settled. It wasn't a month before Papa Anagnosto blessed us as man and wife ; and I felt easy and comfortable again. Her dower was — well, I won't say how much ; but I might have done worse. " When my wife went home Avdth me, I hung the saddle- bags over my bed, and cautioned her against allowing any one to come near them. She did everything as I wanted it, and was quiet and steady enough for a week or two But a woman, you know, is never satisfied. I knew it would come and come it did. ' What is the use of all that money hanging there,' she thought, ' wlien I might have the heaviest gold ear-rings in the village?' 'Nicola, my life,' said she [here the speaker imitated a woman's voice, in the most irresistibly droll way], ' I should like to get a new pair of ear-rings for the Easter dances.' ' Very well,' says I, ' here's my key. Go to the saddle-bags and take as much money as you want.' She hopped into the bed-room Uke a cat, while I went on cleaning my gun, as cool as could be. In a minute, she was out again, looking scared and pale. ' Money !' she screamed ; ' that's not money — it's bits of iron !' ' Why, you're a fool :' said I, trying to look as wild as I could. When I went in with her, and looked into the saddle-bags, I threw my gun on the floor, stamped, howled, and cursed like a thousand dragons ; while Hera clea, sitting on the bed, could only say : ' Holy Spiridion . wliat has happened ?' ' Why,' I yelled, ' that cursed Alex- andros, that wizard, that devil — whom I offended last week — ^he has gone and turned all my bright silver dollars into iron !' Then, wlien she found I was so furious, she tried to quiet and console me. So I got out of the difficulty 214 TRAVELS IN GEEECE AND RUSSIA. then ; but I guess she begins to suspect how it really waa However, she likes me well enough, and I am now the father of a little Athanasi ; so it don't much matter." Nicola's story — to the truth of which some of the villa- gers testified — gave great amusement to his auditors. We shook hands with the jolly band of miscreants, and rode nj) the hot, narrow gorge for an hour or more, until the road approached the summit ridge of Panics, where, upoii a narrow, precipitous cape, stood the ancient fortress of Phyle. The blocks of tawny marble of Avhich it is com- posed are entire to the height of ten to twenty feet, and picturesquely overgrown mth glossy draperies of ivy. Sitting on tlie parapet, the savage defile, dark with pine trees, yawns below you ; while, between its scarped walls of orange-colored rock, you look out over the warm plain of Attica, as far as Hymettus and the sea. In the central distance rises the Acropolis, distinct with all its tem- ples. Here, as in the Propyl aea, you have a foreground and a frame for the picture ; and the wonderful coloring of the landscape, thus confined to an extent which tlie eye can take in at a single glance, assumes a purity and depth which is always wanting in a wide panoramic view. On the PropyliBa, perfect Art inframes the harmonious landscape; at Phyle, it is savage Nature. Different in features, the views nevertheless make a similar impression. Nothing could better illustrate the integrity of Byron's appreciation of Nature than his selection of these two pomts. And, while sitting among the lizard-haunted ruins, gazing through the hot film of the sirocco upon Athens, BYKON IX GREECE. 2 IS and reflecting upon her flimsy Court and degenerate people, I could not but admit that he might still say : " Spirit of Freedom I when on Phyle's brow Thou sat'st with Thrasybulus and his train, Couldst thou forebode the dismal hour wliich noiv DiiuB the green beauties of thhie Attic plain 1" CHAPTER XIX. THE HAUNTS OF THE MUSES, Wb left Athens on the 13th of April, for a journey to Parnassus and the northern frontier of Greece, The com- pany consisted of Fran9ois, Braisted, myself, and Ajax and Themistocles, our agoyats, or grooms. It was a teeming, dazzling day, with liglit scarfs of cloud-crape in the sky, and a delicious breeze from the west blowing through the pass of Daphne. The Gulf of Salamis was pure ultramarine, covered with a velvety bloom, while the island and Mount Kerata swam in transparent pink and violet tints. Greece, on such a day, is livmg Greece again. The soul of ancient Art and Poetry throbs in the splendid air, and pours its divinest light upon the landscape. Crossing the sacred plain of Eleusis for the fourth time in m) Grecian journeys, our road entered the mountains — lower offshoots of Citharon, which divide the jalain from that of Bceotia. They are now covered with young pines, to the very summits, and Fran9ois directed my attention to the rapidity with which the mountains were becoming THE UAUNTS OF THE MUSKS. 217 wooded, since the destruction of young trees lias been pro- hibited by law. The agricultural prosperity of the country, in many districts, depends entirely on the restoration of the lost forests. The sun was intensely hot in the close gleus, and we foiind the shade of the old Cithasronian pines very gratefid. We met a straggling company of lancers return« ing from the Thessalian fi-ontier, and many travellers in the course of the afternoon. Among the baggage animals fol lowing the lancers Ave were surprised to find Pegasus and Bellerophon, the lean horses which had carried us through the Peloponnesus ; and soon after, Aristides himself resplen dent in clean Easter garments. He was greatly disap- pointed at seeing us under way, as he had intended to carry us to the Mounts of Song on his own winged steeds. Towards evening, we descended into the valley of the Eleusinian Cephissus, at the foot of Citha3ron, passing the remains of an ancient tower, twenty feet high. At sunset, when the sky had become overcast and stormy, we reached the solitary khan of Casa, at the foot of a rocky, precipi- tous hiU, crowned by the acropolis of (Enoe, and were heartliy glad to find shelter in the windy building, from the more violent wind outside. The keepers of the khan were two women — old frieaids of Fran9ois — who received us with great cordiality. There was a military barrack a few paces off, containing a corporal's guard, who were sup' posed to keep down brigandage. The setting sun buih a magnificent rainbow upon the bas«s of heavy clouds, which mr.ved away upon Athens with thunder and lightning. Our lodging was in a loft, among heaps of grain and pUes of dried herbs; but F.'s convenient camp-beds, as we knew 218 TEATELS IN GREECE AND KUSSIA. from exijerience, were as comfortable in a stable as any where else ; and his famous potage mix voyageiirs would have made a hungry Lucullus shriek with satisfaction, Benevolence prompts me to communicate the receipt for this soup, which anybody can make, with a little practice Boil two fowls for the broth : add a sufficient (piantity of vermicelli, and, when nearly done, the yolks of four eggs, beaten up with a gill of watei'. Then squeeze into the nix ture the juice of half a lemon : and, lo ! it is done. If any lady can make a better soup, with fewer materials, I should be glad to possess her autograph. We awoke to a cloudless sky ; and, after coffee, climbed r/> ^ the hill of CEnoe, or Eleutheria, whichever it may be. 1 ''^ suppose Leake is most likely to be right ; and so I shall call it CEnoe. A hard pull of fifteen minutes brought us to the lower part of the wall, which is comj^osed of immense blocks of gray conglomerate limestone — the native rock of the hill. The walls are eight feet thick, and strengthened by projecting square towers. On both the northern and southern sides, the natural precipices assist the plan of defence. Following the northern wall up the hill to the northwestern angle, we were surprised to see before us a range of tall square towers, which, with the connecting cur- tains, appear to be in nearly a perfect state. Of the nine towej'S which defended this side of the city, fix are still fi-ora twenty to twenty-five feet in height. We walked along the top of the wall, and passed through them all in succession. There are loop-holes in the sides, for arrows oi javelins ; and I noticed mortices in the stones, for the joists which supported the upper floors. On the southern side rUE HAUKTS OF THE MUSES. 219 the wall overhangs the deep gorge, through which flows the mam branch of the Cei:)hissus. There were two mas- sive postern gateways to the town. The walls are better preserved, without exception, than any which I saw in Greece. They date from the time of Alexander the Great, The position of the place, among the wild peaks of Cithaeron, makes it one of the most picturesque ruins in the country. We now climbed the main ridge of the mountains ; and, in less than an hour, reached the highest point — whence the great Boeotian plain suddenly opened upon our view. In the distance gleamed Lake Copais, and the hills beyond ; in the west, the snowy top of Parnassus, lifted clear and bright above the morning vapors; and, at last, as we turned a shoulder of the mountain in descending, the streaky top of Helicon appeared on the left, comj^leting the classic features of the landscape. We descended to the kalyvia^ or summer village of Vilia, whose inhabitants cul- tivate part of the plain during the winter. The want of water obliges them to retii-e to another village in the mountains during the summer; so that their lives are passed in a regular alternation between the two places — each village being deserted half the year. This is a very common mode of Hfe among the Greek peasants. As wo entered the plain, taking a rough path towards Platsea, the fields were dotted, far and near, with the white Eastey shirts of the people working among the vines. Another hour, and our horses' hoofs were upon ihh sacred soil of Plataea. The walls of the city are still to be traced for nearly their entire extent. They are precisely similar in construction to those of CEnoe — like which, also 220 TRAVEl^ IN GREECE AND BUS8IA. they were strengthened by square towers. There are th« substructions of various edifices — some of which may have been temples — and on the side next the modern village lie four large sarcopliagi, now used as vats for treading out the grapes in vintage-time. A more harmless blood than once curdled on the stones of Plataea now stains the empty iepulchres of the heroes. " It was a bright immortal head They crowned with clustering vine ; And o'er their best and bravest dead, They poured the darlc-red wine." We rode up to the miserable little village, took our seats in the church-door, and ate our breakfast there, gazing on the hollow plain below the ruins, which witnessed, proba- bly, the brunt of tlie battle. In the intense glare of the sunshine no illusion was possible. The beggarly huts about us ; the uncouth piles of stones, lying here and there among the springing grass ; the bare, deserted hills beyond — ^what was there to remind one of ancient valor and glory m all these ? The landscape was hke a worn-out garment, which the golden mist of sunset, or the magic of moonshine, may touch with deceptive color ; but, seen at noon-day, with every rent and patch obtruded to your gaze, it is sim- f4y~rags, N evert beless, we rode over the plain, fixed the features of the scene in our memories, and then kept on towards the field of Leuktra, where the brutal power of Sparta received its first check. The two fields are so near, that a part of the fighting may have been done upon the same groimd THE HAUNTS OF THE MUSES. 22] The landmarks of Leuktra are so uncertain, liowever, that I trusted entirely to Francois, who had conducted travel- lers thither for thirty years, and plucked some field-flowers on the spot he pointed out. I then turned my horse's head towards Thebes, which we reached in two hours. It was a pleasant scene, though so difterent from that of two thousand years ago. The town is built partly on tho bill of the Cadmeion, and partly on the plain below. An aqueduct, on mossy arches, supplies it with water, and keeps its gardens green. The plain to the north is itself one broad garden to the foot of the hill of the Sphinx, be- yond which is the blue gleam of a lake, then a chain of barren hills, and over all the snowy cone of Mount Delphi, in Euboea. The only remains of the ancient city are stones ; for the massive square tower, now used as a prison, cannot be ascribed to an earlier date than the reign of the Latin princes. A recent excavation has disclosed the foundations of a mediajval building, constructed of ancient stones. Can it be the palace of that Theban merchant who bought the Duchy of Naxos and made himself the equal of kings — the architectural wonder of Greece during the Middle Ages ? The site of the town is superb. Both Helicon and Parnas- sus tower in the south and west, and even a corner of Peii- telicus is visible. While I sat beside the old tower, sketch- ing the Mountain of the Sphinx, a Theban eagle — the spirit of Pindar — soared slowly through the blue depths abov(^ The memories of Pindar and Epaminondas consecrate the soil of Thebes, though she helped to ruin Greece by her selfish jealousy of Athens. It is not an accidental circum 8tance that she has so utterly disappeared, wliilc the Pra 222 TRAVELS IJ^ (IREECE AND RUSSIA. pyloea of the Athenian Acropolis, which Epaminondaa threatened to carry off, still stand — and may they stand foi ever ! A scholar from the French Academy at Athens joined us iu the evening. He was out hunting inscriptions. The French scholars are always hunting inscriptions, and it is wonderful what a lot of archceological eggs (addled) they discover. This time he had certainly heard of a nest, and was on his way at full gallop), to secure the prize. The next night he rejoined us at Livadia, wet to the skin, with- out an alpha or a beta about him, and rather disposed to find the secret of the Pindaric measure in the red Boeotian wine, than to grope any longer in empty cellars. The next morning Ave rode down from the Cadmeion, and took the highway to Livadia, leading straight across the Boeotian plain. It is one of the finest alluvial bottoms in the world, a deep, dark, vegetable mould — whijh would produce almost without limit, were it properly cultivated. Before us, blue and dark under a weight of clouds, lay Parnassus ; and far across the immense plain the blue peaks of Mount OEta. In three hours we reached the foot of Helicon, and looked ujd at the streaks of snow which melt mto the Fountain of the Muses. Presently a stream, as lunpid as air, issued from the cleft heart of the mountain " fans BandusicB, splendidior vitro P"" I exclaimed ; but it was a diviner than the Bandusian wave Avhich guvgled its liquid dactyls over the marble pebbles. Ajax and Themi-^- tocles had halted in the shade of a garden on the bank ; Fran9ois was unpacking his saddle-bags ; so I leapt from Erato, my mare, knelt among the asphodels, and drank THE UAUNIS OF TDE MUSKS. 223 The water had that sweetness and purity which makes you seem to mhale, rather than drink it. The palate swam iu the delicious flood Avith a delight which acknowledged nc satiety. " What is this ?" I said, as I lifted up my head " Can it be the Muses' Fountain coming dov/n from yondeJ momitain ? Whence this longing unsuppressed in my breast — this desii'e that is springing to be singing ? My veins are on fire — give me a lyre ! I'll beat Apollo all hollow !" "Pshaw !" said Fi-anqois (who had just taken a draught). " He now can drink who chooses, at the Fountain of the Muses. Why, you know, the gods and goddesses, and the nymphs in scanty bodices, are now no more de- tected in the shrines to them erected. That was only a superstition unworthy a man of your position. To such illusions you're no dupe ; this water's very good for soup !" "Soimd the hew-gag, beat the tonjon !" exclaimed Braisted, who had not been thirsty : " 1 believe you are both crazy." But the mare, Erato, who had taken long draughts from the stream, whinnied, whisked her tail, and galloped off one line of hexameter after another, as we con tinued our journey. So I devoutly testify that Helicon is not yet dry, and the Fountain of the Muses retaina its ancient virtue. In the afternoon we turned tlie spur of a mountain — 3 sort of outpost between Helicon and Parnassus — and saw before us Livadia, on the northern slope of a high hill. A ruined Turkish fortress, with two round towers, gave the place a wild, picturesque nir, while the green gardens and 221 TKAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. mulberry orchards below, relieved the sterility of the gra} cliflfe which towered above it. Clear, bright, mountair water gushed in full streams down the glen, and wandered away into the rich plain, fructifyhig the pregnant soil wherever it went. We reached a large, dreary khan, aa the rain began to fall ; and, having established ourselves there for the night, set out to visit the cave of the oracle of Trophonius. It lies at the upper end of the town, in a ravine which is buried almost below the sunshine by precipi- tous rocks that tower more than a thousand feet above. The grand, savage aspect of the sjiot might well have given rise to the ancient superstition that he who once entered the cave never smiled again. Xot withstanding its reputation, I took refuge in one of the hollow chambers from the torrents of rain which drove down the awful gorge. U^ A ride of three hours the next day brought us to Cnero- uosa, the battle-field where the Boeotians made then* last desperate stand against Philip of Macedon. The rums of the city have disappeared, with the exception of the thea- tre, the seats of which are hewm in the solid rock, and some fragments of marble and breccia ; but the monument to the Boeotians who fell in the battle is one of the most interest- ing in Greece. The colossal lion, placed in the sepulchral mound, had gradually become imbedded in the earth, and thus preserved, when it was discovered and blown to pieces with gunpowder by the guerilla chieftain, Odysseus, during the war of independence. The head remains entire, with the eyes upturned in the agony of death, and the teeth set in the last howl of mingled rage and despair. I have nevei THE IIAUIO'S OF TUE MUSES. 22S seen a more grand and touching memorial. The mutilated face embodies the death-cry of Greece. It expresses a despaii' so awful, yet so heroic, that a man need not blush if he should find sudden tears starting into his eyes as he gazes upon it X n-%\ CHAPTER XX. PABNAflSTJS AND TUE DORIAN MOUNTAINS, The khan at Chcronasa was a mere hovel, where the oiilj place for our beds was in the stable among the horses. Our hoofed friends were tolerably quiet, however, and nothuig disturbed our slumber except the crowing of the cocks. But the landlord of this hotel demanded no less than three dollars for our lodgings ; and thereupon ensued one of those terribly wordy battles in which Franyois was a veteran combatant. Epithets struck and clashed against one another like swords ; the host was pierced through and through with furious lunges, and even our valiant dragoman did not escape some severe wounds. Then some peasants, whose horses had been stalled for the night in our bed-room, demanded to be paid for the feed of the animals, because, they said, we had fed ours in the stable, which obliged them to feed theirs, unnecessarily. The Greeks believe, that if one horse sees another eat, without eating himselfj he will fall sick, and perhaps die. Until I discovered this fact, I was surprised to find that when we reached a khan PAIIXASSUS AN7) THE L»01£IAN MOUNTAINS. 22 < all the horses were removed from tiie stable until after ours had been fed, when they were brought back again. In the morning, tremendous black clouds were hanging over Parnassus ; and deep-blue gloom, alternating with streaks of fierce sunshine, checkered the broad, level valley vf the Cephissus — the highway through which the Persians and the Macedonians marched upon Greece. As we skh-ted the plain, riding towards the south-eastern corner of I*ar- nassus, Fran9ois pointed out a village, hanging on the dark, rocky slope. " That is Daulia ! " said he. The ancient Daulis, the birth-place of the nightingale ! The thickets by every stream resounded with the exquisite songs of the bird of passion and of sorrow. " Dost thou once more essay Thy flight ; and feel come over thee, Poor fugitive, the feathery change Once more ; and once more make resound. With love and hate, triumpli and agony, Lone Daulis and the high Cepliissian vale ? " We now entered a deep defile, leading along the southern base of Parnassus to Delphi. The country was stony and barren, overgrown only with broom and furze, and reminded me of some of the wilder p.-wts of Scotland. This is the home of brigands, and they still abound in these rocky fastnesses. A shepherd-boy, tending his flock of black goats, called out to us : " The robbers have como down — have you met any of them ? " He informed us that, five days before, they had carried oflf a rich Greek, vvhom they were keeping in a caveri somewhere in the 228 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. rocks overhanging the defile. They demanded thirty thousand dollars for his ransom, and would not give him up until the money was paid. Passing the spot where CEdipus killed his father, and tlie wild gorge of Sehiste, we reached, about eleven o'clockj the khan of Ismenos, tolerably high up on the side of Parnassus, Avhose snowy peak cleft the sky, wrajit in a misty veil of drifting snow. The wind was frightful. It blew Mdth tremendous force and icy coldness, stiffening our limbs and freezing the very blood in our veins. A snow- storm raged around the topmost summit of Parnassus, which shone now and then with a blinding white gleam, aa the clouds parted. While we were breakfasting, a com- pany of shepherds arrived. Instead of Arcadian crooks they carried muskets and daggers, and I have no doubt looked after something else besides their sheep. They were fierce, si^lendid fellows, with a strong dash of the ancient Hellenic blood in their veins. Tw^o of them had come to appeal to the keeper of the khan as an arbitrator, one accusing the other of having stolen t\vo sheep, wliile the latter claimed compensation for the damage done to his grain by eight sheep belonging to the former. It was a double case, not easily to be decided, and the mild little um})ive quite lost- his wits in the storm that raged around him. Fists were clenched, furious words flung back and forth, daggers drawn, and every moment I expected to Bee blood flow. It was a wild, exciting scene, in smgular keeping with the hurricane outside, which made the house rock to its foundations. As we continued our journey along the southern side of PARNASSUS AND THE DORIAN MOUNTAINS. 222 Parnassus, high over the gorge between it and a chister of barren peaks, forming a cape between the bays of Salona and Aspropitia, I was several times ahiiost unhorsed by the violence of the wind. One of the first poems I read, as a child, was Mrs. Hemans' " Storm at Delphi," commen- cing: Far through the Delphian shades A Persian trumpet rang; " — and, though forgotten for years, it returned to my memory as we faced the gusts which seemed still to protect the shrine of the god. In two hours, however, we reached the village of Arachova, which is situated most pictu- resquely on the steep mountain side, in the midst of a vast amphitheatric sweep of terraced vineyards. The place was almost entu-ely deserted, the inhabitants being in the fields or upon the mountain with their flocks. The few whom we saw, however, verified the correctness of the statement that on Parnassus, as on the sides of Taygetus, may still be found traces of the ancient blood of Greece. Here still live the forms of Phidias — the rude plebeian type of that ennobled and perfected beauty which furnished him with the models of heroes, demi-gods, and deities. Yon bare- footed girl, filling her pitcher at the fountain, would have been a Venus of Milo, in a higher social sphere ; the shep- herd, asleep on a sheltered bank under the rocks, is already a Faun of Praxiteles, and might be a Theseus or a Perseus; and these children need but the loveliness of nudity to oecorae Cupids, Ganymedes, and Psyches. The clear-cut symmetry of the features, the low brow, short upper lip 230 TRAVELS IX GREECE AND RUSSIA. and roiindGcl cliin, the beautiful balance of the limbs, and that perfect modelling of the trunk, whicli neither conceals nor exhibits too much the development of the muscles, are all here — so far as the body can be seen through its dis guise. The true Greeks diifer from the Albanians and the mongrel Turco-Slavic- Venetian race, Avhich constitute the bulk of the population, in everything — in character, form, features, and movement — and I cannot understand wliy it is that enthusiastic travellers persist in seeing iu every one who bears the name of Greek a descendant of Pericles, or Leonidas, or Homer. As we left Arachova, proceeding towards Delphi, tlie deep gorge opened, disclosuig a blue glimiise of the Gulf of Corinth and the Acliaian mountains. Tremendous cliffs of blue-gray limestone towered upon our riglit, high over the slope of Delphi, whieli ere long appeared before us. Our appi'oach to the sacred spot was marked by tombs cut in the rock. A sharp angle of the mountain was passed ; and then, all at once, the enormous walls, buttressing the upper region of Parnassus, stood sublimely against the sky, cleft right through the middle by a terrible split, dividing tlie twin peaks Avhich give a name to the place. At the bottom of this chasm issue forth the waters of Castaly, and fill a stone trough by the road-side. On a long, sloping moun- tain-terrace beyond, facing the east, stood once the town and temples of Delphi, ai d now the modern village of Kastri. Fran9ois conducted us up the hill to tlie house of Mr. Triandaphylli (Rose), a good-1 umorod old fellow, who, with his wife, received us in the most cordial munner PARNASSUS AND THE DOKIAX MOLTN^IAIXS. 231 Tlicy occupied a second story, with two rooms, one of which had a broad chimney-2)lace, where they were cooking dinner. The shelter and the fire were most welcome to iis. and so weve the howls of red, resinous wine, which Dame Rose, witli the air of a Pythoness, presented to us. An old soldier, who has nommal charge of the antiquities — an easy way of pensioning hira upon travellers — had scented us from afar, and now offered his services as guide. We were at first disinclined to move ; but the warmth and the Delphian wine soon restored all the enthusiasm which the Parnassian winds had blown out of us, and we saUied forth. As yuu may imagine, our first walk was to the shrine of the Delphic oracle, at the bottom of the cleft between the two peaks. The hewn face of the rock, with a niche, sup- posed to be that where the Pythia sat upon her tripod, and a secret passage under the floor of the sanctuary, are all that remam. The Castalian fountain still gushes out at the bottom, into a large square inclosure, called the Pythia's Bath, and now choked up Avith mud, weeds, and stones. Among those weeds, I discerned one of fomiliar aspect, plucked and tasted it. Water-cress, of remarkable size and flavor! We thought no more of Apollo and his shrine, but delving wrist-deep into Castalian mud, gathered huge bandfuls of the profane herb, which we washed in the &3cred fount, and sent to Fran9ois for a salad. We then descended to a little monastery, on the opposite slope of the glen. lu the court-yard, at the door of a small, fantastic church, leaned three or four ancient bas-reliefs. One was the torso of a man, life size, and very well model- ed: a smaller one, full of spirit, represented four horses 232 TltAS'ELS IN GREECK AND KUSSIA. attached to a chariot. The monastery stands on an aucicnt terrace, of fine square blocks, which the soldier said had ouce supported a school, or gymnasium — who knows ? All through and around Kastri are portions of similar terraces, some of very early masonry. Of rhe temple of Apollo there only remain blocks, marble drums, and the inscrip- tion which cost poor Ottfried Mtiller his life. As the sun sank, I sat on the marble blocks and sketched the immortal landscape. High above me, on the loft, soared the enormous twin peaks of pale-blue rock, lying half in the shadow of the mountain slope upheaved beneath, half bathed in the deep yellow lustre of sunset. Before me rolled wave after wave of the Parna?;sian chain, divided by deep lateral valleys, while Helicon, in the distance, gloomed like a thunder-storm under the weight of gathered clouds. Across this wild, vast view, the breaking clouds threw broad belts of cold blue shadow, alternating with zones of angry oraiige light, in which the mountains seemed to be heated to a transparent glow. The furious wind hissed and howled over the piles of ruin, and a few returning shejJ- herds were the only persons to be seen. And this spot, for a thousand years, was the shrine where spake the awful oracle of Greece ! And yet — what was it ? A hideous nest of priestcraft — of jugglery, delusion, and fraud. Only the ideal halo thrown over it by the Mount and the Fountaic of Song, has given to the name of Delphi such wonderfu music. The soil where Plato's olives grcAV is more truly hallowed. When you stand before the naked shrine, you think less of the cloudy sentences uttered there, the worda of fate for Greece, than of the secret passage laid bare rAKNASSL'S AXD THE DORfAN MOUNTAi:XS. 230 below the Pythia's niche — the trickery under the inspira- tion. But as it then was, so it is now ; so will it always he Does not the hlood of St. Januarius become hquid once a year? Do not pictures weep and bleed, and skeleton bones fkll upon doctors' tables ?* When we returned to the TriandaphyUi mansion, we found the Roses, old and young, at their supper. Tlieir meal consisted of a stew of veal and onions, with bread and good wme. The old lady handed me her glass, and her husband picked out and extended to me on his fork, a choice fragment of meat, as a token of hospitality. While we had been absent, Frangois had improved the opportu- nity, and gratified his own and their love of gossip, by o-iviuo- all manner of information conceining us. When, therefore, I took the glass of wine, Mrs. Rose aiose, like a Pythia, with extended arms, and moved by the Delphic spirit, uttered a prophetic sentence. What she said, you, reader, have no right to know : it suffices that the oracle is not yet dumb. It spake to me : and, under the spell of thn place, I beUeved it. Was it fulfilled ? you ask. Well — no. Fran9ois slept among the Roses, and we in an outer room, lulled by a wind which threatened to shake down the house. In the morning, it still blew so violently, that I gave up my intention of visiting the Corqyrean Cave, espe- cially as we learned that the upper plateau of Parnassus was still covered with snow. We went, however, to the. stadium of the Delphic games, which hes along the hilh side, above the village. Parting with om- friendly hosts. » See the Annals of Spiritualism in New York. 234 THAVEI.S IN GREECE AND KUSSIA. we passed out by the ancient gate of Delphi, which was hewn out of the solid rock. On rounding the corner of the mountain, there opened upon us a glorious view of the rich, olive-covered Chrisscan plain below, the Gulf of Corinth with Erynianthus and Pan-achaicum beyond, and the daz- aling Dorian mountains to the westward. The descent to the valley, which was rough and difficult, occupied two hours. On the slope of the opposite mountain, lay the flourish- ing town of Salona. We did not visit it, but bore to the right, up the course of the stream, into the Dorian hills. The valley gave cheering evidence of improvement, being covered with young olive orchards and thriving vineyards, to the extent of which the people are adding every year At the bottom of each field was a square basin of masonry with a hole leading to a sunken vat — a primitive but very serviceable wine-press. The gorge now became narrow and wild, overhung by precipices of blue limestone, stained with the loveliest orange tints. Turning a sudden angle, we saw before us the village of Topolia, built up a steep cape of the mountain, at the intersection of two valleys, rich with fine old olive groves. Sparkling streams gushed down the rocks in silver foam, and hedges of fig and pome- granate embowered the paths. Here the blast of war which has elsewhere in Greece left such desolating traces aeems never to have reached. It was an idyl of the ancient Doris. The houses were large, two-storied, and comfortable, and the people, who thronged the narrow, tortuous streets in Sunday idleness, had mostly faces of the old Hellenic PAKNASSUS AND THE DORIAN MOUNTAINS. 235 Btajiip. Some children, gathered about a fountain, were aa beautiful as anything in ancient art. After a search, we found a large country store, better stocked than any we saw in Greece. Here we breakfasted, gazed upon by a curious, but good-huraored and friendly crowd. The people asked many questions, and seemed delighted that I was able to converse a little Avith them in their own language. I was considerably puzzled for awhile by their speaking of Delphi as Adelphous. Among others, a dumb man came m, and made piteous attempts to talk to us, accompanjnng his gestures vn\h uncouth, inarticulate noises. Wo took special notice of him, which seemed to gratify the others very much. I gave him a tumbler of wine, Avhich he flou- rished around his head, and then drank, placing one hand upon his heart, with signs of extravagant joy. I was delighted to find that here, as in Sparta, the character of the people improved in proportion as they approached the purity of the ancient blood. After leaving Topolia, our road took to the hills, cross- ing the summit of the lower ridges, connecting Parnassus with the Dorian Mountains. We passed a most pictu- resque old mill, with a lofty race, raised on a wall, from ^hich the water was carried to the wheel in curious wickei tubes, plastered with clay. It was a ride of nearly four hours to the khan of Gravia, over the ^nld, unmhabited hills, sparsely dotted with fir-trees on their northern side. As we descended towards the upper valley of the Cephissus, CEta, the boundary of Thessaly PhthioJ:is, came in sight. Following the course of a rapid stream, we descended into tiie valley, which opened green and lovely before us, shming 236 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. 6oftl^ iu the mellow gleam of the sun, already dropping behind the Dorian snows. The place contained only half a dozen houses, each one of which was anxious to offer ua lodgings. Our room was large and dirty, but the evening soup was better than ever, and besides, our Topolian wine was of that kind which cheers the heart, but not inebriat( s the brain. CHAPTER XXr. THE FRONTIER OF THESSALT. When we left the khan of Gravia at sunrise, hundreds of nigLtingales were singing in the green thickets, and the light ah'eady lay warm on the glorious plain. After cross- ing Cephissus, Ave rode for two liours across the low hills along the western base of CEta, which were completely covered with forests of oak, in full foliage. Although our bridle track was rough and muddy, I enjoyed greatly those sweet Arcadian woods, brightened by the purple sprays of the Judas-tree, and fragrant mth the odors of the flower- spangled turf. The ground was covered with fallen trunks and dead limbs — an immense supply of fire-wood, rotting idly in a country where it is exceedmgly scarce and dear. Fi-angois affirmed that the Dorians were mostly bandits, and that their laziness accounted for the ruined and neglected appearance of the country. As we climbed the Bides of CEta, plunging u{) and down great ravines, there were fine views of Parnassus across the plain. Anothei hour of ascent brought us to the summit, and we saw, 238 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. through the mountain gateway opening before us, ]Mounl Otlnys, an off-shoot of Pindus, and the modern as it was the ancient frontier of Greece on the north. On the toj^most peak of CEta, which rose on our right, near at hand, is the spot wlierc Hercules died, wrapped in the poisoned shirt of the Centaur. But liow dim seemed those grand old traditions in the clear, unillusive light of a spring morning ! Hercules was as far away as if that were the Alleghanies, and not (Eta, and the only association which came readily to my mind was an absurd one. A few months before, I had been reading Immei'mann's novel of " Mflnchausen," wherein, under the disguise of goats upon Mount ffita, he holds up the transcendentalists and reform- ers of Germany to the most exquisite and unmerciful ridi- cule. These goats and their sociahstic pi-anks obstinately thrust themselves on my memory, and instead of sighing sentimentally, I laughed profanely. O heroes and dcnii gods I pardon me ; and yet not only Ai-istophanes, but Plato, would have done the same thing. Let us be honest, if we cannot be ideal. When a man always feels the pro- per emotion at the right place, suspect him ! Descending for a mile or two through groves of fir, oak, and beach, we came upon the open side of (Eta, Avhence a superb panorama is suddenly unfolded to the view. The great plain of the Spercheios, tinted with all the softest colors of spring — a shifting web of pink, green, and gold — lay unrolled beneath from its far source at the feet of Pin diis to the broad arc in which it embraces the Malian gulf Beyond the valley ran the long gray ridge of Othrys, ter minating, far to the east, in the snowy summit of Peli'^n THE FRONTIER OP THESSALY. 239 The town of Lamia, sprinkled in a hollow at the base of the hills, glimmered faintly in the distance. The blue moun tains of Euboca bomided the view on the east, md deep down on our right, at the base of (Eta, lay the pass of rhermopyloe. A long and rough descent followed, but tlie path was shaded with oak, ilex, laurel, mastic, and pine, among which were the first beeches we had seen in Grcect? We breakfosted at a fountaiii, half-way down ; then, leaviiij. the baggage to take the direct road to Lamia, descended to the corner where QSta of old jutted into the gulf, f^jrming the pass of immortal name. Thermopyla3 is not so formidable now. The deposits of the Spercheios have, in the course of twenty-three hundred years, formed a marsh, from one to three miles in width, between the base of the mountains and the sea. The Per- sian army was encamped upon the broad valley of the Spercheioj, while the Greeks had posted themselves a mile or more withm the pass, near the hot-springs whence it devivcs its name. Here the Spartans were seen by Per- sian scouts, on the morning of the battle, Avashing their faces and combing their long hair. They seem to have advanced to the mouth of the pass, and there met the fiist onset ; but gradually fell back to a low hill near their fiist position, where the last of them were slain. The similarity between Thermopylae and the field of Issus, where AJex- ander defeated Darius, is quite remarkable. We gathered a few wild flowers from the spot, and then turned about for Lamia, Some peasants came out of their cane huts, built on the edge of the marsh; and one of them handed me a commc^n copper coin of the Eastern Empire, 240 TKAVELS IX GKEECE AND RUSSIA. begging me to tell him what it was. lie said that Ida father, Avho liad found it when plowing, had been offeibd two dollars for it, but had refused. " If anybody offers you ten dollars," said Fran9ois, " don't sell it ; but hang it by a string around the neck of your oldest boy, and it will bring him good luck." " What do you mean by deceiving the poor man in that manner?" I asked. "Oh!" answered ray inveterate guide, " he is a beast ; if you told him the coin was worth ten lepta (two cents), he would be offended. He wished to sell it to you for five dollars : better make him happy, and save yourself from being bored, by con- firmmg him in his ow^n stupidity." With which practical, but not very commendable doctrine, Fran9ois lighted a fresh cigar. We crossed the Spercheios on a high Venetian bridge ; and, after passing the marsh, which was a wilderness of the pink and white sjnrcea, in full bloom, rode on ovei level grain-fields to Lamia. This town has been compared to Athens, and there is, in fixct, considerable resemblance between the two places. The Acropolis is very similar in form and position ; and there are even suggestions of the Nympheion, the Museion, and Lycabettus, between w'hich the town occupies the same relative position. The fortress en the Acropolis is Venetian, but made picturesque by the addition of a Turkish mosque and minaret. Two other minarets in the town still remain; and these, with the camels which travel back and forth from the port of Stylida, called to mind the Moslem cities of the Levant. On entering Lamia, we inquired for a khan, which, it seems, the place does not afford. While engaged in seek THE FRONTIER OF TDESSALY. 241 ing lodgings, we were accosted by a soldier, who bore a pressing invitation from the Commander cf the gen- tTarmerie, that we should come and take up our quarters at his house. I declined — saying that we had already found rooms ; and, while we thanked the Commander for his courtesy, would not be obliged to trouble him. " Oh ! but he expects you," said the soldier : " he has been looking for your arrival all day." " Then it is a mistake," I answered ; " and he takes us for somebody else." By the time our pack - horses were unloaded, however, a second messenger arrived. " The Commander begs that you wdU come immediately to his house, he expects you, and has let- ters for you from Athens." Again I asserted that there was some mistake. " No, no." said the messenger ; " you are the very ones. He received lettere two days ago about you. He will not accept any refusal." I thought it barely possible that General Church, Mr. HiU, or some other good friend in Athens might have written to Lamia in my behalf, after my departure, and finally decided to accompany the messenger. He conducted us at once to the commander's residence, a neat, comfort- able house on the slope of the hill, and ushered us into the presence of ]\Iajor Plessos, who received us with great cordiality. " My friend. Gen. Church," said he, " has written to me announcing your arrival, and I am very glad to welcome you to my house." I then remembered distinctly that Gen. Church had spoken to me of his friend Plessos, in Lamia, and had offered me letters of introduc- tion, which I had neglected to bring with me. Presuming, therefore, that all was right, I accepted the proffered hoepi- 242 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. tality, and sent Fianjois after the baggage. But 1 wa« presently uiiJcceived. The major hand( d me a letter Baying: "This is for you — it arrived several days ago!" Behold ! it was for Mr. Gardner, INI. P., who was travelling somewhere in Eiihcca. I at once cxplainc d the mistake, and pr()pos(^d to retreat ; but the friendly commimder would not hear of such a thing. " 1 have y')u now," said he, " and here you shall stay until you leave Lamia. A friend of Gen. Church, and an American, is alwa\ s a welcome guest." Lieutenant IMano, a nephew of Jklavrocordato, joined us at dinner, and in the evening came in a Mainote captain — a strikingly handsome, agreeable fellow. As they all spoke French and Ifalian, we had a very animated conversation on the political condition of Greece. My new acquaintances were enthusiastic patriots, as was j)! oper ; but tlie admis- sions they made tended to confirm my previous impres- sions. Major Plessos has the task of suppressing brigandage on the Thessalian frontier, which he appears to have done very effectually. The room in which we slept was hung with trophies taken from the robbers — long Albanian muskets, ornamented with silver, pistols, yataghans, splen did silver belts, and even richly - ornamented cases of the pure metal, designed to contain a copy of the New Testament ! The robbers, you must know, are gentlemen and Christians ; and although they cut off tiie noses of shepherds, and pour boiling oil on the breasts of women, 1 have often heard them spoken of by the Greeks with a 3ertain degree of admiration and respect. After we had got into bed, Franfois, whose tongue had been loosened by the Phthiotan wine, redder than the THE FRONTIER OE THESSALY. 2^3 blood spUt at Thermopylae, sat down upon a chest of arms, and became confidential. The sight of the glittering weapons suspended on the wall carried him back to the struggles for Grecian independence, in which he had borne his part. He had fought in Doris and Etolia; had taken part in Fabvier's unfortunate expedition to Scio ; and had been for years a captive m Stamboul. " Ah ! » said he, with his eyes fixed on the crossed yataghans, " we came over ground to-day that I know but too well ! I fought the Turks, many a day, on those hills, as you go fi'om Gravia towards the ruins of Orchomenos. We had a little battery— three guns only— but it annoyed the Turks very much ; and they made a desperate struggle to get hold of it. Out of two hundred men, I don't beliiwe we had sixty left. They wouldn't have taken it, after all, if we had not lost our captain He was a mountaineer from Acarnania, one of the handsomest men you ever saw; tall, with ahead and shoulders like a lion, blue eyes, and a magnificent beard, as blonde as a Muscovite's. We were working the guns with all our might, for the Turks were coming down upon us. He sprang upon a parapet t(> give orders, and 1 was leaning back, looking at him, and waiting for the word . His sword-arm was stretched out, his eyes flashing, and Ins mouth opened to shout— when, all at once, I saw his forehead break in. He did not waver, his arm was still stretched; but instead of words, a sound like ' Zt—zzt—^zt I ' car?.c from his mouth. Then his knees suddenly bent, and he fell down, stone-dead. We fought like devils ; but each man for himself, after that— no command anywhere— and the Turks got tl^o battery." 244 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. *' Were you wounded ? " I asked. " Not then, but a few days afterwards. I escaped, picked np a horse, and joined a body of lancers. We kept up a Bort of guerilla warfare about the plains of Orchoraenos, avoiding large bodies of the enemy. Rut one day the Turkish cavalry surprised us. When a man is desperate, ho loses his wits ; and I have not much recollection of what followed. There was dust, there were sabres, pistol- shots, yells, and mad riding. I tumbled a Turk off his horse with my last pistol, and threw it at the head of another who rode full tilt upon me. Then my own horse jumped, and I lost my senses. When I opened my eyes, it was dark night. I was in a hut, on my back, and a woman Bat beside me. It was a peasant's wife, whom I knew ; but I could not imagine what I was doing there. I tried to rise, but felt as if every bone in my body was broken. 'Where am I? What's the matter?' I asked. 'Oh,' she cried, ' we aie beaten ! ' Then I remembered all. I had a bad lance wound in my leg, and wa> dreadfully bruised, but knew tliat I was not going to die. ' Where are the others ? ' I asked. ' Where is Giorgios ? Where is Constantinos ? Where is Spiridion ? ' She only clasped her hands and cried aloud, and I knew that they were dead. I got well after awhile, but saw no more service until I joined Fabvier. Ah, Dieu ! to think of the blood we shed — and Avliat has come of it ? " Thereupon Franfois re- lapsed into a fit of melancholy musing — pending which I fell asleep. Tn the morning, the Major proposed riding to the summil of Othrys, in order to look upon the plains of Thessaly THE FRONTIEU OF THESSALT. 245 but the weather was so calm that I fera-ed we would be delayed in crossing to Euboea, and reluctantly gave orders to proceed to the port of Stylida. After breakfast we set out, accompanied by the Major and Lieut. JMano for the first few miles. A carriage - road to Stylida has been com- menced, and is about half finished : 200,000 drachmas ($33,000) have also been raised for a road across the marsh to Thermopylae ; but it is impo-siblo to get laborers. Stylida, the port of Lamia, ten miles distant, is a pictu- resque, pleasant little place. Our first bu-iness, on arriving, was to secure a boat, and we were not long in finding one. It was a solidly built sloop, about tliirty feet long, which had just arrived from one of the outer islands, with a load of maize, brought to Stylida, to be ground ; after which, it would be taken back as flour. Ajax and Themistocles, who, at first, positively refused to cross with tlieir horses, preferring to give up the remainder of the contract, and return home, now declared that they would go with us. "We were obliged to wait until evening for the land - breeze, and in the meantime furnished some entertainment to the good people of the town, who inspected us during the afternoon with a friendly curiosity. The sloop was decked fore - and - aft, but there was an opening in the hold, midships, about six by eight feet in dimensions, and into this place all our five horses were stowed. They were gotten aboard without a great denl of trouble, a little frightened but submissive. As there was a dead calm, the captain's two boys towed us out of the harbor in a little boat. Eraisted and I crept into the ftP«r-hold, a hot, cramped place, where we lay until nearly 216 TllAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. Buffocateil ; tlicn went on deck, smoked, and watched tli« sails for an liour, and finally, turned in at midnight to sleep. The night was quiet, with an occasional pufF from the land. Towards morning, the captain anchored under an island off the extreme north-AVosteru point of Eubcca, .vhence at dawn he rowed to the beach, where we anchored broadside on. At sunrise, we commenced discharging the cargo, which Avas a work of some difficulty ; but by dint of ])aticnce, main force, and the Avhip, the horses were, one after another, made to rear, plunge over the sloop's side, and take to the shore. The first one cleared the gunwale in good style, but all the others caught with their hind legs, and were thrown headlong mto the water. The poor beasts were rejoiced to get upon firm earth again; nor were we less so, for we were all tired and hungry. But we Avert now upon Euboea — the Negropont of the Middle Ages— Ihe largest of the Grecian isles. CHAPIER XXII. ADVENTURES IN E U B (E A . On landing in Eubtea, our first care was to find food and rest. Taking the first donkey - path, over fields and through mastic thickets, we reached, in about an hour, a scattering village, high up on the side of the mountain. The approach to it was through lanes of pomegranate - trees. Streams of water gushed down the hill - side, fertilizing wherever they touched ; and the vegetation was not only more luxuriant, but further advanced than that of the mainland. Just above the village there was a magnificent fountain of water, in a grove of enormous plane - trees. Two of the trunks which Braisted measured, were twenty - eight and a half and thirty-five feet in circumference. It was a fresh, lovely spot, full of broken light and shade, and musical with the sound of falling: water and the sinmnfj of niirhtinfrales in the pomegranate thickets. After resting two hours (during which I made a sketch of the place), we breakfasted, and then started for Edijljsos, five hours distant. Tho day was fair, hot, and with a sultry haze ux the air 248 TRAVELS IN GREECE AXD RUSSIA. After ascending the steep ridge of the mountain which forms this corner of Eubcea, we had a long and rugged descent on the northern side, overlooking a splendid pano- rama of the ^wmisian strait, the mountains of Thessaly, and the snowy peak of Pelion in the background. The path was lined with clumps of myrtle, mastic, laurel, and other glossy and fragrant trees ; while flowers of all hues spangled the banks. Edipsos is a most picturesque village, at the base of a lofty mountain, from the cleft gorges of which issues a One stream. Channels of swift, clear water traverse the place; and the houses are embowered in mulberry and fruit trees. In the centre of the village is an immense plane -tree, the trunk of which is encircled by a bench for summer loungers. We found good lodgings in the house of the schoolmaster. A gend'armcy who persisted in talking Greek to me, informed me that there are a number of fine mineral springs up the glen. Bottles of tlie water, sent to Germany to be analysed, were found to contain highly medicinal projierties. The next morning, we rode across the hills to the splen* did plain of Xirochori, the rich northern extremity of Eubcea. The' whole Artemisian strait, and the island of 8kiathos, in the iEgean, were visible. The valley and vil- lage of Agios Joannes, into which Ave descended, are the property of M. Mirnot, a French gentk man, whose mansion, surrounded with orchards, occupies a commanding situation on one of the lower hills. Here we had a slight evidence of what may be done in Greece by the exercise of a little knowledge and industry. Stone walls or neat wooden fences bordered the road ; orchards of thriity olive-trees, ADVENTURES IN EUB(EA. 249 grafted on vhe wild stock, covered the hills, and the village, in its neatness, comfort, and the tidy, prosperous air of its inhabitants, seemed to be Swiss ratlier than Greek. A number of the European Philhellenes settled in Euboea after the independence of Greece had been acknowb^dgcd. The rich Turkish proprietors were allowed a few years to dis- pose of their estates ; and, when the time drew to an end, were forced to sell out for a mere song, on account of the scarcity of purchasers. Thus, tracts comprising from five to ten square miles of the richest land were sold at prices ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. Under the present misera- ble administration of government, these purchases are not such great bargains as might be supposed. Crossing the plain of Xirochori, we endeavored to strike the main road leading thence down the centre of the island to Chalsis ; yet in this, the richest district of Greece, h road has never been located ! Every spring, the peasants plow up the ground, and tiie hoise-path with it. We wan- dered about two or three hours before finding a trail, but were abundantly repaid by the beauty of the valley into which it conducted us. The hills were covered with nolde pine - trees. A hand-ome mansion, belonging to a rich Greek, stood on a knoll above the stream, and an avenue of young trees led to a cheerful summer-house on the height, commanding a lovely view to the .northward Where were we ? This was not the bare, barren, savage Greece we knew : it was a warm dell in southern Germany — the home of ease, taste, rest, and security. So com- pletely is it in the power of man to transform the impres- sion of a landscape. The mansion, the avenue, and the 250 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. summer - house banislied from mind the ancient Euboca, th« granary of Athens ; or, if I remembered the fact, it was but to notice how easily classic associations are outweighed by the amenities of modern life. But when Ave reached the summit of the mountain, and looked backward, there stood, as if to rebuke us, not only Pelion, silvered with snow, guarding the gulf whence Jason sailed with his young Argonauts, but Ossa behind him, oveilooking the Vale of Tempo, and far, far away — the dream of a peak, in the vapory slumber of the air, the home of the g''Is, the immortal mountain — Olympus of Thessaly ! We now entered a deep, wide gorge, leading southward JO the Euripean strait. Tall, dark pines feathered the mountain sides to the very summit, and abundant streams of water gushed down every rocky hollow. Tlie road was a faint trail, difficult to find, and perilous in the extreme. In some places it was a mere thread, notched along the face of a precipice, where one slip would have sent horse and rider down the awful gulf. With each one of these dangerous passes, the chances of our safety seemed to di- minish ; and when, at last, we reached a spot where the path was not more than four inches wide, resting on points of rotten - looking rock, Ajax and Themistocles turned back with the pack animals, the intrepid Franjois dismounted, and the mare Erato stopped short. My nerves were in a tingle, but the sensation was more agreeable than other- wise. Come, Erato, said I, this is not much worse than those poetical chasms over which your divine namesake has often carried me. Fran9ois went first, leading Boreas of the ihaggy mane. I did not dismount, but dropped ADVENTURES IN EUBUi^V. 251 the reins on Erato's neck. A.S softly as a cat stealing upoc a bird, she put out one jsaw, tried her foothold, then brac- ing herself upon it, brought forward the next foot and planted it in the same Avay, and thus', inch by inch, crept along. I sat perfectly still, keeping a just equilibrium, and looking at the path ahead — not for worlds into the yawning gulf IVIillions of the finest needles were sticking into the pores of my skin ; but when we reached the opposite side they fell out suddenly, and I felt as refreshed as if I had bathed in a tub of Uquid electricity. Braisted followed in the same way; and after incredible labor, Ajax and Theraistocl.es brought their horses around over the rocks. For an hour and a half more we descended the left side of the grand gorge, which gradually contracted so as to form an impassable canon. The path was delightfully shaded with pines, ilexes, oaks, and laurels : and tlie air, lillcd with warm odors of scented leaves and the flowering gorse and cistus, was deUcious to inhale. Finally, we reached the last knee of the mountain, which conunands a wide prospect of the Eubcean Gulf and the Locrian moun- tains beyond. A long upland terrace lay before us, and we rode for an hour and a half over its wooded undulations without seeing any signs of the port of Lhnni, our destina- tion. The sun was setting in a bed of threatening vapoi-s, and we were very tired and hungry, when at last the i^ath led down a ravine to some fields of olive-trees near the sea- shore. But there were no signs of habitations : only some oiles \ji sawed timber on the beach. We followed the windings of the indented coast for nearly two hours longer, before we came upon the wishod-for haven, which is snuglv 252 TRAVELS IX (iKKK. E AND liLlS.SlA. hidden away in a little triangular nook between two capes In my map (that of Berghaus, published by Perthi-s) the place was given about four miles too far to the northward — which was the only example of inaccuracy I found during all my journeys in Greece. On my return to Germany, I pointed it out to Mr. Berghaus, who made the correction at once. In all other instances, I found his map a miracle of accuracy. We were famishing, and sore from eleven hours in the saddle, and the appearance of the well-built, compact vil- lage, with its large houses fronting the beach, promised us welcome quarters. The people gathered about us curi- ously, for a traveller was a rare sight there. There was no khan ; but we procured lodgings in the house of the richest inhabitant. The mayor and other dignitaries kept my Greek in use, while I enjoyed a refreshing narghilet before dinner. In the morning, while we were taking some black coffee, I was accosted in very bad English by a young sailor of the place, who had made a voyage to Liverpool and thence to Calcutta. Presently appeared a rough old fellow with an unmistakable odor of salt about him, who hailed us with : " Good morning ! How do you come on ? Are you Scotchmen or L-ishmen ?" On hearing our reply, he seemed greatly surprised and delighted. " You Ameri- cans ! Why, I am a Yankee, too !" In fact he had served six years in the American Navy, two yeare of which he had spent at the Norfolk and Washington Navy Yards. "Ah!" said he, "that is a great country: yor don't see any such piles of rock as here — ail plain, without ADVENTURES IN KUECEA. 25J Btones, and good for wheat." He was a native of Limui, where he had a family, otherwise he would have gone home with us, and never returned to Greece again. " An Amen can sailor," said he, " is a gentleman, but the Greeks art all liars and scamps. They are my people, but I hate 'em." The health-officer informed me that some remains of the ancient town of Argse still existed in the village, and con- ducted us thither, followed by quite a concourse of villa- gers. We found the foundations of a small but very handsome bath of the Roman time. The Mosaic floors of four chambers still remain in a tolerable state, Avith some fragments of stone and brick work, and broken marble columns. By this time our horses were ready, and the crowds of villagers assembled to see us oif, our Avould-be countryman shaking hands and swearing in sailor fashion, as he lamented his inability to accompany us. Our path led up the sides of rough, broken hUls for about an hour, when we reached the summit ridge of the island, and saw before us the rich eastern valleys, the ^gean, and the scattered islets of the eparchia of Sko- pelos. The view was northern, in its abundance of piny hills and green intervening vales ; but southern, almost tro- pical, in the hot, dim, silvery atmosphere in which they were clothed. It was really hispirmg to find such lovely Arcadian scenery in Greece, and my summer memories of the forests of the Mysian Olympus came back vividly tc mind. The richness and beauty of Eubcea would never be suspected by the rapid traveller, who satisfies himself witt a view of dusty Atlica, or the thirsty Argolis. 254 TRAVELS IN GUEECE AND RUSSIA. After breakfasting beside a picturesque mill, iii a loveh little dell, we started for the estate of Mr. Xoel, ac English gentleman, who for twenty years has made liis home in this solitude. Riding on through low valleys, hedged in with forested hills, we soon saw, by the cvideel jare with which the young trees had been protected, that we were within the boundaries of his domain. Presently we came upon the track of a cart — a most unusual sight, in Greece. Following this, we emerged from the woods, and . saw before us Mr, Noel's mansion, which stands on a gentle knoll, commanding a superb view of meadk)w and forest- land, sweeping into hills in the distance, and crowned by the snowy summit of Pyxario ! We rode into the court and dismounted, while a servant went to seek Mr. Noel, who was below in the village. His son, a boy of twelve, who si)oke English with a little hesitation, showed us, in the meanwhile, a large tame deer, of a species which Is stDl quite abundant on the mountains. He was a noble beast, much larger than the ordinary European deer, and so com pletely tamed, that it was difficult to keep him out of the house. While sitting in Mr. Noel's library, in the after- noon, I was startled by the thumping of his antlers on th door. Having effected an entrance, he marched deliberately around the table, snuffing at the books, and finally seizing upon a number of Galignani^ which he would liave devour ed ui a very literal sense, had he not been ejected by main force. Mr. Noel soon appeared, leading with him our baggage- horses, which he had met on their way to the khan. Tht eordiahty of his reception left us no choice but to stof ADVENTURES IN EL'BCEA. 2oo ihere for the night. While he went off to the forest to superintend the himbcrmen, I improved the time Ly making a sketch of the magnificent hmdscape. The Judas-trees gushed up like pmk fountains among the tender green of the thickets ; violets and wild thyme scented the air, and the bees hummed their sleepy songs. The stream flowing through the valley was bordered by a double row of enor- mous plane-trees, and the distant mountains, instead of lifting their limestone crags naked in the sunshine, were clothed with the cool robes of the evergreen pine. All the landscape, from the unseen ^gean, behind the eastern hill, to the summit of Pyxario, belonged to Mr. Noel. He was lord of a princely domain, in a land of inmiortal name — yet I commiserated him. It Avas a lonely life, among a horde of ignorant, superstitious, ungrateful peasants, under a miserable government, where his example a\ailed nutiiing, and all his attempts at improvement were frustrated. I confess, the sight of so much cultivation and refinement as Mr. Noel possessed, buried in such a wilderness, impressed me with a feeling of melancholy. Everything spoke of exile and isolation. His daughter, a sweet English rose bud, soon to blossom into womanhood, seemed far out of place among the frowzy Aria^^s and Ip^ngenias of the village, -whose companionship, even, could not take away from her that quiet grace and self-possession which she mherited from the mother who now sleeps in Grecian soil. In ahnost any other country in tlie world, Mr. Noel's labors would have produced more hopeful results. Not jnly has he built more comfortable houses for his tenantry, established a school for their children free of cost, and fur- 256 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. nished them with ample employment, hut he has also hitro duced better agricultural implements, and endeavored to teach them a more rational system of farming. lie ha.s made a wagon-road ten miles in length, from the forests to the sea-shore, and occuijies himself principally with the feli- ng of timber, which is shipped from his own beach to Syra and the other bland ports. The natives, however, onl^ laugh at liis good advice ; and all that he has done for them emboldens them to make new demands on his gene- rosity. He almost despairs of improving their condition so long as they are under the sway of a creed which turns half the days of the year into festivals, and deprives them of sufficient nourishment daring the other half Of all the absurdities of Paganism, there is none quite so irrational and iujuriotis as these ordinances of the Eastern Church. A Greek Empire in the Orient is simply impossible whilo they continue in practice. It was a great comfort to .-leep in clean beds, and enjoy the abundant a|)i>li:uici'3 of an Eiigli:!age of the armament destined for Troy — that is, provided such a thing ever took place. At any rate, this is Aulis, the golden, the Homeric name — a trumpet-word in Grecian s-mg. Trotting rapidly onwards three hours over rich plains of wheat, three more over hills and hollows, spotted M'ith plane-^.rees and huge Boeotian oaks, and two more o,'er stony, broken heights, we at last reached the northern side of Parnes, beyond whose pines lay Attica, now almost as much a home to us as it was to Pisistratus and Solon. The baggage, guarded by Ajax and Themistocles, was far behind ; our three horses, Erato, Boreas, and Chiron, were pretty well spent, but five or six hours more would bring us to Athens, and we still cheered them on. We received news on the way that the robber-chief, Kalabaliki, the terror of northern Greece, had just been captured near Thebes and his band broken up. On the top of Parnes we were joined by three soldiers, who were lounging in the rear, when three armed men suddenly emerged from a thicket. I did not for a moment doubt that they were members of Kalabaliki's band : we confronted them boldly, and passed, and as the soldiers came into view, they retreated again into the woods. A little before sunset we emerged from the forest, and saw the plain of Attica stretching away before us until it was blended with the ^gean bea in the distance. The turf, on the upper slopes of the mountain aroimd us, was as green as in Switzerland ; clumps of pine were sprinkled over the knolls, and thia 260 TllAVELS IN GREECE AND RlSSlA. fresh northern foreground gave an exquisite eharm to the glorious landscape, painted with the purple and violet tints of the Grecian air. Far away — a golden speck against the «ky — rose the Acropolis, beckoning us on. And on we went. Down to the i)lain, spurring the exhausted horses, while the sunset waned away. J\i>l dusty villages, past dark wheat-fields, dim olive groves and vineyards, fragrant with the newly-stirred earth, until we reached the well-known houses of Patissia. Then tho horses knew where we were, and resigned themselves tc tlie task. In half an hour more, just as the moon rose behind Ilymettus, and struck in gleaming sparkles on the scarred plhars of the Parthenon, we jumped from our sad- dles at the door of the House of Vitalis, thus terminating the ride through Northern Greece. Ajax and Themistocles made their appearance towards noon the next day — the former having been seized by the valiant guard on Mount Parnes, and detained all night on s ispicion of being a robber. ^' A ( CHAPTER XXIII. PBOPLE AND GO VEBNMEJirT. ExDHPT Acamania, Etolia, and some of the Cyclades, I had now visited all parts of Modern Greece, and, so far as per- sonal observation and inquiry might accomplish in the space of four months, considered myself tolerably familiar with the condition of the country and its inhabitants. In sum- ming up my impressions and throwing them together in the form of a general statement, I shall endeavor to be just, believing myself to be unprejudiced. I have lately looked over several recent works on Greece, and have been sur prised to find so much of a partisan spirit in them — as it the position and character of Greece and the Greeks were a question to be debated rather than a picture to be dra^N-n Ojie author is too favorable, another too severe, and I fore SCO that, inasmuch as my path Ues between the two ex- tremes, I shall be, to some extent, discredited by both sides. The fact is, a few deeds of splendid heroism have throwr » ^AflAjtiul halo over the darker features of the Greek War 262 TRAVELS IX GrwKLCK AND RUSSIA. of Independence, and rao^t of those avIio bend in reverence to the name of Marco B6zz;\ris do not know that his uncle Nothi stole 8ui>plies from his own troops to sell to the Turks — that, while Canaris and Miaulis were brave and in- corruptible, Colocotroni lilled his purse and made cowarda of his men — that, while Karaiskakis was honorable, others broke the most solemn oaths of their religion, and murdered the captives they had sworn to spare. One can say that the Greeks are what the Turks made them — that we should not expect to lind in slaves the virtues of freemen ; but treachery and perjury were never characteristics of the Moslem. It is the corrupt leaven of the Lower Empire which still ferments in the veins of this mixed race. I have already said, and I rejDcat it, that not onc-tifth of the pre- sent poptilation can Avith justice be called Greeks. The remainder are Slavonians, Albanians, and Turks, witli a slight infusion of Venetian blood. Only in Maina, on the slopes of Parnassus and in parts of Doris, did I find the ancient type in any considerable amount. In the war, the Albanian blood — the Suliotes, Hydriotes, and Spetziotes — achieved the greatest distinction. Owing to this admixture — when not always of race, yet still of character and association — ^there is a great diversity in the nature of the modern Greeks, and their number is still so small that one must be cautious in stating genera) characteristics. Some features of the ancient race are still preserved : they are vain, talkative, fond of argument, and fond of display. Their appreciation of Art, however, has utterly perished. Most of tbem profess a leaning towards democratic pnnciples, yet they are pleased as children at PEOPLE AND GOVKRNilENT. 263 the tawdry pomj) which surrounds a throne. They are paasiouately Ibnd of gain, yet, with the raost elastic tem- perament in tlie world, dislike manual labor. One of their best general traits is their eagerness to learn, but, unfortu ntitely, it ceases as soon as they are capable of obtaining an office under government. Official corruption is as preva- lent in Greece as — as — as in the United States, but there is not the same means of preventing it in the former country. Tiiere is not an honest society sufficiently large to brand the genteel pickpockets, and so the great bulk of the popuia^ tion are in no better condition than the Christian subjects of the Sultan, while a horde of leeches, military, naval, and civil, thrive and fatten upon them. Moie than one promi- nent man in Athens, with whom I conversed on the state of the country, said to me : " We want more people. What can we do vnih. a million of inhabitants ?" Yet at this moment numbers of Greeks are emigrating from Acar- nauia mto Turkey! There might have been, long ago, a considerable influx of German emigrants, yet the Govera ment refused to permit it. The Greeks have three leading virtues, which, alone, form a basis of good almost sufficient to redeem them. They are remarkably chaste, for a southeni race ; they ara probably the most temperate people m the world ; and they are most unselfish and devoted in their family rela- tions. Their vanity, also, Avhile it retards their progress in many respects, is a chord which may nevertheless be touched to their advantage. Being very sensitive to the judgment pronoimced upon them by others, they sometimes become better for the sake of being thought better. Hence, no- 264 TUAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. thing injures tliom so much as injudicious praise. I kno^ a family wlio have acted on this principle in their treat- ment of servants, and their confidence lias never been abused. In tliis case, however, an unfavorable sentence would have been a lasting misfortune, and the incileraent to honesty was pi'oportionately greater. Some Greek ser- vants, I have reason to know, are great scamps, and tho reputation of the whole class is none of the best. The honesty of the country Greeks, I think, is quite up to the average of people in their condition — in flict, I am not sure that they do not deserve credit for not being worse, seeing that the most outrageous arts of cheating are taught them by those above them. For instance, the agriculturist is not taxed by assessment upi)n the value of his property, but by a tithe of what hig land produces. The abominable Turkish system prevails, of farming out the entire tithes of the country to a pack of contractors, who pay a certain sum to the Government, and then make the most of their bargain. In measuring the grain, the law requires that it shall be poured lightly into the measure, and the top scraped off level, but the con- tractors are in the habit of shaking and settling it repeatedly, and then heaping the measure. This is only one example of their practices, and the tithes are only one form in which the people are taxed. Frequently there are special taxes levied for special objects. Tlie money is always collected, and that is the last of it. Even the sum wmtributed by Government for the relief of the sufferers at Corinth melted aAvay in passing through different hands, until less than the half of it reached its destination. PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT. 265 The Greeks are patriotic enough in principle, but in practice no enemy could injure Greece more than they do. There is not one who does not see the abuses under which the land is groaning, but I have yet to find the first man actively opposed to these abuses. One hears only such laments as these: "What can we do with such narro*" means? We are not responsible for our condition. I'hc Great Powers took away from us Crete, Chios, EpTrus^ and Thessaly, to which Ave were justly entitled, and which would have given the basis for a strong and successful kingdom. We are hopelessly weak, and more could not be expected of us." But when I have said in reply : " If you do not achieve the most possible with the resources you have, you will never be m a situation to command greater resources. You talk of poverty, yet spend more upon your Court, proportionately, than any country in Europe, Your revenues are large enough, if properly applied, not only to meet all really necessary expenditures, but to open means of communication for the want of which the industry of yoiTr country languishes." — I have more than once heard the feeble plea : " Our Court must be suitably kept up There cannot be a throne without a large expenditure We Greeks are democratic, but the Great Powers gave us a throne, and since we have accepted it, the country woidd be disgraced if the usual accessories of a throne were wanting." The Royal Palace at Athens cost two millions of dollars. For this sum the Greeks have an immense, ugly jjile of Pentelican marble, as large as Buckingham, or the liesidem at Berlin. One fouii,h of the m.oney would have bu'It a 265 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. beautiful strncture, proportioned to the size and means of the country. The King has a salary of one million of drachmas ($166,666) per annum, which, to his credit, he spends in and about Athens. The Court alone swallows up about one-twelfth of the entire revenues. Then there is a list of salaried and pensioned officials — civil, military, and naval — such as no country in Europe, relatively, exhibits. In the Navy there is just about one officer to every two- and-a-half men; in the Army, which numbers 0,000, all told, there are no less than seventy generals \ The revenues of the country amount to something more than $3,000,000 annually, which, for a population of 1,000,000, is a sum sufficient not only for the machinery of Government, but the rapid development of the present neglected resources; yet it is easy to see how, between useless expenditure and official venality, the whole of it is swallowed up. Norway, with a smaller revenue and a larger population, supports her roads, schools, colleges, steamship lines, army, navy, and police, and keeps out of debt. The absurd jealousy of the Greeks tends still further to retard anything like Progress. There might have been a large immigration of German farmers to the uncultivated lands of the Isthmus and Morea, but no! the pure Hellenic stock must not be corrupted by foreign grafts. The first thing the Legislative Assembly did, after Greece received a Constitution, was to pass a law, depriving all heteroch- thones (Greeks born in Crete, Chios, Constantinople, or anywhere outside the limits of the present kingdom) of equal civil rights. Yet the greatest private benefactors of Greece — Arsakis, Rhizari, Sina, and others, who have PEOPLE AND GOTEENMENT. 267 founded or supported her institutions of learning, science, and charity — are heterochthones ! This shameful law has since been repealed, but the sarae selfish policy prevails, and instead of making Greece a rallying poijit for the pride and national feeling of the entire Ilellenio race, the result has been to alienate its scattered fragments. The Greeks dream of a restoration of the Byzantine Empire, rather than of the ancient republics or confederacies. They are itching to grasp Thessaly and Macedonia. Constantinople, more or less distant, lies in the plans and hopes of every Greek — and they will never get it. Some travellers point to the Constitution of Greece, and by enumerating a few sounding features, such as suffrage, free speech, a free press, religious liberty, education, &c., give the impression that the Government is strongly Demo- cratic in its character. But the fact is, the King does not understand a representative government — lie does not even comprehend its first principles ; and ever since he was compelled to sign away a portion of his power, at the cannon's mouth, his whole study has been to recover it again. Thanks to the facilities afforded him by the Consti- tution itself, he has succeeded. The Senate is not only named by the King, but the Nomarchs also, and he has the right of choosing the Demarchs out of the three candidates Hrbo have the largest vote. One of these three is sure to be in the interest of the Court, and thus the whole govern- ment of the country is thrown back into his owe hands. A distinguished citizen jf Athens once said to me: "It ia fiopeless to expect anything like a just and decent admin- istration of Government under the present system. We 268 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. once, liere in Athens, after great labor, and not b little intrigue, succeeded in presenting three candidates for the Demai'chy, two of whom were just, enlightened men, of oui own party. The third was a stupid ass, whom we pre^ vailed upon the Court party to select, believing it to be morally impossible that he would obtain the office. But it was all in vain ; the King appointed the ass." During my Btay in Athens, a Court favorite was ai)pointed to the chief rank in the Kavy, over the head of the venerable Canaris, whose name will be remembered as long as the world honors a deed of splendid heroism. The true old man immediately resigned, and sent back to the King every order or token of honor he had received at the hands of the Government. It is a wearisome task to wade through the long list of abuses, which are kept alive by the indolence and apathy, no less than the corruption of the Greeks, nor can I refer to them without the humiliating consciousness that my Hel- lenic friends have the right to ask, referring to our own legislators : " Are you without sin, that jou should cast stones at us ? " The rapid decline of political morality at home (I speak without reference to party) makes every honest American abroad blush with shame and mortification. The avidity of the Greeks for learning has often been referred to, and justly, as one of their most hopeful traits. It is ffeneral, pervading all classes, and the only qualifica- tion to be made with regard to it is that in a great many instances it arises from the desire of escaping manual labor and obtaining the consideration which place under govern- ment affords. Hence Greece abounds with half-educated PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT. 269 men, who cease their studies, satisfied, at a certain point. There have been no scholars produced since the Liberation equal to Coray, or ^sopios, who still lives. The Kleptic Bongs are still the best poetry of Modern Gr(.>ece. In His- tory and Law something has been done ; in Art, nothing at all. Nevertheless, this thirst for education promises well, and to the honor of the Greeks be it said tliat the first thing they did on becoming free was to make provision for schools. At present tlie total number of scholars in the kingdom amounts to nearly forty-five thousand, or about one in twenty-four. The University of Alliens is in a very flourishing condition, the Arsakeion (under the charge of Madame Mano, a sister of Alexander Mavrocordato) num- bers three hundred female pupils, and the well-known school of ]Mi'. and Mrs. Hill, nearly four hundred. There are also excellent seminaries at Syra, Patras, Nauplia, and other places. No persons have done more for Free Greece than our two countrymen, just named, and few things pleased me more during my journeys through the country than to notice the deep and abiding gratitude which the Greeks feel for them. They are now teaching the second genera- tion — the children of those they taught from twenty to thirty years ago. I had every opportunity of witnessing the plan and operations of their school, and I know of no insti tution of tlie kind which is doing a better work. I hav: frequently had occasion to speak of the inadequate and unsatisfactory results of American Missions in foreign lands — results attributable, in many instances, to an excess rathei than a lack of zeal, Mr. and Mrs. Hill have confined theii 270 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. efforts to educating for Greece a body of virtuous, refined, intelligent, and pious \vom<^n, and they have fully succeeded, Proselytism is prohibited by the laws of Greece, and they have not attempted it. They, therefore, enjoy the love and confidence of the whole Greek people, and continue to plant the seeds of a better, purer, more enlightened life, leaving them to ripen in their own good time, and as God «luill direct. Dr. King, who has been American Consul for the last seven years, occupies himself principally with the conversion of the Armenians. He lias, besides, printed a great number of Greek tracts and school-books, some of which are extensively used in the schools of the country. The principal progress which Greece has made since her liberation, has been in her commerce. The blue cross nove floats, not only in every port in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, but in most of the ports of Europe. The trade carried on at Constantinople by Greek vessels is larger than that of all other nations combined. Greek houses are now common, not only in Trieste, Vienna, Marseilles, London, Paris, and Manchester, but are also springing up in the United States. In spite of what has been said concerning the commercial dishonesty of the Greek merchants in the Orient, those who settle in the Occident bear, generally, as good a character as their Frank brethren. The race has a natural aptitude for trade, and upon this feature one might also build a hope for the future of Greece. But what that future "will be, we cannot even conjecture. I do not yet believe that the Hellenic race will regenerate the Orient. A Grecian Empire, with Constantinople for its capital, is a3 far off as the moon. Whether ihe present kingdom wiU PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT. 27' continue to drag along a wearj existence as a petty inde* pendent power, or whether it will uhimatcly become the limb of a more poweiful body, is a matter upon which J shall not Sjieculate. It is significant, however, that until quite recently, the political fiictions in Greece bore the name of the English, Russian, and Frencli parties. Of these three, the Russian naturally was the strongest. As the King and Queen are childless, tlie ])CopIe are in great uncertainty as to their future I'uler. According to the Constitution, the next monarch must belong to the National Church. Prmce Luiipold of Bavaria, Otho's brother, has renounced his right of succession rather than change his religion. Adalbert, the youngest brotlier, is willing to com[)ly, after he has possess'on of the throne — not before. But the son of Luitpold ha-; a prior claim, and, in addition, the Queen is intriguing with might and main to make capital for her brother, tlie Protestant Prince of Oldenbuig. In all these nice lit:le phuis and counter- plan-, Greece is the last thing thought of The Queen is thorougldy selfish, but it is not to be denied that she is popular, and possesses consitlerable influeirce. Tiie King is a truly amiable man, and I believe desires to do v, hat lie can for the good of Greece ; but so long as he lives, he vviil never realize her actual condition and necessities. The best men of Greece at present — Mavrocordato, Psyllas, Argyro- poulos, and Kalerges — are not in a position to make their influence felt a^^ it deserves, and so the country goes on in a blind way, heedless of the Future so long as it can bear the weight of the Present without l)reaking down. I write these things in sorrow, and wi^h that my impres 272 TRAVELS IK GREECK AND RUSSIA. 8ions were of a more cheering character. I should hail the success of Greece with as sincere a joy as any of her citi- zens ; I siiould be glad to know that more of the ancient olood and the ancient genius was stiil extant — but I must not give the reader wliat I cannot find. Is there really no resurrection of a dead nation ? No enduring vitality in I hose qualities of the old race, which triumphed for a thou- sand year.- f Cannot those " arts of war and peace," which sprang from Greece and the Grecian Isles, flourish again in the arms of a purer religion and a more enlightened law ? The answer may be given a century hence, but not now. CHAPTER XXIV. AGRICULTURE AND RESOURCE»- BiJFORE returniug to the North, a few words must be said in regard to Greece as a productive country, a subject con- cerning which the reader has doubtless heai-d very contrary opinions. The Greeks theni-elves are so much in the habit of saying, " We have a poor country," that the flying tour- ist, who stops four days at Athens on his way to Egypt and Palestine, and who sees only the bald sides of Hymettus and Pentelicus, and the dry plain of Attica, imagines the whole country to be barren, desolate, cursed — as it is customary to represent Judea. With the exception of Acarnania, Etolia, and parts of Euboea, it does indeed greatly lack- water, but its soil is probably as productive, in other respects, as that of any country of Europe. The valleys are a f.ne mellow loam, which produces excellent crops of wheat, rye, and barley, although the system of agriculture is Homeric in its simplicity and rudeness. The lower slopes of the mountains, where they have been reclaimed, or have oscaped the devastation of war, produce vines, as in Mia- 274 TRAVELS IX GHEECE AND RUSSIA. solonghi, forests, as in Euboea, or grain, as in Maina, whilo the sides of Parnassus, Taygetus, and Erymanthus are cov- ered, up to the elevation of 6,000 feet, with woodg of oak, fir, and pine. But one thing fails, without which the. Garden of Eden itself TV'ould be poor — the means of transporting produce to a market. All the roads in the Peloponnesus, with the exception of that from Nauplia to Tripolitza, are the rougliest possible bi'i die - paths, crossed in many places by mountain torrents, which frequently interrupt the commu- nication for days. In fact, one can hardly say that there are any roads at all in spring, when the plow obliterates all trace of the previous trail. In Northern Greece there is but one, from Athens to Thebes, which is now impassa- ble, owing to fifty yards of it having been washed away in the pass of CEnoe, about six months before my visit. From Thebes to Livadia there is a bridle -track over the Boeotian plain, which is a quagmire when it rains. Formerly much barley was raised about Livadia, but the cost of transport- ing it to Athens upon asses was found to be just three- fourths of the value of what the ass carried, so that, unless the trader succeeded in doing a little highway robbery on his way back, he lost money by the trip. The peasantry around Athens now use carts, and with the present high prices, succeed in driving a very good business. The Government is at last making an effort to do something in the way of remedying this evil. "We hear of roads to Chalcis, to Corinth, and other places. An engineer has been imported from France at a salary of 22,000 francs a year, notwithstanding there is an abundance of Greek AGRICULTURE AND RESOURCES. 276 engineers idle. A large sura has been raise J by special taxation, but all that has yet been accomplished is the grading of a few streets in Athens. But — " Do not expect too much of us," say the Greeks. A German botanist (Fraas, I think) has given a very decided opinion that the lost forests of Greece can never be restored, and that the land must consoquenlly I'emain dry and barren. From this decision I must wholly di>?ent. All Greece, it is true, rests on a bed of blue limestone, which refines into marble here and there, and the hills which have been disforested are as bare and dry as the mountains of Moab. Hymettus appears to be hopelessly naked, and even Parnes hides his few remaining pines in the depth of his savage gorges. Yet the least encouragement would reclothe even this sterility. An example of what simply letting tJie mountains alone will do, is seen at the pass of Qi^noe, between Cithaeron and Parnes. Here the peasants have been prevented, for a few years past, from touching the young pines, and the heights are covered green and thick, up to the very summit. As for forest culture, such as is carried on with so much success in Germany, it is unheard of. It is true, Inspectors, Foresters, &c., have been appointed, and some 200,000 drachmas of the revenue go in this way, but the only thing they do is to make the peasants pay for tapping pine - trees for resin, instead of taking it for nothing. If a Greek mountaineer wants a lit- tle wood for his fire, he cuts down twenty thriving saplings rather than fatigue himself by felling a full - grown ti'ee. Euboca, which was once a land of splendid forests, abound- ing with deer, is rapidly becoming denuded, and the moirn 276 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. tain valleys, once plentifully and regularly watered, are now subject to alternate freshets and drouths. AVood was sold in Athens during the winter of 1857-8 at the rate of a cen' a pound, while the grand oak woods of Doris and Elis are lying full of rotting trunks. All over the country one sees noble trees wantonly girdled, even in the midst of forests, where tliey are never felled. It would seem that the people took a peculiar pleasure in the act of destiuction. A large land-owner in Euboea intbrnied me that Avhile superintending the cutting of pines in his woods, he directed the workmen to be very careful and fell the trees in such a direction as to injure the saplings under them as little as possible. The people laughed outright, and almost told him to his face that he was a ibol. The saplings, they said, were little things, worth nothing except to burn, and it would be no harm to destro}' them all. Where the forests have only been partially spared, there are fountains and running streams the whole year through. The Alphcus and the Eurota?;, fed by the oak- covered bills of Arcadia, flow through summer heats, but in naked Attica the Cephissus and the Ilissus perish even before they leach the sea. Agriculture, as I have saiil, is in the most imperfect state. I find, on repeated inquiry, that fifteen fold — that is, fifteen bushels reaped for one sown — is considered a large crop, and that the general average cannot be considered higher than eight f -Id. The soil is not manured, but relieved a little by a rotation of crops. It is scratched up to the depth of three or four inches with an antediluvian plow Rnd then crosswise again, so that the soil h cut 'n smal AGRICULTURE AND RESOUllCKS. 211 cubes or dice. Then the farmer sits down and folds liis hands, waiting for a rain that shall dissolve and break up these fiubes, so that he can sow his grain. Sometimes a freshet comes in the meanwhile and carries them :\11 oif before they have had time to dissolve, leaving only the hieroglyphics made by the point of the plowshare in the hard surface below. The other staple productions of Greece — oil, silk, cur- rants, and wine — are more easily managed, and hence the yield from them is greater. The vines are pruned in the spring, the earth is dug up, raised into heaps between the stalks, and finely pulverized, and they are then left to their fate. Olive and mulberry trees are planted, and that is all. The produce both of silk and currants is slowly but steadily increasing, and the number of olive trees, which in 1833 was 700,000, now amounts to 2,400,000. Yet in spite of this apparent growth, the country is poorer now than it was under the Turkish domination. The little Province of Achaia alone yielded to the Latin princes, during the Mid- dle Ages, a greater revenue than the whole kingdom of Greece at present. The foct is, the country is poor, only dccause the development of its resources has been most shamefully neglected. A circumstance which more than anything else, perhaps, retards this development, is the religious indolence of the Greek farmers. A creed which turns one half the days ef the year into saintly anniversaries, on which it is sinful to do any manner of work, would ruin any country in the world. In addition to these saints' days, there are four grand fasts, and a number of smaller ones, amounting, in 278 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. all, to over oae hundred and fifty days, or five month* These are most rigidly kept, and though the temperate Greek satisfies his hunger with bread, olives, and onionSj his capacity for labor is seriously affected. To crown hia shoitcoraings as an agriculturist, add his egregious vanity, which prevents him from suspecting that there is any knowledge in the world supeiior to his own. An English gentleman, long settled in Greece, assured me that he found it almost impossible to teach his workmen, owing to this trait of character. Whenever he directed anything to be done, instead of being obeyed, he always received instruc- tions from them as to how it might be better done. After twenty - four years' experience, he was almost ready to despair of their improvement. I found the country Greeks generally honest. We met with two or three instances of downright imposition, but this might occur in any country — except in the northern and western provinces of Sweden. Those who have the worst reputation are the most friendly and agreeable. The Mainote robbers, as they are called, the Delphians, and the Dorian^?, are hearty, cheerful, hospitable people, and I shall long remember them with pleasure. The timid traveller need no longer hesitate to visit Greece, from a vision of fierce palikars levelling their long guns at him in the mountain passes. Northern Greece has long been ovetv run by a band of robbers under the command of the chief, Kalabaliki, but just before we left Athens, himself and the greater part of his men were shot by the Govornraenl troops, near Thebes, With the death of Kalabaliki brig- andage is almost suppressed in Greece. From 1854 to AGRICULTURE AND RESOURCES. 279 1858 the number of robbers shot or executed was 495 ! I muBt state, however, on the authority of the Minister ol War, that only twenty of the whole number were born within the Hmlts of the kingdom. Besides her neglected fields and forests, Greece has also neglected mines. There is the material for a hundred Par tbenons yet in Pentelicus ; the white, waxy marble of Naxos and Paros ; pi'ecious verde antique and rouge an- tique in Taygetus : coal in Euboea, sulphur on the Isthmus, and emery in Naxos. It is said that the treasures of Paros are to be exploited, but of the other mineral productions, sulphur and emery, only, are quarried to a limited extent Agi'iculture, however, should be the first care of a nation, and until Greece has roads for the transportation of her com, wine, and oil, she will scarcely be able to make her quarries available. I have not yet heard of any geological survey of the country, but I know an intelligent young officer who spent eighteen months, by the order and at the expense of the Government, in making a secret military reconnoissance of Turkey ! Ofier a plan for the irrigation of the Cephissian plain, and you will be politely snubbed. Offer another of the fortifications of CJonstantinople, and you will be well paid. Enough of dry statement. Let me not lose the pensive sweetness and sadness of this last evening iii Athens. The Bun is sinking in clear saffron light beyond the pass of Daphne, and a purple flush plays all along the high, barren 280 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA. sides of Hymettus. Before me rises the Acropolis, with ita crown of beauty, the Parthenon, on whose snowy front the sunsets of two thousand years have left their golden stain. In the distance is the musical JE^ean, dancintj with light- whispering waves to fill the rock - hewn sarcophagus of Themistocles. Plato's olives send a silver glimmer through the dusk that is creeping over the Attic phiin. Many an evening have I contemplated this illustrious landscape, but it was never so lovely as now, when I look upon it for the last time. Every melodious wave in the long outline of the immortal moimtains — every scarred marble in the august piles of ruin — every blood - red anemone on the b;mk3 of the Ilissus, and every asphodel that blossoms on the hill of Colonos — I know them and tliey know me. Not as a curious stranger do I leave Athens ; not as a traveller eagei for new scenes ; but with the regret of one who knows and loves the sacred soil, to whom it has been at once a sanc- tuary and a home. CHAPTER XXV. RETURN TO THE NORTH. We went direct from Athens to Constantinople in the French steamer INIeandre. The voyage was a repetition of the two which I have described years ago, and I shall make ao further note of it than to advise all w.y friends and re&'Jers who may visit the Orient to choose ihe steamers of the French Messageries in every possible case, rather than those of the Austrian Lloyd. Over the unrippled ^gean our trip was a luxurious one, and though we missed Sanium and saw the Trojan Ida by twilight, we steamed around Seraglio Point and into the Golden Horn in the full blaze of noon — a piece of real good fortune to those who see Constantinople for the first time. In thjo category were even Americans on board the steamer. I noticed but three changes in Constantinople since I fii"Si saw it, in 1852 — to wit: Pera is lighted with gas, the hotels have raised their prices five francs a day, and the dogs of Stamboul no longer bark at Giaours. Id all other respecte, it is the same medley of unparalleled externa! 282 TRAVELS IN GREECE AND RU88IA. splendor and internal filth, impt-rfect Europe and shabby Asia. The last change of the three is undoubtedly due tc the wholesome training given to tlie dogs aforesaid by the soldiers of the allied armies. It is an astonisliing fact that dogs of tlie most ortliodox ."Moslem breed now toler.itc tliu presence of the Frank, without a .snarl. JNIorcover, St Sophia, then accpssible oidy tlirouzh the nil potent seal o( the Giand Vizier, now sees its doors turn on tlicir holy hinges for an every -d:iy bribe. Even at tlie n)(iS(|ue of Kyonb, standard-bearer of IMahmoud II., I was refused admission only because it was R:imazan. There is a Turk- ish theatre in Pera, Turkish plays (adapted from the Italian) are acted by Turkish actors, and — oh. shade of the Prophet ! — Turkish women appear unveiled upon tlie stage. Thia, however, does not signify much. Polygamy and the seclu- sion of women are a part of the Moslem religion, and with that religion dies the prestige of the race. The fraterniza- tion of Turkey with the Western Powers has forced her to relinquish a few antiquated prejudices — and that is all. The grand fete of the Night of Predestination took place two days after our arrival, and, with the recollection of its magical illuminations six years before, fresh in my mind, I promised my companions a spectacle such as they had never yet witnessed ; but it turned out to be a comparative failure. The Turkish Government has wisely grown eco- nomical. The far-echoing thunders of a thousand cannon, booming up and down the length of the Bosphorus, were wanting ; and though we floated in the mid-t of a crowd of caiques in the Golden Horn, the waters were dark under- neath us, and the sky dark above — not lighted to rod trans* BETDRN TO TUE NORTD. 283 parcncy, as I once saw them, with the minarets blazing like fiery lances around the fiery helmets of the domes. "We had rather an adventurous trip to the Sweet Waters of Europe. The wind was blowing stroiifjly from the west, but I took a four-oared caique, and after passing Cassira Pasha, where we were most exposed to its force, supposed tliat we sliould g»t on without further trouble. But on turning northwarl into the valley of the Sweet Waiers, it came on a perfect hurricane. We could scarcely breathe, and the boatmen tried in vain to manage our eirg-shell of a craft. We drove first upon a marshy island ; then upon the shore; then down stream; then against a pier; aud finally striking upon a rock, tlie caique began to fill. We were in tlie edge of a swamp ; Braisted and I lified the lady out into tlie neds, and we made tiie Ijost of our way to firm land. All landmarks were lost in a cloud of dust; the tempest blew with such force that it was barely possi- ble to stand ; and when we at last wore round so as to scud before the wind, we were almost taken off our feet. After much search and the payment of a pound sterling, I pro- cured a jolting Turkish araba to take us back to Pera, but on crossing the brow of the hill above the Sweet Waters, we were several times on the point of being overturned by the blast. The steamer in which we took passrige to Galatz proved to be our old friend the Miramar, with her gallant captain, Mazarevitch. We had soft spring sunshine for the glorious panorama of the Bosphorus, but the day be- came partially obscured as we entered the Black Sea, and about five in the afternoon, the sky being clear only to tlie 284 TRAVELS IN GKEECE AND RUSSIA. northward, a most singular mirage arose in tliat diroction Vessels were seen suspended in tlie air, about two degrees above the horizon, with inverted images below them^ Beyond them ran a long line of low coast, which in the iiortli-east rose into hills, covered with patches of dark fir* trees. There was uo laud nearer than the Crimea in tbnt direction, and it was about 180 miles di^taut. What, then, were these shores ? They were no more o])tical delusion, for through a strong glass the outlines appeared very dis tinct even to the projecting buttresses and receding gulf ot the hills. I came to the conclusion, therefore, that it was actually the mountain-shore of the Crimea which I beheld, almost from the mouth of the Bosphorus. The wind was blowing cold from the north-west at the time, with dull clouds overhead, but the phantom picture was lighted with strong sunshine, and the sails of the vessels appeared to hang almost motionless. After two disagreeable nights and one disagreeable day, we reached the Sulina mouth of the Danube. The river makes his muddy presence known far off shore, like the Mississippi, the Ganges, and the Yang-tze-Kiang. The land is as flat as a pancake, and Sulina, which consists of a light-house and a long row of wooden buildings on piles, resembles the skeleton of a toAvn deposited there by some freshet. You exchange the green plain of the sea for the green plain of the Dobrudja marshes, through which the Danube winds like a brown vein. Much was said about the improvements for na\ngation at Sulina, in the Pari? Conferences, but the most I could discover was a long line of posts to which vessels were moored, and which may be KETUKN TO THE NORTH. 285 the forerunner of a wharf. We passed through a street of vessels nearly three miles long, touching each other steir and stern, on both sides of the river, and then pursued our winding way towards Galatz, comparatively alone. By and by, however, the hilk of the Dobrudja arose in the south- west, and the monotonous level of the swamps was broken by belts of trees. Vegetation appeared to be fully ns far advanced as at Constantinople, although we were nearly five degi-ees further north. In the afternoon, we passed the southern or St. George's arm of the Danube, which is now so clo-^ed up by a bar at its mouth as to be useless. The northern or Kilia arm enters a short distance higher up, and looking towards it at sunset, over the great levels, we saw tlie fortress-town of Ismail, built upon its northern bank. This was the famous citadel of the Turks, wliich fell before Suwarrow, after one of the bloodiest assaults recorded in history. We anchored for some hours during the night, but early the next morn- ing were at Galatz, in Moldavia. I cannot say much about this place, for we only remained long enough to exchange our Black Sea steamer for the river-boat of the Danube Company. It is a dull, common pLice town, built over the slope of a long, barren hill. Some travellei-s, who had been there several days, had nothing whatever to tell me about it. We were much more interested in our new steamer, which was built on the American plan, and very handsomely furnished. But- down with all monopolies ! say I. Although the fare from Constantinople to Pesth— a voyage of seven days— is ^70 this does not include a state-room on the river-boats, foi 286 THAVELS IN GREECE AND HUSSIA. which $52 additional is demanded ! Nevertheless, I had taken the precaution to telegraph fiom Constantinople to Galatz to secure a room. A single message co.-ts twenty francs., yet when we reached Galatz, .«ix days afterwards, the message had not arrived. The nearest approach to this which I ever experienced was in Oiiio, where a message which I sent was three days and a half in going two hun- dred miles. The engineer of the boat kindly offered to give me his cabin, containing one berth, for $."30, hut we preferred using the eoninion cabins, which were as badly ventilated as on the Anieric:in boais. Tiiese Danube steamers, how- ever, were very swift, kept in admirable order, and the faro (what little there was of it) was unexceptionable. From Galatz to tlie Iron Gates, in ascending the Danube, you have two days of monotonous scenery. On one side the low liills of Turkey, — heavy, ungraceful ridges, gen- erally barren of wood, — and on the other the interminable plains of Wailachia. Except Ginrgevo, the port of Biiclia- re?t, there are no towns on the northern shore, but nn the southern you pass, in succession, Rustchuk, Silistria, Nico- polis, and Widin, besides a great number of shabby, red« roofed villages, nestled in the elbows of the hills. Immense herds of horses graze on the meadows ; rough Wallachian boors in wide trowsers and low black hats lounge about their huts, which are raised on high piles out of the reach of fresliets ; guard -houses at regular intervals stud the bank, and three slovenly gray soldiers present arms as we pass ; coal-barges and flat-boats descend the river in long black lines ; and all these pictures, repeated over and over again, at last weary the eye. "We passed Silistria at RETURN TO THE NORTH. 287 dnsk, and I saw only an indistinct silhouette of its famous fort. But the scars of battle vanish soon from the earth^ and Silistria is as quiet and orderly now as if it had not heard a cannon for a thousand year>. At Gladowa, vA'e entered the celebrated Iron Gates, where a spur of the Transylvaniaii Alps, runiiinp;^ south- westward through Servia to join tlie central mountain cliain of Turkey, attempts to barricade the Danube. But, like the Rhine at Bingen, and the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, he has cut with his crystal sword the Gordian labyrinth he could not thread, and roars in a scries of trinnipliant rapids through the heart of the terrible iiills. Covered with forests of oak, beech, larch, and pine, the mountains tower grandly on either hand, while through the inter locking bases the river de8c'I) RUSSIA. who enter here," would have been more appropriate Midway in the tunnel, the halls at either end were suddenly illuminated, and a crash, as of a hundred cannon, bellowing through the hollow vaults, shook the air and water in such wise that our boat had not ceased trembling when we I mded in the further hall. Read Tasso : "Treman lo spaziose atre caveme, El asr cieco in quel rumor rimh(nnba," if you want to hear the sound of it. A tablet inscribed " heartily welcome !" saluted us in landing. Finally, at tlie depth of 450 feet, our journey ceased, although we were but half way to the bottom. The remainder is a wilderness of shafts, galleries, and smaller chambers, the extent of w^hich we could only conjecture. We then returned through scores of tortuous passages to some vaults where a lot of gnomes, naked to the hips, were busy with pick, mallet, and wedge, blocking out and separating the solid pavement. The process is quite primitive, scarcely differing from that of the ancient Egyptians in quarrying granite. The blocks are first marked out on the surface by series of grooves. One side is then deej^ened to the equired thickness, and wedges being inserted under the block, it is sijon split off. It is then split transversely int pieces of one cwt. each, in which form it is ready for sale. Those intended for Russia are rovnided on the edges and corners until they acquire the shape of large cocoons, for the convenience of transportation into the ulterior of th« country. CRACOW, AND THE SALT MINES OF WIELICZKA. 299 The number of workmen employed in the mines is 1,500, all of whom belong to the "upper crust" — that is, they live on the outside of the world. They are divided into gangs, and relieve each other every six hours. Each gang quarries out, on an average, a little more than 1,000 cwt. of salt in that space of time, making the annual yield 1,500,000 cwt.! The men we saw were fine, muscuh^i-, healthy-looking fellows, and the officer, in answer to my questions, stated that their sanitary condition was quite equal to that of field laborers. Scurvy doetj not occur among them, and tlic equality of the temperature of the mines — which stands at 54° of Fahrenheit all the year lound — has a favorable effect upon such as are predisposed to diseases of the lungs. He was not aware of any peculiar form of disease induced by the substance in which they work, notwithstanding where the air is humid salt-crystals form u})on the wood-work. The wood, I may here remark, never rots, and where untouched, retains its quality for centuries. The officer explicitly denied the story of men having been born in these mines, and having gone through life without ever mounting to the upper world. So there goes another interesting fiction of our youth. It requires a stretch of imagination to conceive the extent of this salt bed. As far as explored, its length is two and a half English miles, its breadth a little over half a mile ani its solid depth 690 feet! It commences about 200 feet below the surface, and is then uninterrupted to the bottom, where it rests on a bed of compact sandstone, such as foruia the peaks of the Carpathian Mountains. Below this, there is no ]n*obability that it again reappears. The general 300 TRAVTn,S FN POLAND AN'D RUSSIA.' direction is cast niiJ west, dipping rapiJly at its "western extremity, so that it may no doubt be puslicd miicli f'urtlicr in that direction. Nolwitlistanding the immense amount ah-eady quarried — and it will be better understood when I tate that the aggregate length of the shafts and galleries nmounts to four hundred and ticenty miles — it is estimated (hat, at the present rate of exploitation, the known supply cannot be exhausted under 300 years. The tiipartite treaty, on the partition of Poland, limits Austria to the production of the present amount — 1,500,000 cwt. annually — of which she is bound to furnish 300,000 cwt. to Prussia, and 800,000 to Russia, leaving 400,000 cwt. for herselC This sum yields her a net revenue from the mines, of two millions of florins ($1,000,000) annually. It is not known how this wonderful deposit — more pre- cious than gold itself — was originally discovered. "We know tliat it was worked in the twellth century, and per- haps much earlier. The poi)ular faith has invented several miracles to account for it, giving the merit to favorite haints. One, which is gravely published in " The History of Cracow," states that a Polish King, who wooed a Princess Elizabeth of Hungary (not the saint of the "Wartburg) in the tenth century, asked what she would choose as a biidal gift from him. To w hich she replied : Something that would most benefit his people. The marriage cere- ^lony was performed in a chapel in one of tlie salt-mines of Transylvania. Soon after being transferred to Cracow Elizabeth went out to Wieliczka, surveyed the ground, and, 8l\er choosing a spot, commanded the people to dig. In the course of a few days they ftmnd a salt-crystal, which tlit CEACOW, AND THE SALT iU.\i;s (»F 'ATKI.KZKA. 301 Queen caused to be set iu her wcdding-riiig, and wore wuti] the day of her death. She must hine been a wonderfiu geologist, for those days. The bed actually follows the Carpathians, appearing at intervals in small deposits, into Transylvania, where tliere are extensive mines. It is believed, ali-o, that it stretches northward into Russian Poland. Some years ago the Bank of Warsaw expended large sums in boruig for salt near the Austrian frontier. There was much excitement and speculation for a time; but, although the mineral \\as found, the cost of quarrying it was too great, and the enterprise was dropped. On our retm-n we visited Francis-Joseph's hall, a large salt ball-room, with well executed statues of Vulcan and Neptuni^. Six large chandeliers, apparently of cut glass, but really of salt, illuminate it on festive occasions, and hundreds of dancers perspire themselves mto a pretty pickle. When we had reached the upper galleries, we decided to ascend to daylight by means of the windlass. The Prus- sian party went first, and the ladies were not a little alarmed at fiuduig themselves seated in rope slings, only supported by a band mider the arms. All five swung together in a heap; the ladies screamed and would hir.e loosened themselves, but that moment the windlass began to move, and up they went, dangling, towards the little star of dayhght, two hundred feet above. Under them hung one of the boys, to steady the whii-ling mass, and the little scamp amused himself by swinging his lamp, cracking hh> heels together and rattling his stick along the sides of the shaft. When our turn came, I found, in spite of myself, tliat such pastime was not calculated to steady my nerves 802 rRA\ i:i.S IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. Tlie sound of ihe slick was \Qvy uuich like that of suappiug ropes, and my braiu swam a little at linding my feet dun- gling over what seemed a bottomless abyss of darkness. The arrival at the top was like a douche of lightning. It was just noon, and the hot, while, blinding day poured ful' (i])on us, ftthiging our eyes like needles, and almost taking away our breath. We were at once beset with a crowd of beggars and salt-venders. Tlie latter i)roirered a multitude of small articles — crosses, stars, images, books, cups, dishes, tfcc. — cut from the native crystal, and not distinguishable from glass in appearance. I purchased a salt-cellar, which has the proi)erty of furnishing salt when it is empty. But it seemed to me that I should not need to use it for some days. I felt myself so thoroughly impregnated with salt, that I conceived the idea of seasoning my soup by stirring it with my fingers, and half expected that the fresh roast would tm-n to corned beef in my mouth. CHAPTER XXVII. ▲ GLANCE AT WAK8AW. Before loa^-ing Cracow, we visited the monument to Koa cinsko, which is about a mile and a half from the city It is a simple mound of earth, thrown together by the Poles, in memory of the hero of two hemispheres. They are proud of the renown of Sobieski, but they treasure the name of Kosciusko within their heart of hearts. Probably no man was ever before honored with such a monument. It was not raised by subscription and hired labor, but by the spontaneous work of thousands of hands. Old and young, male and female, the noble and the peasant, carried their loads of earth, until the mound arose to be a beacon to the Uttle Free State of Cracow — so long as that Free State existed. The account of its erection is truly touch- ing, and one cannot look upon it without hoping that it may last to tell the story to distant ages and nations yet unformed. When the Austrian Government detennined to fortify Cracow, the commanding position wliich this mound occu- 306 TKAVEI.S IN rOL.VXI) A-VD RUSSIA. Warsaw, a distance of two huiulred miles. At iirst, you pass tlirough a region of sand and pine wood, tlie very counterpart of New Jersey or North Carolina; then Lroad plains, partially cultivated ; then jiasturc steppes, pine wood, and cultivation agiiin. The villages are scattering clusters of thatched cottages resembling Irish cabins, ex- cept that they are always neatly whitewashed and have a more tidy appearance. This is rather in contrast to the peoi)le, who are very dirty. The common, coarse Slavonic type is here universal — low, square forehead, heavy brow>, prominent cheek-bones, tlattish nose, with broad nostrils and full lips. With the addition of a projectuig mouth, many of the faces would be comj)letely Irish, The refined Slavonic face, as one sees it among tlie Polish gentiy, is nevertheless very handsome. The forehead becomes nigh and arched, the nose straight and regular, and the face shows an approach to the classic oval. This is even n^ore striking in the female than in the male comitenance. A.t Granitza we were charmed b} a vision of perfect loveliness, which shone on us from time to time, from the upper window of an adjoining mansion. It was a woman of twenty-two, of ripe and yet tender beauty — features exqui sitely regular, complexion like a blush rose, large, soft eyes. rather violet than blue, and a rippling crown of magnificent hair, "brown in the shadow and gold in the sun," I con fess to watchmg this beautiful creature for half an hour through the window-blinds. The face of Kosciusko is pure Slavonic, of the peasant type, as is also that of Copernicus, if the portraits of him are correct. The only place of any interest which we passed was A GLANCE AT WARSAW. 307 Czeiistocliau, celebrated for a rairacle-\vorking image of the Madonna. It is a pretty little town, partly built upon a hill V. hich is at least fifty feet high. The station-houses on the road are similar to those in Germany, except that in the refreshment-room one sees, instead of multitudmous seidl of beer, the Russian samovar^ and tumblers of hot tea, in which float slices of lemon. There are long delays at each station, which make the journey tedious, notwithstanding the speed of the trains, Avhen in motion, is very good. Several thunder-storms passed over us, cooling the air and laying the frightfid dust ; night came on, and it was past midnight before we reached Warsaw. We were like a couple of lost sheep in the crowd, all of whom were hurry- ing to get to their beds, for the only language heard was Polish, and the oflicials shook their heads when I addressed them in French or German. Finally, by imitating the ma- jority, we got rid of our passports, had our trunks exam ined again, and reached the Hotel d'Europe before day- break. The forenoon was devoted to preparations for our further journey. Fortunately, the diligence which was to leave for Moscow the next evening was vacant, and we at once engaged places. The passport was a more serious affair, as our own would avail us no further, but we must take out Russian ones instead. The Jew valet-de-place whispered to me, as we entered the office : " Speak French " The Poles hate the Germans much worse than they do their Russian conquerors, and although many of them understand the language, it is considered that of business, while French is the fashionable tongue. The olficer asked a fe\v quoa 308 TRAVELS IN POLAND AXD RUSSIA. tions — wliat was our object in coniing to Russia— whcthei we had any acquaintances in the country — whctliei we liad ever been there before — wiiether we were engaged in any business, etc., and tlien sent ns with a cbeckcd certiticatG into another room, where the same questions were repeated and a document made out, which we Avere requested to sign. Our conductor slipped a ruble note between the two papers, and handed them to a third official, who adroitly removed the bribe and completed the necessary forms, Tiiese were petitions to the Governor of Warsaw, praying him to grant us passports to Moscow. On calling at the Governor's oflice, a secretary informed us that the passports would be ready the next day, bit added, as we were leav ing : " You had better pay for them now." Hereupon the valet handed over the money, adding a ruble above the proper amount, and then observed to me : " Now you are sure of getting them in time." True enough, they were furnished at the appointed hour. The entire outlay waa about four rubles. It was a sweltering day, the thermometer 90° in the shade, and we could do nothing more than lounge through some of the principal streets. Warsaw is indeed a spacious, stately city, but I had heard it overpraised, and was a little disappointed. It resembles Berlin more than any other Euro- pean capital, but is less monotonously laid out, and more gay and animated in its aspects. At the time of my visit (June 14th), owing to the annual races, there was a large influx of visitors from the country, and the streets were thronged with a motley multitude. The numerous public squares — 6fteen in all, I think — picturesquely irregular, form an A GLANCE AT WARSAW. UOfl agreeable feature of the city. The palaces of the Polish nobles, massive and desolate, remind one of Florence, but without the Palladian grace of the latter. But few of them are inhabited by the original families. Some of them are appropriated to civil and military uses, and in one of them I resided during my stay. The churches of St. John and the Holy Cross, and the Lutheran church, are rather large and lofty than imposing, but rise finely above the level masses of buildings, and furnish landmarks to the city. Decidedly the most impressive picture in "Warsaw is that from the edge of the river bank, where the Zamek — the ancient citadel and palace of the Pohsh kings — rises with its towers and long walls on your left, while under you lies the older part of the city, with its narrow streets and an- cient houses, crowded between the Vistula and the foot of the hill. In the afternoon we took an omnibus to the race-course, wlaich is about two miles distant. The whole city was wending thither, and there could not have been less than forty or fifty thousand persons on the ground. It was a thoroughly Polish crowd, there being but few Russians or Germans present. Peasants from the country with sun- browned faces, and long, light-brown hair, with round Chi nese caps and petticoat trowsers ; mechanics and petty tradesmen of either honestly coarse or shabby-genteel ap- pearance ; Jews, with long greased locks hanging from their temples, lank, unctuous, and far-smelling figures ; Cos- Backs, with their long lances, heavy caps of black sheepskin, and breasts covered with cartridge pockets; prosperous burghers, sleek and proper, and straight as the figure- 310 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. columns in their ledgers ; noblemen, poor and Mnth a me lancholy air of fallen greatness, or rich and Haunting in thr careless freedom of secured position. Besides, there were itinerant peddlers, by hundreds, selling oranges, sweet- meats, cigars done up in sealed packages, which offered an agreeable hazard in buying them, beer, and even water, in large stone jugs. The crowd formed a compact inelosure nearly around the whole course of two miles. Outside of it extended a wide belt of carriages, hacks, omnibuses, and rough country carts, and as the soil was six inches deep in lino dust, the continual arrivals of vehicles raised such clouds that at times a man could scarcely see his nearest neighbor. We held out with difficulty long enough to see the first race, which was to have taken place at five, but, with oriental punctuality, commenced at half-past six. The horses, although of mixed English blood, fell considerably below the English standard. Tliere were eight in all, but the race was not exciting, as a fine bay animal, ridden by an English jockey, took the lead at the start, and kept it to the end. During the second heat a Polish jockey was throAvn from his horse, breaking his neck instantly. Wliat more interested me than the speed of the horses, was the beauty of the Polish women of the better class. During two years in Europe, I did not see so great a number of handsome faces, as I there saw in an hour. It would ba difticult to furnish a larger proportion from the acknow ledged loveliness of Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Louisville These m.aids of Warsaw are not only radiant blondes, whose eyes and hair remind y^u of corn-flowers among npe grain. A GLANCE AT "WAHSAW. 31 f his heroic grandson, Thaddeus Sobieski !' " — or somethbig quite like it. But the lying Jew valet declared that it was a journey of eight hours, and I have discovered, wner too late, that it might be accomplished in three. The pianist; however, accompanied us to Lazinski, the park and palace of Stanislaus Augustus, on the banks of the Vistula. The building stands in the midst of an artificial lake, which Is inclosed in a framework of forests. The white statues which stud the banks gleam in strong relief against the dark green background. " There is nothing so beautiful as this in existence," proudly asserted the pianist, " and yet you see the place is deserted. There is no taste in Warsaw ; nobody coraes here." In the palace there is a picture gal- lery ; all copies, with the exception of portraits of Stanis- laus Augustus, the nobles of his court, and his many mis- tresses. As we descended the steps, we met the son of Kotzebue, the dramatist. He is now an officer (a General, I believe) in the Russian service, more than sixty years old, ind of a very ill-favored phvsioOTomy. So far as I may judge (and my opportunities, I must confess, were slight), the Poles are gradually acquiescing in the rule of Russia. The course pursued by the present Emperor has already given him much popularity among them, and the plan of the regeneration of Poland is inde- (initely postponed. Those with whom T conversed admit, if reluctantly, in some instances, that Alexander II. baa made many changes for the better. "The best thing he has done for us," said an intelligent Pole, '-is the abolition of espionage. Warsaw is now full of former spies, whose business is at an end ; and it must be confessed that they 314 TRAVELS IN TOLAND AND KUSSl^ are no longer necessary." The feeling of nationality sur. vives, however, long after a nation is dead and buried. The Jews in Poland call themselves Jews, and the Pol3S in llussia will call themselves Poles, centuries hence. A GLANCE AT WARSAW. 311 but also dark-eyed beauties, with faces of a full Southern oval, li])s round and delicate as those of an Amorette, and a pure golden transparency of complexion. The connoi*/- ?>V- seur of woman's beauty can nowhere better compare these 2 K^ two rival styles, nor have so great a difficulty in deciding 'i^-*^ between them. We made our way back to the city in a blinding cloud ol dust, between a double row of clamorous beggars. They were Avonderfully picturesque creatures, where some repul- sive deformity was not exijosed. There were the hoary heads of saints, which seemed to have come direct from Itahan canvas, sun-burnt boys from Murillo, and skinny hags drawn by the hand of Michael Angelo. Over the noiseless bed of dust rushed the country carts, filled with peasants drunk enough to be jolly, the funny little horsea going in a frohcsome, irregular gallop, as if they too had taken a drop too much. Now and then some overladen pedestrian, beating a zigzag course against the gale, would fall and disappear in a cloud, like a bursting shell. I saw but one specimen of the picturesque Polish costume — a ser- vant-girl in red j^etticoat and boots, and the trim jacket which we all know in the Cracovienne. The poorer women, generally, were shabby and slovenly imitations of the rich. Wandering along the streets, with throats full of dust, we were attracted to the sign of '•'• Piwo £avarsJci" (Bavarian beer). Entering a court littered with the refuse of the kitchen, we discovered a sort of German restaurant, of suspicious cleanliness. The proprietor who served ua with an insipid beverage — a slander on the admirable brew- as;© of Munich — soon learned that wc were strjuigers. 512 TRAVKLS IX POLAND AND UUSSIA. *' But how tlitl yon hai)j)en to find my place ?'' he asked. " All the other beer-saloons in the city are dirty, low places : mine is the only noble establi.shnient." lie -was very desi- rous of importing a negi-o girl from America, for a liar- maid. "I should have all the nobility of the city here," ■aid ho. "She would be a great ciu-iosity. There is that Avoman Pastrana, with the hair all over her face — she has made a great fortune, they say. There arc not many of the kind, and F could not aflbnl it, but if I could get one quite black, with a woully head, I should make more money in a day than T now do in a month." lie wished to engage uw to send him such an attraction, but I respectfully declined At this place we fell in with a Polish j)ianist, a vlVtuoso /4-i)l\-ing our wants. This vocabulary, however, Uke most of those in guide-books, teaches you just what you don't want to say. It gives you the Russian for a "floating preserve for fish," and "I am a nobleman," &c., and omits such vulgar necessities as a basin and towel, and even the verb "to have." Fortunately, the people at the station-houses are tolerably quick of comprehension We were always served with very little delay, and with dishes of which no reasonable traveller could ccmplain The piiccs varied greatly, being treble at some station? SI 8 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. whal they were at others. Whether this was a sliduig scale of honesty or of actual value, I was uuable to aaeertain All day we rolled along, over the rich plains of Poland, stopping at the large country towns of Siudlce, Miedzyrzic, Biala, and others whose names the reader has probably never heard and never could pronounce. The country may bo described in a few words — woods of pine and birch, fields of rye, rape-seed and turnips, broad, swampy pastures, and scattering one-story villages, with thatched roofs and white-washed walls. Sunburnt peasants in the fields, dressed in round black felt caps, dirt-colored shirts, and wide trowsers : Jews in the villages, disgusting to behold, with shocking bad hats of the stove-pipe breed, greasy love-locks hanging from their temples, and shabby black caftans reacliing to their heels. These people justify the former middle age superstition that the Jew is distinguished from the Christian by a peculiar bodily odor. You can Bceut them quite as far as yuu can see them. Moses would have hewn them limb from limb, for their foulness. The worst of it is, they hover round the post-stations and pounce upon a stranger, in the hope of making something out of him, be it ever so little. I was surprised to find that they all speak a little German, but afterwards learned that they do more or less of smuggling, in the Baltic pr> ^nces. " They are such a timid and cowardly race," said ny infoiTuant, "and yet, when detected in the act of smug gling, they will sometimes fight desperately, rather than lose what they have." ^Many of them carry on a trade in segars, done up in sealed packages, which you are exj»ectefl to buy without opening. CHAPTER XXVIII. A J O U R K E Y T FI R O U G n C K .V T R A I, RUSSIA. There is a diliprcnce tliroc or four times a week between Warsaw and Moscow. The trip — a distance of eiglit hun- dred Engli.«h miles — is made in five days by the fast coach, which leaves the former place every 3Ionday evening, and in six days by the others. The fare is fifty silver rubles ($37^) for an outside, and seventy ($52^) for an inside seat. On account of the intense heat, we took outside places, but as there happened to be no other through pa.s- sengers we were allowed the range of the entire vehicle. It was a strongly built, substantial affair, reseiubling a French diligence, but smaller and more comfortable in every way. A traveller who had made this journey recom- mended us to take a supply of provisions, asserting that it was impossible to procure anything on the way ; but as a Russian official contradicted this statement, we took his word, and had no reason to regret it afterwards. In fact, I have never made a joarney by diligence with more ease and less fatifjue. SI 6 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. At seven o'clock on Monday evening, we took our places ocside the Russian conductor, who, in his coat braided with gold, resembled an officer of cavalry, and started on our long voyage through unknown regions. The postilion H«nin(^ed a charge on his trumpet as we rattled through the streets of Warsaw, past the stately Zamck, and down the long hill upon which the city is jjroudly lifted, to the Vis- tnla. A bridge of boats crosses to the suburb of Praga, whence all traces of the blood sjiilt by Suwarrow, Skryz^ iiecki, and Diebitsch have long since been washed away. It is now a very (piiet, dull sort of a place, with no vestiges of its former defences. Beyond it stretches that vast plain of Central Europe and Asia, whose limits are the British Channel and the Chinese "Wall, Tn traversing it, I was continually reminded of Humboldt's descrii)tion of the Kirghiz Steppes — "Ten miles give you the picture of a thousand." Straight before us, cutting the belted tracts of pine-forest and grain lan AND RUSSIA. the building is seen in the minutest details, and where there is an accidental resemblance iu form, it is balanced by a difference in color. ^his is the Cathedral of St. Basil, built dunng the reign ^^ 7 CHAPTER XXXL A VISIT TO THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. Ii was a pleasant change to me to turn my eyes, dazzled by the splendors of the Kremlin, upon an edifice which has neither gold nor jewels to show, but which illustrates the patriai'chal, or rather paternal^ character of the Russian Government, on the grandest scale. This is the Vospita^ telnoi Do-in, or Foundling Hospital — but the title conveys no idea of the extent and completeness of this imperial charity. There are similar institutions in Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, and other cities, on a much more contracted scale. Our New York asylum for children, on Randall's Island, though a most beneficent establishment, is still more limited m its oj^erations than the latter. In Russia the Foundling Hospital is characterized by some peculiar and very inter sting features, which deserve to be generally known, aa they are intimately connected with one of those tender moral questions our civilization is afraid to handle. In every general view of Moscow, the eye is struck by an immense quadrangular building, or collection of build A "sasjr TO Tim foinhlixg hospital, 34i« mgs, on the northern bank of the Moskva, directly east of the Kremlin. The white front towers high over all the neighboring part of the city, and quite eclipses, in its im- posing api^earance, every palace, church, military barrack, or other public building whatever. It cannot be much lesg than a thousand feet in length, and, at a venture, I should estimate its size at three times that of the Capitol at Wash- ington. Tlie Governorship of this institution is only second in importance to that of the city itself, and is always con- ferred upon a nobleman of distinguished rank and attain- ments. The importance of the j^ost may be estimated when I state that the annual expenses of the hospital amount to $5,000,000. A portion of the Government revenues are set aside for this purpose, in addition tc which successive Tzars, as well as private individuals, have richly endowed it. The entire property devoted to the support, maintenance, and education of foundlings in Rus- sia, is said to amount to the enormous sum of five hundred millions of dollars. This stupendous institution was founded by Catharine II., immediately after her accession to the throne in 1762. Eight years afterwards, she established a branch at St. Petersburg, which has now outgrown the parent concern, and is conducted on a still more magnificent scale. The original design appears to have been to furnish an asylum for illegitimate children and destitute orphans. A lying-in hospital was connected with it, so that nothing might be left undone to suppress crime and misery in a humane and charitable way. The plan, however, was soon enlarged so as to embrace all children who might be offered, without ooO TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. question or stipulation, tlie parents, naturally, givnig np their offspring to the service of the Government which jiad reared them. Russia offers herself as midwife, wet-nurse, mother, and teacher, to every new soul for whom there is no place among the homes of her people, and nobly and conscientiously does she discharge her self-imposed duty. Slie not only takes no hfe (capital punishment, I believe, does not exist), but she saves thousands annually. She, therefore, autocracy as she is, practically carries into effect one of the first articles of the ultra-socialistic code. Through Col. Claxton's kindness, I obtained permission to visit the FoundUng Hospital. We were received by the Superintendent, a lively intelligent gentleman, with half a dozen orders at his button-hole. Before conducting us through the building, he stated that we would see it to less advantage than usual, all the children being in the country for the summer, with the exception of those which had been received during the last few weeks. There is a large village about thirty versts from Moscow, whose inhabitants devote themselves entirely to the bringing ujd of these foundlings. We first entered a wing of the building, appropriated to the orphan children of officers. There were then one thousand two hundred in the mstitution, but all of them, with the exception of the sucklings, were enjoying their summer holidays in the country. It was the hour for their mid-day nap, and in the large, airy halls lay a hundred and fifty babes, each in its little white cot, covered with curtains of fine gauze. Only one whimpered a little ; all the others slept quietly. The apartments were in the highest possible state of neatness, and the nurses, A VISIT TO THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 361 who stood silently, with hands folded on their breasts, bowing as we passed, were also remarkably neat in person. These children enjoy some privileges over the foundlings and poorer orphans. The boys are taught some practical science or profession, and not unfrequently receive places as officers in the army. The girls receive an excellent edu- cation, mcluding music and modern languages, and become teachers or governesses. As the larger children were all absent, I could form no idea of the manner of their instruc- tion, except from an inspection of the school and class rooms, the appearance of which gave a good report. The Superintendents and Teachers are particularly required to watch the signs of any decided talent ui the children, and, whei-e such appears to develop it in the proper direction. Thus, excellent musicians, actors, painters, engineers, and mechanics of various kinds, have been produced, and the poor and nameless children of Russia have risen to wealth and distinction. On our way to the Hospital proper, we passed through the Church, which is as cheerful and beautiful a place of devo- tion as I had seen since leaving the Parthenon. The walls are of scagUola, peach-blossom color, brightened, but not overloaded with golden ornaments. The dome, well painted in fresco, rests on pillars of the same material, and the tall altar screen, though gilded, is not glaring, nor are the Saints abnormal creatures, whose like is not to be found in Heaven or Earth. The prestol, or inmost shrine, stands under a dome, whose umer side contains a choral circle of lovely blonde-haired angels, floating in a blue, starry sky All parts of the vast building are most substantially and 852 TRAVELfS IN POLAN^D AND RUSSIA. carefully constrnctetl. The walls are of brick or stone, the floors of marble or glazed tiles in the corridors, and the stair-cases of iron. The courts inclose garden-plots, radiant with llowers. The arrangements for heating and ventih-v tion are admirable. With sncli care, one would think that a n;iturally healthy child would be as sure to live as a sound Gf^fi: to be hatched in the Egyptian ovens. "We passed through ball after hall, tilled with rows of little white cots, beside each of which stood a nurse, either watching her sleeping charge, or gently rocking it in her arms. Twelve hundred nurses and twelve hundred babies 1 This is homoculture on a large scale. Not all the plants would thrive ; son\e helpless httle ones would perhaps that day give up the unequal struggle, and, before men and women are produced fVora the crop there sown, the num- ber will be diminished by one-third. The condition in which they arrive, often brought from a long distance, in rough weather, accounts for the mortality. When we con- sider, however, that the deaths, both in Moscow and St. Petersburg, annually exceed the births, it is evident that the Government takes better care of its children than do the parents themselves. Of the babies we saw, seven had been brought in on the day of our visit, up to the time of our arrival, and fourteen the |>revious day. The nurses were stout, healthy, ugly women, varying from twenty to forty years of age. They all wore the national costume— a dress bordered with scarlet, white apron, and a large, fan-shaped head-dress of white and red. In every hall there w;ts a lady-like, intelligent overseeress. In spite of the multitude of balnes, there was very little noise, and tbf A VISIT TO THE FOUNDLING UOSPITAL. 353 most nervous old bachelor might have gone the roun i with- out once having his teeth set on ed.ge. The superintendent tlien conducted us to the oflSce ol agency, on the lower story, where the children are received The number of clerks and desks, and the library of records i^Iiowed the extent of the business done. I looked over a report of the operations of the institution, from its founda- tion to the present time. The number of children confided to its care has increased from a few hundred in 1762 tc 14,000 ui 1857. Since the commencement of the year (Jan. 13, 0. S) 6,032 had arrived. The entire number received in ninety-six years is 330,000, to which may be added 60,000 more, born in the lying-in hospital during the same period — making 390,000 in all. The Petersburg branch affords still larger returns, so that at present 30,000 chil dren are annually given into the care of the Government. A very large proportion of them are the offspring of poor married people, in all parts of the country. As the children may afterward be reclaimed, on certain conditions, and are in any case assured of as fortunate a lot, at least, as would have been theirs at home, the parents are the more easily led to take advantage of this charity. The child is taken without question, and therefore no reliable statistics of the public morality can be obtained from this source. The office is kept open night and day, and no living child A-hich is offered can be refused. The only question asked IS, whether it has been baptized. If not, the ceremony ia immediately performed in an adjoining room, by a i)riest connected with the institution, one of the oldest nurses, generally, acting as godmother. Its name and number arf 854 TRAVELS IX POL.VXn AM) UISSIA. then entered in the oflicial book, a cartl containing there and tlie date of its arrivtil is attached to its ucck, and another given to the mother, so that it may atlerwards be identified and reclaimed. Very frecjnt-nlly, the mother is allowed to become its nurse, iu which c:use she ivceives j>ay like the other nurses. After six weeks or two months in the institution, it is sent into the country, where it remains until old enough to receive instruction, Tlie regular nurses are paid at the rate of about |50 a year, in addition to their board and lodging. If the parents pay a sum equal to $25 on the deposition of the infant, they are entitled to have it brought up exclusively within the walls of the institution, where it is more carefully attended to than elsewhere. The payment of $200 procures for it, if a boy, the rank of an otlicer. The parents are allowed to see their children at stated times, and many of them take advantage of this j)er- mission. The greater part, however, live in the provinces, and virtually give up their children to the State; though it 13 always possible by consulting the Hospital directory, to find where the latter are, and to recover them. Ill the lying-in hospital, all women are received who apply. They are allowed to enter one month before their confinement, and to remain afterwards until their health is entirely restored. Those who wish to be unknown are concealed by a curtain which falls across the middle of th bed, so that their faces are never seen. Besides this, no one is allowed to enter the hospital except the persona actually employed within it. The late Einj)eior, even, resijecled its privacy, and at ouce gave up his desire tc enter, on the lepresontations of the Governor. Tlio arnuige A VISIT TO THE FOUXDLIXG HOSPITAL. 355 ments are said to be so excellent that not only poor mar rieJ women, but many w lio are quite above the necessity of such a charity, take advantage of it. In this case, also, the number of children brought forth is no evidence as to I be proi)ortion of illegitimate births. It is not obligatory tipon the mother to leave her child in the hospital; she may take it witli her if she chooses, but it will of course be received, if offereendencies, twenty-eight acres of ground. Upwards of five hundred teachers are employed many of them on very high salaries. The number of nurses, servants, and other persons employed in the esta- blishment, amounts to upward of five thousand. The boyi 35 d TRAVELS IN POLAND AND BUSSIA.. and gills, both there and in Moscow, are taught separately The cost of their education, alone, is more than $1,000,00(1 annually. In a word, Russia spends on her orphans and castaways as much as the entire revenues of Sweden, Nor- way, and Greece. Let us not be so dazzled, however, by the .splendid libc rality of this charity, as to lose sight of the moral question which it involves. No other nation has yet instituted such a system ; few other governments would dare do it at pre- Bent. What effect has it had on public morals? It haa existed for nearly a century, and whatever influence it may exercise, either for good or evil, must now be manifest. One fact is certain — that the luunlter of children delivered into its keei»ing, has steadily increased from year to year ; but this, as I have already shown, is no uidicalion what- ever. The growth of its resources, the pt'ifection of its arrangements, and the liberal education which it bestows sufficiently explain this increase. In the absence of reliable moral statistics, we are obliged, simi)Iy, to draw a parallel between the condition of the Russians, in this resi)ect, at present, and the accounts given of them in the last century. Judging from these data, I do not hesitate to declare that the effect of the system has not been detrimental to the general morality of the Russian people. On the contraiy they have improved with the improvement in their condi tion and the gradual advance of civilization. When I compare the chronicles of Richard Chancellor, and of Sir John Chardm, two and a half centuries ago, \\'ith what J Bee new, I can scarcely realize that they are the same people A VISIT TO THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 35) " But," cries a Pharisee, " this Hospital affords an easy and secret relief to the sinner. By saving her from public shame, it encourages her ia private vice! It leraoves the righteous penalty placed upon incontinence, and thereby gradually demoralizes society !" I do not deny that tha relief here afforded may increase the number of individuals who need it, but I assort, in all earnestness, that the moral tore of "Society" would not be lowered thereby, seeing that, where one licentious act may be encouraged, one awful Clime is certauily prevented. In JRussia, iyifanti- cides and abortions are almost unkjiown. In America, one need but look at what is discovered. God only knows how many additional cases of the crime most abhorent to human nature are perpetrated in secret. And yet, if some benevo- lent millionare should projjose to build such a foundling hospital in New- York, pulpit and press would riddle him with the red-hot shot of holy indignation. Oh, no ! Let the subject alone — your fingers, of course, are white, and were not meant to handle pitch. No matter what crunes are eating their way mto the moral heart of Society, so long as all is fair on the outside. Let the unwedded mother finding no pity or relief for hor, and no place in the worlc" for her unlawful offsprhig, murder it before it is born ! This is better than to stretch out a helping hand to her and 80 prevent the crime. Ten to one, the act is never found out ; appearances are preserved, and our sanctified prudery is unruffled. It is a great mistake to suppose that the moral tone of Society can only be preserved by making desperate outcasti of all who sin. So long as we preserve a genuine domestic 358 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. life — SO long as we have vii'tuous homes, liberal education and religious influences — we need not fear that a Christian charity like that which I have described will touch our purity. It will only cleanse us from the stain of the black est of crimes. The number of illegitimate births would bfl ncreased by the diraniution in the number of abortions "Who will dare to say that the reverse is preferable ? We boast, and with some justice, of the superior morality of )ur population, as compared with that of the nations of Europe ; but we should know that in none of the latter ig infanticide (both before and after birth) so common as with us. We should remember that a morality which is uncha- ritable, cruel, and Pharisaic, inevitably breeds a secret immorality. The Spartan holiness of the New England pilgrims was followed by a shocking prevalence of unnatural vice, which diminished in proportion as their iron discipline was relaxed. At any rate, we can never err by helping those who are in trouble, even though that trouble have come through vice. I have never heard that the Magdalen Societies have increased the number of prostitutes, and I do not believe that a foundling hospital would encourage seduction or adultery. To change one word in the immortal lines ol Bums: " What's done, we partly may compute^ But know not what's prevented," CHAPTER XXXII. MOSCOW, IN-DOORS AND OUT. Were I a painter of the Dutch or Flemish school, I could bring you mauy a characteristic sketch of Moscow life. Here, especially, such subjects require form and color, and their accompanying "still life," and are therefore only to be made intelligible by the pen after the pencil has gone before. But there are few, if any, (jenre pictures in Russia. The most distinguished artist the*t6uhtry Kas yet produced — Bniloff — painted goddesses, n^-mphs, saints, and the De- struction of Pompeii. The streets of Moscow are full of subjects, many of which are peculiarly interesting, as they illustrate features of Russian life which must soon change or disappear. The istvostchiks, with their squat black hats, splendid beards, and blue caftans ; the double- waisted pea- sant women at the street shrines; the bare-headed serf, bowing and crossing himself, "with his eyes lixed on a dis- tant church ; the shabby merchants in the second-hand markets, with their tables of heterogeneous wares ; the vaulted avenues of the Gostinnoi Dvor, and the curious 360 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. stalls in the Kitai Gorod ; the vegetable markets, the sellcra of qvass, the wood-boatmen on the Moskva and the Tartars at their mosque, all furnish studies to the stranger, whethei he l>d painter or author. It would require a long residence^ to exhaust the interest of the city, in this respect. To one who has seen the bazaars of Constantinople, the Gostinnoi Dvor presents no new features. It is low, arched above and paved under foot, and each avenue or part of an avenue is devoted to a particular kind of merchandise. The inside is a perfect labyrinth, and no little time is neces- sary in order to learn the geographical arrangement of the shops. K you want nails you may wander through the various departments devoted to luien, woollen, silk, and cotton goods, jewels, wax candles, tar, and turpentine, be- fore you get to iron. Buttons are in one direction and tape in another ; sugar behind you, and spoons far ahead. As you walk down the dimly-lighted passages, you are hailed with invitations to buy, on all sides ; the merchants hang with expectation on the turning of your head, and receive with ecstacy the accidental glance of your eye. This desire to have you for a customer does not prevent them from ask- ing much more than they expect to receive, and if you iiave the least inclination to buy, no one is so stony-heailed as to let you go away empty-handed. The shops of the jewelers are interesting, from the variety of precious stones, chiefly from the mountains of Sibeiia, which are to be found in them. The jewels most fashionable in Moscow at present are diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and turquoises. Opals also bring a large price, but stones of secondary order, such as topaz, garnet, amO' MOSCOW, IN-DOOKS AXD OUT. 361 thyst, onyx, and aqua-marine, are plentiful and cheap Siberia produces superb emeralds, and the finest amethysts, aqua-marines, and topazes I ever saw. The Siberian dia mond, wliich is found in abundance in the Ural Mountains, appears to be neither more nor less than a white topaz. A necklace of seventy-five of these stones, the size of a cherry, costs a little less than $20. I noticed a few fine sapphires, bui suspect that they found their Avay thither from India, through Persia. One jeweler showed me a jacinth, a '•ather rare stone with a splendid scarlet fire, for which he aemanded fifty rubles. There were also some glorious opals, darting their lambent rays of pink, green, blue and pearl-white, but their value was equal to their beauty. Malachite and lapiz-lazuli, so common in Russian palaces and churches, are dear, and good specimens are not easy to be had. In this bazaar you are struck by the smooth, sallow faces of the money-changers, and a certain mixture of weakness and cunning in their expression. You are there- fore not surprised when you learn that they are all eunuchs. I endeavored, but in vain, to discover the cause of this singular fact. The money-changers, so say the people, have for centuries past constituted a peculiar class, or guild. They are very rich, naturally clannish on accoimt of their mutilation, and accept no new member into their body who has not undergone a hke preparation. As voluntary con 7erl» to such a sect must be very scarce, they would in time become extinct if they did not purchase, at a heavy cost, the sous of poor parents, who are qualified at an age when they can neither understand nor resist their fata 362 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND KUSSLA. The Government has prohibited this practice tmdei ver_y severe penalties, and the vile brotherhood will probably soon cease to exist. The Riadi, an open bazaar in the Kitai Gorod, deserves to be next visited. It is less ostentatious in its character, but exhibits even a greater diversity of shops and warea, and is thronged from sunrise until sunset with purchasers and traders. Here you find everything which the common Russian requires for his domestic life, his religion, his birth, marriage, and death. For a few copeks you may drink a ladle of qvass^ eat a basin of the national shtshee (cabbage soup) or hotvinia (an iced soup full of raw cucumbers and various other indigestibles), and finish with a glass of tbo fiery vodki. The latter, however, generally comes first, aa in Sweden. Wax candles of all sizes are here displayed, and the collection of patron saints is truly astonishing. Brown Virgins predominate, but St. Nicholas, in a scarlet mantle, and St. George slaying the Dragon, are also great favorites. As in Russia no house is built and no room occu- pied, without the presence of a saint, the trade m the Byzantine Lares and Penates is very great. No Russian, of whatever rank, enters a house, however humble, Avnthout uncovering his head. It is an act of religion rather than of courtesy. The fondness of the common people for pictures is re^ markable. To say nothing of the sauits and illustrations of Biblical history which you meet with on all sides, there are shops and booths filled entirely with caricatures or alle« gorical subjects. The most favorite of these seems to be the pimishment of avarice. Rich old sinners, with puffy MOSCOW, rST-DOOES AND OUT. 363 cheeks and fat round bellies, grasping a bag of specie in each hand, are seized by devils, pricked with pitchforks, or torn limb from limb. Another picture illustrates tlie two ways — one broad and easy, the other winding md difficult , one terminating in flames and devils, and the other at the fi;et of a dark-brown Virgin. Crinoline, even, is satirized in some of the caricatures. Others, again, are more than broad in their fun, and, if there are ladies in your com- pany, you would do best not to look at them. The draw- ing m these pictures is of the rudest and wretchedest Idnd ; but there is always a printed explanation at the foot of the sheet, so that you cannot fail to know what ia meant. At the Second-Hand Markets, of which there are several, one finds the oddest collection of old articles, fi-om Eng- lish novels to Arabic seal-rings, from French hats to Chinese shoes, from ancient crucifixes to damaged modern crinolines. The world's refuse seems to have been swept together here. It would be difficut to name any article which you could not find. I wandered for an hour through one of these markets, near the Soukhoreif Tower, and the only things which I could think of and did not see, were a coal-scuttle and an oyster-knife. However, I made but a partial survey, and do not doubt but that both the articles were there somewhere. One of the stupidest and greasiest of the merchants had a second-hand mineralogical collection for sale. A boy ^\ho could not read oflered me some German theological books, of the most orthodox character. Look- ing up from my inspection of them, I saw around me grass, soap, wagon -gear, garlic, sofas, crockery, guitars, crucifixea, 364 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND EUSSIA. oil cloth, and clieese! Singularly enough, the buyeis repre* sented all classes of society, from serfs up to officers in ftill luiiform and ladies of the widest periphery, i^^ ji,^^4^ -^S- 'V Let us escape from this variegated and somewhat bewil- CI dered crowd, and seek a little fresh air further fi-om the busy heart of the city. A friend proposes a ride to Asian kina and Petroffskoi. which lie a short distance outside the barrier, en the northern side. We have but to crj '"'' davai V'' (here!) and a dozen istvostchiks answer to the call. They are very jolly fellows, and theu' hats — like the old bell-crown of thirty years ago, razeed — give them a smart and jaunty air, in sj^ite of the blue cloth caftan, which reaches to their heels. They have all ruddy faces, stumpy noses, bluish-gray eyes, and beards of exactly the same cut and color, whatever their build and physiognomy. The old national droshky, which most of them drive, is a hybrid between the Norwegian cariole and the Irish jaunt- ing car — a light, low, jolting thing, but cheap and suffi- ciently convenient. If there is one passenger he sits astride ; if two, side- wise. The istvostchik sits also astride, in front, and it is not the most agreeable feature of hi? nature, that he always eats garlic. His feet rest on tho frame of the vehicle, close to the horse's heels, from which, or from the mud, he is not protected by any dashboard. 1 inferred from this fact that the Russian horses are im- asually well-behaved, and am told that it is really the case It is a very unusual thing for one of them to kick while ir harness. There are no such hack-horses in the world. Without an exception they are handsome, well-conditioned gpiiited animals. The istvostchik differs from all otbei MOSCOW, IN-D00K8 AND OUT, 366 fiackmen, iu the circumstance tliat it is iiupossi jle for him to drive slowly. If you are not in a hurry, he always is. As there is no establislied tax, the fare must be agreed upon beforehand, but it does not usually amount to more than twelve cents a mile. A handsome open caUche^ with two orses, can be had for three dollars a day.^ There'is more or less Ukraine blood in the common Moscow horses. The fields around the city are principally devoted to the cultivation of vegetables. Companies of women, singing in shrill chorus, were hoeing and weeding among them, as we drove over the rolling swell towards Astankina. This is a summer palace and park belonging to Count Che* remetieff. The grounds are laid out in the style of Ver- sailles, and kept in excellent order. One is astonished at the richness and luxui'iance of the foliage, and the great variety of trees Avhich are found in this severe climate. The poplar, the linden, the locust, the elm, the ash, and the horse-chesnut thrive very well, with a little care and protec- tion. Around the garden, with its clipped hedges, flower- beds and statues, stretches for many a verst a forest of tall firs, which breaks the violence of the winter winds. Here was the scene of one of those gigantic pieces of flattery, by which the courtiers of Catharine 11. sought to win or keej) her favor. During a visit of that Empress to Astan- kina, she remarked to the proprietor : " Were it not for the forest, you would be able to see Moscow." The latter im* mediatety set some thousands of serfs to work, and :.n a tew days afterwards prevailed upon the Empress to pay him another visit. "Your Majesty," he said, "regretted that the foretst should ehut out my view of Moscow. It 866 TRAVELS IS POLAin) AND RUSSIA. shall do so no longer." He thereupon waved his hand, and there was a movement among the trees. They rocked backward and forward a moment, tottered, and fell crashing together, breaking a Avide avenue through the forest, at the end of which glitteroi in the distance the golden domes of the city. Petroffskoi is a a glaring, fantastic palace, on the St. Petersburg road, about two miles from Moscow. It was built by the Empress Elizabeth, and its architecture seems to have been borrowed from that of the Kremlin. Here Napoleon took up his quarters, after being roasted out of the latter place. Hence also started the coronation proces- sion of Alexander H., probably one of the grandest pa- geants ever witnessed in Europe. The park, which is traversed by handsome carriage-roads, is at all times open to the public, and on a clear summer evening, when whole families of the middle class come hither, bringing their samovars, and drinking their tumblers of tea flavored with lemonpeel, in the shade of the birch and linden groves, the spectacle is exceedingly animated and cheerful. There is also in this park a summer theatre, in which French vau- devilles are given. Moscow, however, can boast of jiossessing a spot for sum- mer recreation, the like of which is not to be found in Paris. The Hermitage, the principal resort of the fashion- able world, is a remarkably picturesque garden, with a theatre and concert hall in the open air. It lies upon the side of a hill, at the foot of which is a little lake, embow- ered in trees. Beyond the water rise massive zigzag walls, the fortifications of a Tartar city, whose peaked roofs climb MOSCOW, IN-DOORS AND OUT. 86? an opposite hill, and stretch far away into the distance, tha farthest towers melting into the aii*. And yet the whole thing is a scenic illusion. Three canvas frames, not a hun- dred yards from your eye, contain the whole of it. Thou- sands of crimson lamps illuminate the embowered walks, and on the top of the hill is a spacious auditorium, inclosed by lamp-lit arches. On a stage at one end are assembled a company of Russian gipsies, whose songs are as popular here as the Etliiopian melodies are ^viih us. The gipsies are born singers, and among the young girls who sing to- night there are two or three voices which would create an excitement even on the boards of the Italian Opera. The prima donn^ is a superb contralto, whom the Russians con- fider second only to Alboni. She is a girl of twenty-two, wiih magnificent hair of raven blackness, and flashing black eyes. There are from twenty-five to thirty singers, in all, of whom two-thirds are females. A portion, only, appear to be of pure gipsy blood, with the small deep-set eyes and the tawny skin of Egypt. Others are bright blond, mth blue eyes, betraying at once their parentage and the immo- rality of the tribe. The leader, a tall, slender, swarthy man with a silver belt around his waist, and a guitar in his hand, takes his station in front of the women, who are seated in a row across the stage, and strikes up a wild, barbaric melody, to which the whole troop sing in chorus. It is music of a perfectly original character, with an undertone of sadness, such as one remarks in the songs of all rude na- tions, yet with recurring melodies which delight the ear, and with a complete harmony in the arrangement of the 368 TEAVELS IN POLAND AXD RUSSIA. parts. Afterwards the swarthy soprano sings the favorite " Troika'''' (three-horse team), ghding through the singulai breaks and undulations of the melody with a careless ease, to Avhich the exquisite purity of her voice gives the highest charm. In the course of the ev^ening there was a dance, which resembled in many respects jhat of the Arab gba,- wazees, although not quite so suggestive. My time was so much occupied by the many sights which I have been endeavoring to paint for the reader, that I saw but little of Moscow society. Besides, my visit happened at an imfavorable time, so many famihes being absent in the country or on their travels. The breaking down of the obstacles which the late Emperor threw in the way of Rus- sians leaving their country, immediately poured a flood of Russian travel upon the rest of Europe. Of the persons to whom I had letters of introduction — among them the dis- tinguished author, Pawlow — not one was at home. Tln-ough the kindness of Col. Claxton, however, I made some very pleasant acquaintances, and had a glimpse, at least, of Rus- sian society. ^ ^, At a soiree one evening I Avas very agreeably impressed with the maimers of the ladies. French is still the language of society, even with the Russians themselves, and a know ledge of it is quite indispensable to the stranger. English md German are occasionally spoken, and with that ease and purity of accent for wliich the Russians are distin- guished. I was glad to find that those whom I met, ladies as well as gentlemen, were thoroughly familiar with theii own authors. A number of names, which I hsd never heard of before, were mentioned with enthusiasm. There MOSCOW, IN-DOOES AND OOT 369 are several literary papers in Moscow, with a circulation of from twelve to fourteen thousand copies each. Among the editors and literary men of Moscow I found some very intelligent gentlemen. I was agreeably surprised at the freedom with which the political condition of'the country, and the reforms in progress, are discussed. The prevailing sentiment was that of entire satisfaction — a satis- faction best expressed by the earnestness and brevity of the exclamation : " If it will only last ! " With regard to the emancipation of the serfs, I was told that public opinion is decidedly in favor of it, including a large majority of the proprietors. The fact that the serfs themselves, imder the knowledge of the great change which awaits them, are so quiet and patient, is considered a promising sign. The most difficult question connected with the reform is that of attaching the latter, for a time at least, to the domains. They have the Nomadic blood of the Tartars, and the attempt is being made to achieve by self-interest what has been hitherto done by force. But the nobles will not give their land for nothing, and the serfs will not pay for what they now have gratis. A compromise is therefore j)ro- posed, by which the serfs receive their houses, and will bo allowed to purchase a certain portion of land on easy terms, if they choose. In Russia old tilings are now passing away, and a new order of things is coming into existence. Many curioua characteristics and customs which bear the stam]:) of five centuries, are beginning to disappear, and this change is at last making itself felt even in Moscow — the very focus of Russian nationality. When the Locomotive once enters a 370 TEAVKLS EN POLAND AND RUSSIA city the ghosts of the Past take flight for ever. TlioM sound hig highways of international communication are more potent than any ukase of Peter the Great to "wean the people from their cherished superstitions. Moscow may thus, gradually, lose its power of reproducing the past conditions of the Russian people, but it will ahvaytj faithfully reflect their character. It will always remain the illuminated title-page to the history of the empire. Other capitals may, in the course of time, be built on the shores of the Caspian or the banks of the Amoor, but they wUl never take away from Moscow its peculiar distinction of representing and illustrating the history, the growth, the religion, the many-sided indi^dduality of Kusdft. CHAP TEE XXXIII. BAILBOADS IN BUSSIA. On leaving Moscow for St. Petersburg we were obliged tc take out fresh passports, giving up those which we had obtained in Warsaw. As one is required to appear person- ally, this formality is a little troublesome, but we were sub- jected to no questioning, and the documents were ready at the time promised. After paying the fees, we were about to leave, when the official whispered ; " You have forgotten my tea-money." The readiness with which he changed a note, while the subordinates looked the other way, proved to me that this system of gratuities (to use a mild term) is not only general, but permitted by the higher authorities. Many of the civil officers have salaries ranging from six to ten rubles a month — barely enough to clothe them — so that without this " tea-money," the machinery of government would move very slowly. I also went to the office of the Censor, to inquirs con- cerning the fate of the books taken from me on the Polish frontier. Here I was very politely received, and was in 372 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA. formed that the books had not arrived. The Cei sor Bcerned a little embarrassed, and I half suspected that the books might be on the prohibited list. Kohl's work, I was informed, belongs to this class, although I saw, in the shop- windows, books which I should ha^'e supposed were much more objectionable than his. It is permitted to all literary and scientific men, however, to import freely whatever works they choose. The list of foreign newspapers admitted into Russia has recently been much enlarged, but they also pass through the Censor's hands, and one frequently sees jaaragraphs or whole columns either covered with a coating of black paste, or so nicely erased that no sign of printer's ink is left. During our stay in Moscow we lodged at the Hotel d€ Dresde^ Mdiich I can conscientiously recommend to future travellers. It is a large, low building on the Government square, at the corner of the Tverskaia Oulitza, and conve- nient to the Kremlin. The only discomfort, which it shares hi common with the other hotels, is, that the servants are all Russian. We obtained a large, pleasant room for two rubles a-day, and a dinner, cooked in the most admirable style, for a ruble each. Other charges were in the same proportion ; so that the daily expense was about $3. As there is no table cVhote, the meals being served in one's own I'oom, this is rather below Xew York prices. A German author, who resided two years in Moscow, gave me $1,000 %s a fair estimate of the annual expense of living for a bacheloT'. House-rent and the ordinary necessaries of lifa are cheap ; but luxuries of all kinds, clothing, etc., are very dear. RAILROADS IJf RUSSIA. 378 On tl)e northern side of the city, just outside the low earthen barrier, stands the great Raih'oad Station. The principal train for St. Petersburg leaves daily at noon, and reaches its destination the next morning at eight — 600 \'ersts, or 400 English miles, in twenty hours. The farep are respectively 19, 13 and 9 rubles, for the first, second and third class. The station building is on the most im- posing scale, and all the operations of the road are con- ducted with the utmost precision and regularity, although perhaps a little slower than in other countries. The first class can-iages are divided into compartments, and luxuri* ously cushioned, as in England ; the second-class are ar- ranged exactly on the American plan (in fact, I believe they are built in America), except that the seats are not so closely crowded together. The entrance is at the end, over a platform on which the brakeman stands, as with us. As the day of our departure happened to be Monday, w^hich is considered so unlucky a day among the Russians that they never travel when they can avoid it, there was just a com- fortable nimibor of passengers. We bade adieu to our obliging friend. Col. Claxton, whose kindness had contri- buted so much to the interest of our visit, and, as the dial marked noon, steamed oiF for St. Petersburg. Straight as sunbeams, the four parallel lines of rail shoot •iway to the north-west, and vanish far off in a sharp point on the horizon. "Woods, hills, swamps, ravines, rivers, may intersect the road, but it swerves not a hair from the direct course, except where such deflection is necessary to keep the general level between Moscow and the Volga. After passing the Valdai Hills, about half-way to St. Petersburg, 374 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND BUSSIA the coarse is almost as straight as if drawn with a ruler foi the remaining two hundred miles. The Russians say this road is only to be looked upon as an article of luxury, Tlie Emperor Nicholas consulted his own convenience and the facility of conveying troops rather than the convenience of the country aud the development of its resources. By insisting upon the shortest possible distance between the two cities, he carried the road for hundreds of versts through swamps where an artificial foundation of piles was neces- sary; while, by bending its course a little to the south, nearer the line of the highway, not only would these swamps have been avoided, but the cities of Novgorod, Valdai, and Torshok, with the settled and cultivated regions around them, would have shared in the advantages and atlded to the profits of the road. In its construction and accessories, one can truly say that this is the finest railway in the world. Its only drawback is an occasional roughness, the cause of which, I suspect, lies in the cars rather than the road itself There are thirty-three stations between Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the most of these, the station-houses are palaces, all built exactly alike, and on a scale of magnificence which scorns expense. A great deal of needless luxury has been wasted upon them. Tlie bridges, also, are models of solidity and durability. Everything is on the grandest scale, and the punctuality and exactness of the running ar- rangements are worthy of all praise. But at what a cost has all this been accomplished ! This road, 400 miles m length, over a level country, with very few cuts, embank* ments, and bridges, except between Moscow and Tvei RAILEOADS IN RUSSIA. 8Y5 (about one-fourth of the distance), has been built at an expense of 120,000,000 of rubles ($90,000,000) or |225,000 per mile. When one takes into consideration the cheap- ness of labor in Russia, the sum becomes still more enor- mous. The work was not only conducted by American engineers but Mr. Wiuans, the chief-engineer, is at present carrying on the running business under a contract with the Govern- ment. His principal assistants are also Americans. This contract, which was originally for ten years, has yet three years to run, at the end of which time Mr. Winans will be able to live upon Avhat he has earned. His annual jDrofii upon the contract is said to be one million rubles. Some idea of its Uberal character may be obtained from the fact that his allowance for grease alone is three silver copeks a verst for each wheel — about 3^ cents a mile ; or, with an ordinary train, some S700 for the run from Moscow to St. Petersburg. His own part of the contract is faithfully and admirably discharged, and he is of course fairly entitled to all he can make. It is not to be wondered at, however* that the receipts of the road in 1857 exceeded the expendi- tures by a fevf thousand rubles only. The fact is, even yet, the road does not appear to be con ducted with a view to profit. The way traffic and travel which railroad companies elsewhere make it a point to en- courage, is here entirely neglected. There are none but through trains, and but a single passenger train daily. Besides tliis, no freight is taken at the way stations, unless there should happen to be a little room to spare, after the through freight is cared for. Tver, through which tne road 376 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND KUSSIA. passes, is at the head of navigation on the Volga, and. after Nijni Novgorod, the chief centre of trade with the regions watered by that mighty river, as far as the Caspian Sea ; yet, I am informed, there is no special provision made for affording the facilities of communication which the place so much needs. Russia, however, is soon to be covered with a general system^ of railroad communication, which, when completed, must exercise a vast influence on her productive and com- mercial activity. A road from Moscow to Nijni Novgorod on the Volga, where the grand annual fair is held, has been commenced, and will probably be finished in from three to five years. The distance is about 250 miles, and the esti- mated expense $50,000 per mile. The road from St. Peters- burg to Warsaw — a httle over 700 miles in length — has bpen in progress for some years past, and will be finished, it is said, by the close of the year 1860. In September, 1858, it was opened as far as Pskov (German "Pleskow"), at the head of Lake Peipus, and ^v^ill probably reach Dwina- burg, whence a branch road to Riga is now building, in the course of 1859. Near Kovno it will be intersected by another branch from Konigsburg, via Tilsit and Gumbin neu, whereby there will be a direct communication between St. Petersburg and Berlin. The other projected roads, the building of which haa been contracted for by a French company, but not yet com menced, are from Libau, on the Baltic, easterly through Witepsk and Smolensk to the large manufacturing town of Tula, 112 miles south of Moscow ; and another from the latter city to Charkoff, hi the Ukraine, with branches to EAILKOADS IN RUSSIA. 877 Odesaa and the Crimea. The former of these will be nearly 700 miles in length, and the latter at least 1,000. The clieapest plan for the Russian Government to build rail- roads, would undoubtedly be, to permit the formation of private companies for that purpose. In Middle and South ern Russia, the cost of construction would certainly be no greater than in Illinois, where, if I remember rightly, the roads are built for half the amount of the lowest estimate I heard given in Moscow. The effect of those improvements upon tne mtcrnal condition of Russia can hardly be over- valued. They are in fact but the commencement of a still grander system of communication, which, little by little, will thrust its iron feelers into Asia, and grapple with the inertia of four thousand years. To return to our joiu-ney. The halts at the way stationa yere rather long — five, ten, fifteen minutes, and at Tver, where we arrived at five o'clock, half an hour for dinner. In vhis respect, as in every other, the arrangements were most convenient and complete. We had a good meal at a reasonable price, and were allowed a rational time to eat it. At every one of the other stations there was a neat booth provided with beer, qvass, soda water, lemonade, cigars, and pastry. Most of the passengers got out and smoked their cigarettes at these places, as the practice is not allowed inside the cars. There is a second-class carriage especially for smokers, but one is obliged to take out a license to smoke there, for which he pays ten rubles. The Russians are nearly all smokers, but the custom is very strictly pro nibited in the streets of cities, and even in the smaU cou» try villages. 878 TRAVELS IN POLAND AND RUSSLA. The couutiy, slightly undulating in the neighborhood of Moscow, becomes level as you approach the Volga. The monotony of which I have spoken in a previous chapter, ig its prevailing characteristic. Great stretches of swamp oi of pasture-ground, fields of rye and barley, and forests of fii and birch, succeed one another, in unvarying sameness. Now and then you have a wide sweep of horizon — a green sea, streaked with rosy foam-drifts of flowers — a luxuriant summer-tangle of copse and woodland, or a white village church, with green domes, rising over a silvery lake of rye; and these pictures, beautiful in themselves, do not become less so by repetition. The Volga is certamly the most inter- esting object in the whole course of the journey. Tver, a city of 20,000 inhabitants, on its right bank, is conspicuous from the number of its spires and domes. Along the bank lie scores of flat-bottomed barges, rafts, and vessels of light di'aft. The river here is scarcely so large as the Hudson at Albany, flowing in a sandy bed, with frequent shallows. But, like the Danube at Uhn, it is not the smallness of thd stream which occupies your thoughts. You follow the waters, in imagination, to the old towns of Yaroslav and Nijni Novgorod, to the Tartar Kazan and the ruins of Bul- gar, through the steppes of the Cossacks and Kirghizes, to the Caspian Sea and the foot of ancient Caucasus. The sky was heavily overcast, so that, in spite of oxu high latitude, the night was dark. I therefore did not see the Valdai hills, which we passed towards midnight — the only real hills in Russia proper, west of the Ural Mountauis. It was among these hills that Alexander I, intrenched him- self, to await Napoleon. When the morning tAvilight came, KAILEOADS IN RUSSIA. 379 we were in the midst of the swampy region, careering straight forward, on and on, over the boxmdless level. The only object of note was the large and rapid river Volchoff, flowng from the Hmen Lake at Novgorod northward into Lake Ladoga. The road crosses it by a magnificent Ameri can bridge. Some fifty or sixty versts before reaching St. Petersburg, we passed through a large estate belonging to the rich Russian, Kokoreif, who has lately been distinguishing him- self by the jiromment part he has taken in all measures tending to the improvement of his country — the emancipa- tion of tlie serfs, tlie steamboat companies of the Dnieper and Dniester, the formation of a moneyed association for encouraging manufactures,