divisions, and the ends fastened to a red silken string, which, with a tassel, is pendant to their heels, and frequently laden with pieces of silver coin, of various sizes, diminishing gradually to the bottom. Among these the antiquarian may often discover medals of value. They are seen carrying water on their backs, in earthen jars, with handles; washing by the fountains, or assembled by the Ilissus after rain, with the female slaves of the Mahometans and other servants; treading their linen, or beating it with a piece of heavy wood, spreading it on the ground or bushes to dry, and conveying it to and fro in panniers or wicker-baskets on an ass. Their legs and feet are generally bare; and their heads hooded, as it were, with a long towel, which encircles the neck, one extremity hanging down before and the other behind. The girls wear a red skull-cap platted with peraus or Turkish pennies of silver perforated, and ranged like the scales of fish.

gyne

The Greek will sometimes admit a traveller into his cæum, or the apartment of his women. These within doors, are as it were uncased, and each a contrast of the figure she made when abroad. There the girl, like Thetis, treading on a soft carpet, has her white and delicate feet naked; the nails tinged with red. Her trowsers, which in winter are of red cloth, and in summer of fine calico or thin gause, descend from the hip to the ancle, hanging loosely about her limbs; the lower portion embroidered with flowers, and appearing beneath the shift, which has the sleeves wide and open, and the seams and edges curiously adorned with needle-work. Her vest is of silk, exactly fitted to the form of the bosom, and the shape of the body, which it rather covers than conceals, and is shorter than the shift. The sleeves button occasionally to the hand, and are lined with red or yellow satin.

A rich zone encompasses her waist, and is fastened before by clasps of silver gilded, or of gold set with precious stones. Over the vest is a robe, in summer lined with ermine, and in cold weather with fur. The head-dress is a skull-cap, red or green, with pearls; a stay under the chin, and a yellow forehead-cloth. She has bracelets of gold on her wrists; and, like Aurora, is rosy-fingered, the tips being stained. Her necklace is a string of zechins, a species of gold coin, or of the pieces called Byzantines. At her cheeks is a lock of hair made to curl toward the face; and down her back falls a profusion of tresses, spreading over her shoulders. Much time is consumed in combing and braiding the hair after bathing, and, at the greater festivals, in enriching and powdering it with small bits of silver gilded, resembling a violin in shape, and woven in at regular distances. She is painted blue round the eyes; and the insides of the sockets, with the edges on which the lashes grow, are tinged with black. The Turkish ladies wear nearly the same attire, and use similar arts to heighten their natural beauty.

For colouring the lashes and socket of the eye, they throw incense or gum of Labdanum on some coals of fire, intercept the smoke, which ascends with a plate, and collect the soot. This I saw applied. A girl, sitting cross-legged as usual, on a sofa, and closing one of her eyes, took the two lashes between the fore-finger and thumb of her left hand, pulled them forward and then thrusting in, at the external corner, a bodkin, which had been immersed in the soot, and extracting it again, the particles before adhering to it, remained within, and were presently ranged round the organ; serving as a foil to its lustre; besides contributing, as they say, to its health, and increasing its apparent magnitude.

The improvement of the mind and morals is not considered as a momentous part of female education at Athens. The girls are taught to dance, to play on the Turkish guitar, and the tympanum or timbrel, and to embroider, an art in which they generally excel. A woman skilled in reading and writing is spoken of as a prodigy of capacity and learning. The mother of Osman Aga, a Turk who frequented our house, was of this rare number, and, as he often told us, so terrible for her knowledge, that even Achmet Aga her kinsman had been seen to tremble, when he received her annual visit. In common life the woman waits on her husband, and, after dressing the provisions, which he purchased, eats perhaps with a female slave; the stately lord feeding alone, or in company with men.

CHAP. XXVII.

Of the territory of Athens-The olive-groves-Bees-Provisions-Birds-Hare-calling-Wild beasts-The horned owl -A water-spout-Ancient prognostics of the weather-Sting of a scorpion.

THE territory of Athens was anciently well peopled. The demi or boroughs were in number one hundred and seventy four; scattered, except some constituting the city, about the country. Frequent traces of them are found; and several still exist, but mostly reduced to very inconsiderable villages. Many wells also occur on Lycabettus, at the Piræus, in the plain, and all over Attica. Some are seen in the vineyards and gardens nearly in their pristine state; a

circular rim of marble, about a yard high, standing on a square pavement; adorned, not inelegantly, with wreathed flutings on the outside; or plain, with mouldings at the top and bottom; the inner surface deep-worn by the friction of ropes. The bucket is a kettle, a jar, or the skin of a goat or kid distended; close by is commonly a trough or hollow stone, into which they pour water for the cattle. The city was supplied with corn from Sicily and Africa; and the regard of the emperors and kings, its patrons, was displayed in largesses of wheat and barley to be distributed, generally in the Odéum. At present, Attica is thinly inhabited, and probably produces grain sufficient for the natives; but the edicts prohibiting exportation are continually eluded, and public distress bordering on famine ensues almost yearly.

The olive-groves are now, as anciently, a principal source of the riches of Athens. The wood of these trees, watered by the Cephissus, about three miles from the city, has been computed at least six miles long. The mills, for pressing and grinding the olives, are in the town. The oil is deposited in large earthen jars, sunk in the ground in the areas before the houses. The crops had failed for five years successively when we arrived. The cause assigned was a northerly wind called greco tramontano, which destroyed the flower. The fruit is set in about a fortnight, when the apprehension from this unpropitious quarter ceases. The bloom in the following year was unhurt, and we had the pleasure of leaving the Athenians happy in the prospect of a plentiful harvest. By a law of Solon no tree could be planted less than five feet, nor an olive or fig-tree less than nine feet from one of another proprietor.

The honey, as well as the oil of Attica, was anciently in

high repute. Many encomiums are extant on that of Hymettus, in particular, and it deserves them all. Flies are remarked to buzz about it, without settling, which has been attributed to the odour it derived from thyme. The race of bees was said to have been originally produced in Hymettus, and to have swarmed from thence in numerous colonies to people other regions. The mountain furnishes a succession of aromatic plants, herbs and flowers, peculiarly adapted to maintain them, both in summer and winter. The hives are set on the ground in rows inclosed within a low wall. Their form and management, and the method of taking the comb without destroying the insects, has been described.* By a law of Solon, no person was allowed to place a stand within three hundred yards of one, before established.

Provisions of all kinds are good and cheap at Athens. The frequent and severe fasts, imposed by the Greek church, have an influence on the market. The Christians are often confined to vegetables, or to things without blood; such as snails, which they gather from the shrubs, the cutle-fish, or the seapolypus. The latter called by the Greeks octopodes, from the number of its feet, is beaten to make it tender; and, when boiled, is white, like the tail of a lobster, but has not much flavour. Hares, game, and fowl, may be purchased for little more than the value of the powder and shot. Oranges, lemons, and citrons grow in the gardens. The grapes and melons are excellent, and the figs were celebrated of old. The wines are wholesome; but the pitch, infused to preserve them, communicates a taste, to which strangers are not presently reconciled.

* Wheler, 411.