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chamber without any furniture, the walls white-washed. The customary precautions were explained to us. In the evening our ward was regularly locked; and nobody was permitted to see us, but in the presence of our keeper. The consul and English merchants visited us, and with the former came a physician; my companions and two of our servants being ill of a fever, which was ascribed to the bad air of the Morea. We continued to supply him with patients, until we left the island.

The civility of the prior of the Lazaretto, and of the good fathers of the Latin convent adjoining, with the attention of our countrymen, rendered our confinement very tolerable. When the term was nearly expired, a small gratuity to the chancellor of the Health-Office obtained us a release. We paid our fees, as directed by the consul, and gave money to the guard of soldiers. In the evening we crossed in a boat to the town, where a lodging was provided. A capacious harbour filled, besides other vessels, with large ships and glittering galleys, a flourishing city with steeples and noble edifices, the sound of bells, the dress and manners of Italy, were all articles to which we had been long disused. The transition from misery and desolation was as striking as it had been sudden. We drew a most favourable contrast, and rejoiced on our safe arrival in the happier regions of Christendom.

CHAP. LXXIX.

Of the island of Zante-The city-The Corinth-grape-Currants-Extract from Herodotus-The tar-springs-Remarks Earthquakes-Not able to proceed-Occurrences at Zante -Embark for England.

ZANTE is a small island* belonging to the Venetians, full of villages and people; called by the Greeks Zákynthos. It consists of two or three not very ample valleys, sheltered by high bare mountains, well cultivated, and rich in their produce, as well as pleasant to the eye; the soil suiting the vine and the olive, orange, lemon and citron trees. Its wines and oil are deservedly extolled. Its melons and peaches are of uncommon size and exquisite flavour. It has been styled, not hyperbolically, The Golden Island. But room is wanting, and a considerable portion of the profits arising from currants, the staple commodity, is refunded for corn and cattle. They import live stock daily from the Morea; and in tempestuous weather a temporary famine not rarely ensues. The governor is appointed by the republic, and is subject to the superior jurisdiction of a general, who resides alternately at the places under his command. We were introduced to this officer, who was then in the city, by the consul. The inhabitants are chiefly Greeks, but wear the Italian dress, and are

* In circuit more than one hundred and sixty stadia, or twenty miles, and sixty stadia, or seven miles and a half from Cephallenia. Strabo.-In circuit thirty-six miles. Pliny.

much latinized in their religious tenets and ceremonies. They are divided by internal feuds, and are exceedingly addicted to revenge, perpetrating assassinations even in their churches. The Morea serves them, as it were, for a sanctuary, and abounds in fugitives for murder and misdemeanors.

The city of Zante extends along the shore, and is adorned with several handsome structures. The Roman Catholics have their churches, nunneries, and convents, with various orders of friars; and the Greeks, whom we had seen humble and depressed, here rivalled the splendid pomp of their worship. High above the town is a steep round hill, crowned with a castle; the ancient citadel called Psophis. The The governor now lives below; but the summit is inhabited, and some religious houses stand on it. The reflection of the sun renders the town extremely hot in summer, but the inflamed air is then usually tempered in the day time by the sea-breeze. The harbour is open to the north-east. One side is formed by a lofty promontory, on which is the church and miraculous picture of the glorious Madonna di Scuppo, from whose power and efficacious intercession many signal benefits, as they affirm, have been derived on the people. At the opposite extremity, by the sea-side, is a copious fountain of excellent water, supposed to come from the Morea, the stream bringing leaves of trees and plants not growing in the island. The maidens are carefully concealed as in Turkey. I saw a woman in a house, with the door open, bewailing her little son, whose dead body lay by her, dressed, the hair powdered, the face painted and bedecked with leaf gold.

The Corinth-grape, for which the island is now noted, was the produce chiefly of the country near the Isthmus, when it began to be particularly esteemed. We were presented

with bunches newly ripened, while in the Lazaretto, and afterwards eat of them daily with much pleasure. It is a small species, the clusters large, the colour black, or a deep purple. The stocks, as usual, are planted in rows, and the leaf is bigger than the common vine. As a good season for the harvest is of great consequence to the people, they generally implore the intercession of their saints; solemnly visiting their churches, the priests and magistrates and persons of rank, both Italians and Greeks, walking in procession, in pairs, with lighted tapers in their hands. If these disappoint them, and the emergency require it, the glorious and miraculous picture of the Madonna di Scoppo is exposed, and fails not to influence the weather to their wishes.

The grapes intended to be preserved as currants are spread, when gathered, in beds on the ground. When dried by the sun and air, they are transported to the city on horses and mules, guarded by armed peasants; and poured down a hole into magazines, where they cake together. When the price is fixed and the duties are paid, the fruit is dug out with iron crows, and stamped into casks, by men with legs and feet bare. In the ships it sweats, and, as we experienced, often fills the vessel with a stench scarcely tolerable. The English, who have two or three merchants resident there, are the principal consumers. The Dutch partake, and supply the other northern nations. The islanders believe it is purchased to be used in dying, and in general are ignorant of the many dishes, in which currants are an ingredient. Our cook made a pudding, which was equally a subject of wonder and applause in the family where we lived.

The tar-springs of Zante are a natural curiosity deserving notice. "I myself," says the venerable historian and traveller

Herodotus, "have seen tar brought up out of a lake and water in Zacynthus. And indeed the lakes are several, but the biggest is seventy feet wide every way, and twelve deep.. Into this they let down a pole with a myrtle-bough tied to it, and then bring up tar on the myrtle-bough, in smell like to asphaltus, in other respects superior to the tar of Pieria. They then pour it down into a pit dug near the lake; and when enough is collected, in like manner from the pit into earthen vessels. All that falls back into the lake, going underground, appears again in the sea, which is distant about four stadia." The Pierian tar was reckoned the best made. in Greece.

The tar is produced in a small valley, about two hours from the town by the sea, and encompassed with mountains, except toward the bay; in which are a couple of rocky islets. The spring, which is most distinct and apt for inspection, rises on the farther side, near the foot of the hill. The well is circular, and four or five feet in diameter. A shining film, like oil, mixed with scum, swims on the top. - You remove this with a bough, and see the tar at the bottom, three or four feet beneath the surface, working up, it is said, out of a fissure in the rock; the bubbles swelling gradually to the size of a large cannon-ball, when they burst, and the sides leisurely sinking, new ones succeed, increase, and in turn subside. The water is limpid, and runs off with a smart current. After drinking of it, I was much heated. The ground near is quaggy, and will shake beneath the feet, but is cultivated. The grapes, of which we eat, were exquisite. At some distance, opposite, are the other wells, so nearly contiguous, as not easily to be counted, or indeed examined, the spot being marshy. These have less waste water, are deeper, of a stronger taste, a

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