the Morea. The basha of Negropont would have interfered, but the Athenians claim immunity from his jurisdiction. The officers, whom he commissioned to inquire into the abuse, could scarcely procure a lodging on their arrival, and they soon left the town. Achmet Aga refused them admittance at his house, from a dislike of their errand; and the Greeks pleaded a barát or charter exempting them from such burdens. Some Turks at another time had required Isofime, who was epitropos, or curator, to provide for them a conae or place of refreshment, but he would not comply; and on their threatening to pistol him, or to cut off his head with their sabres, had bared his breast and extended his neck, declaring, the privilege should not be lost by want of courage in him to preserve it. The jealousy of the Athenians frustrated the purpose of the basha, but their murmuring did not cease. The oppression and extortion of the vaiwode were complained of as unprecedented.

Lombardi fomented the public discord, working in private, like a mole underground. His zeal in persecuting the archbishop gave him influence with his enemies and with the vaiwode. He spirited up a mob to shout, Barrabbas, Barrabbas, on his coming from a church, in which the clergy had been assembled; and he used every method, which the most diabolical malice could suggest, to blacken his character. He laboured also to accomplish the ruin of other persons, at whom he had taken offence. One of these was a native of Corfu, a practitioner in physic, countenanced by Mr. Keyrac ; whose agent, a Frenchman, urged the vaiwode to do him no injury, and at last obtained a promise, which was ratified by his putting his hand on the head of his son, and saying, So may Ismael live.

CHAP. XXX.

Journey to Mount Hymettus-An ancient well-Vestiges of Alopece-Arrive at some bee-stands-Alarmed in the nightTurkish rigour-A well-The shaft of a mine-Dinner-At Dragonisi--A speckled owl-The monastery of St. Cyriani.

WHILE we resided at the French convent, we were informed of certain subterraneous wonders, said to exist in the bowels of Mount Hymettus. The report of an eye-witness, though of a nature not to be entirely credited, seemed to merit some attention. Our servants provided ropes, wax-tapers, and other necessaries; and we set out on the fifth of October, after the heat of noon, accompanied by Lombardi. We had also some dogs and falcons belonging to the vaiwode.

We crossed the Ilissus, and passed by the site of the Lycéum. After a short ride with the greater Hymettus on our left, the road winding toward the sea, we came near a village, called Dragonisi, consisting of a ruined tower and a very few houses, on a small eminence in the plain. We alighted beneath a shady tree by an ancient well, shaped like a parallelogram, and divided in the middle by five transverse marble beams, one above another. Here a leather bucket was procured, a fire kindled, and coffee made.

Going on, we soon came to a spot over-run with bushes, among which are several wells mostly choked with soil and rubbish. Many of the demi or ancient boroughs were unimportant places, and from their want of character, can never be ascertained. Some too of more consequence are almost equally unknown, the information concerning them not being

sufficiently explicit. This is one of the few to which a name may be assigned. On the side of Athens next the Heracléum and Cynosarges was Alopece, the place to which Socrates belonged. A farm at Alopece is on record as only eleven or twelve stadia, about a mile and a half, from the city-wall.

We now turned to the left, and entered the gap between the greater and lesser Hymettus. Here, on our springing a partridge, the falconer unhooded and let his hawk fly, but the bird, instead of pursuing his quarry, soared high up in the air, making toward Athens; the Greek his keeper looking at, and running after him, until he sunk again, and was recovered. We penetrated into the recess of the mountain, and about sun-set halted by some bee-stands, and supped on the provisions we had brought from Athens.

Night approaching, we lay down to sleep among the thickets, each on a small carpet, and wrapped in a pellice or garment lined with skins; the whole company forming a circle round our horses and other animals, which were fastened to the bushes. About midnight we were disturbed by a sudden kicking and confusion among the horses, which was followed with a cry of lycos, lycos-a wolf, a wolf. In an instant all were up, with guns ready to fire, but the moon shining, the occasion of our alarm was presently discovered to be an ass, which, from love of society, hope of food, or some other motive, had been induced to intrude on us, and now retired precipitately, braying.

At the dawn of day we ascended an acclivity of the mountain, the track rough and narrow, and on the margin of a water-course; leaving our baggage behind us, heaped in a thicket. We were told it was secure amid these uninhabited

Y

solitudes, though unguarded; for, such is the rigour of the Turkish polity, if a pilferer be not detected, the vaiwode, on complaint, levies far more than the value of what is lost, on the district; rejoicing in the opportunity of uniting his private gain with public justice, and the satisfaction of the party defrauded.

We were now brought by the Greek, our guide, to a circular well sunk in the rock many fathom deep, the mouth above forty feet wide. This was the place to be examined. A stout piece of wood was cut, and fixed so as to project over the brim. The Greek then got astride a stick tied to a rope, by which he held; another rope was fastened about his body; and he was let gently down to the bottom. Our Swiss was lowered next in like manner, and both disappeared; two narrow passages in the well leading, in opposite directions, under the mountain. The Swiss fired a pistol, but the report did not reach us. On their return, they conveyed up to us, by a rope, some specimens of the concretions formed on the roof and sides, as usual in caverns. The shape, which a portion of this substance had chanced to assume, proved the occasion of our journey. The Greek had received from it a lively idea of a human figure, and, filled with admiration, had represented it as the image of a caloyer, or monk, with a venerable beard, and of a striking aspect. We re-hoisted our two adventurers, and, mounting our horses, went back to our baggage by the way we came.

The mountains on this side of Athens were once noted for silver. The mines were private property, and were worked for the benefit of individuals, to the time of Themistocles. By his advice, the republic took possession of them, and applied the profits to the building of triremes to be employed in

the war with Ægina. Demetrius the Phalerean said, that the Athenians laboured on them as eagerly, as if they hoped to dig up Plutus himself, the god of riches. The produce, which at first was plentiful, failing, they re-melted the old scúm and dross, and found ore, which, from want of skill, had not been extracted. The well, to which we were conducted, was probably a shaft. The honey of Attica esteemed most exquisite was taken near the mines.

On our arrival at the thicket, where our baggage lay, a couple of Greeks climbed the mountain to search for wild honey; and our servants began to prepare dinner, striking fire, and hewing down bushes with their sabres. The fold of Mustapha Bey, a friendly Turk of Athens, supplied us with a sheep fed on the fragrant herbage of Hymettus. They embowelled the carcase, and fixed it whole and warm on a wooden spit; which was turned by one of them sitting on the ground. They cut in pieces the heart, liver, and the like, and mingled them on a skewer, to be dressed on the coals. Some boughs of green mastic served us at once for table-cloth and dish. We fell to with knives or fingers, for the latter are principally used; and a Greek, kneeling by us, circulated wine, pouring it into a shell. Our men feasted in their turn, and made merry, until the heat of noon overpowered them.

After sleeping, some in a shallow water-course beneath the scanty shade under which we had dined, and some among the thickets at a distance, we mounted and returned back to Dragonisi, where a hospitable Albanian received us, sweeping the ground, and spreading a mat for us, before the door of his house. We supped on fowls, cheese, salted olives, eggs, and such articles as could be procured. The evening was con