of the rocks, and the hermits who inhabit these inaccessible places have renounced all earthly wealth; they, however, possess considerable revenues, and pay a rent to their landlord as well as a tribute to the patriarch. At the bottom of these five rocks Stagous occupies a territory fertile in cotton, mulberries, and corn: the inhabitants manufacture the silk and send it to the depôts at Larissa. The town has a bishop, who is a suffragan of the archbishop of the capital. The river Cachia, flowing through the country and uniting with the Peneus, seems to be the Ion of the ancients.

Leaving Etolia, and proceeding along the southern coast of the Corinthian Gulf, we arrive at the bay of Salone, formerly Crissa, which experiences a regular tide, of which there is little appearance in the whole of the gulf besides. The fine plains of Phocis, watered by the Cephisus, are at first concealed by mountains and rocks; the country, however, extends between the bay and the mountains; and the scenes where the festivals of Delphos were celebrated open to the view. At the entrance of the bay, where Fanthus once stood, is now situated the town of Galaxidi, inhabited by a race of men, almost barbarians, devoted to a sea-faring life, despising every thing that has the appearance of convenience and comfort, living on vegetables and fish, and in miserably built houses: their town is situated on a naked and barren rock. It is thought, that the fear of the cupidity of the Turks has induced these habits of wretchedness, though they possess about fifty buildings. Passing the port Janiki, and the mouth of the Hyleus, which flows from the plain of Malandrino, we come to the road of Salone, and the mouth of the ancient Plistus, now called Crissa, as well as the town situated on its banks; the ancient town, together with Cirrha, its port, exists no longer. Crissa contains about 1200 or 1500 inhabitants, and is the see of a bishop. Salone, occupying the site of Amphissns, is more considerable: it has about 6000 inhabitants, of whom more than 2000 are Turks. There are in this place some remains of the sepulchres of the ancient Amphissians.

Ascending the Plistus, and crossing the plain of Crissa, we soon reach Delphos; here the ancient hippodrome has disappeared, as well as all that once rendered this place so famous in Greece, and made it, as it were, the seat of government for the priesthood. The port of Crissa formerly experienced the sanguinary vengeance of these priests, for having molested the pilgrims in their way to the shrine: the town was razed, and the inhabitants exterminated. The curse of Apollo is, however, now forgotten, and the plain is overshadowed with olives and mulberry-trees. On approaching Delphos are seen some ancient cryptæ cut in the rock; under the arches we perceive sarcophagi, attached to the sides of these caves, with their coverings removed and for the most part broken: over every two sarcophagi an arch is formed, as is customary in Egypt, in Persia, and even in Italy. Some of the foundations of the walls of Delphos are still visible, and even the remains of an entrance composed of small stones cemented

together; large blocks of stone are dispersed here and there in the neighbourhood, probably intended for the repair of the works. The ancient city stood in a little circular and deep valley, surrounded by the rocks of Parnassus, with its triple peak, and those of mount Cirphis, and almost entirely separated from the rest of Phocis. The place is so small, that it is difficult to conceive how a city of any considerable size could be built there: very few fragments of marble have been discovered; and yet we cannot suppose that much of it is buried in the ground, since there is a very shallow bed of soil to cover the rock in this narrow valley. Some broken pieces of earthenware are also found covered with a fine black and red varnish. The splendid temple, elevated by its situation over the other edifices, enriched by the offerings of nations and kings, embellished with the masterpieces of sculpture, and constructed with the greatest magnificence; that temple, so protected by public veneration, where different nations deposited their treasures, where the blood of victims incessantly flowed, and where the oracle of the Pythoness frequently decided the fate of empires; all has disappeared, with the exception of a small part, which has escaped the attention of most travellers, and which Mr. Smart Hughes alone seems to have penetrated. It is a kind of cell, or cave, dark and dirty, where it is difficult to breathe; on the north wall, formed of large pieces of cut stone, a great many inscriptions are seen; it was with the greatest trouble that the English traveller deciphered the best preserved of these inscriptions, containing the act of cession made to the temple; thus leaving no doubt of the ancient destination of this monument.

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The Castalian fountain is almost the only thing which remains unchanged at Delphos ; it rises, as formerly, at the foot of the peaks of Parnassus; the water, clear and pleasant to drink, falls from a rock, covered with an overhanging yew-tree, into a basin shaded by a fig-tree, and descending by a ravine of the valley to join the Plistus. Spon, after drinking of the fountain, was so inspired that he composed two Greek quatrains on the spot; and Chandler experienced something of the same sensation; but it appears that the charm no longer operates on poets by profession. At Castri,' (the present name of Delphos) says lord Byron, drank of the water of a dozen rivulets, some of which were none of the clearest, before we could decide, to our satisfaction, which was the true Castalia; and this even had a detestable taste, proceeding, I suppose, from the fallen snow.' Near the spring some traces have been discovered of the bath of the Pythoness; the descent is by a few steps. The Delphian girls, still very handsome, are seen at the present day drawing water from this fountain, which is now only applied to the most common uses. Castri has not more than 100 houses, and those, for the most part, miserable cabins with only one room each; the best have only a first floor for the residence of the family, while the ground-floor is divided, as is customary throughout Greece, into a stable and a cellar. Poor, and peaceably disposed, the Castriots seldom stray from their

valley, and are rarely visited by foreigners; the Turks, even, forget them. They are Arnaouts by their origin; they mostly speak Greek and Albanian; and, notwithstanding their poverty, know how to read and write. Silk and oil are their principal productions; but they cultivate some grain also upon the ancient terraces, constructed for a very different purpose.

Upon a declivity of mount Parnassus is a little convent, the monks of which, subsisting by the culture of their fields and by alms, have always some bread and cheese, olives and wine, and a chamber without furniture, to offer to travellers. In their convent are seen some fragments of antiquity, such as metopes, altars, and inscriptions. Not far distant lie some great blocks of stone, which probably have been cut from Parnassus at a very early period; some think that they are the same as those which, according to Herodotus and Diodorus, crushed the army of Xerxes. Parnassus, extending as far as Boeotia, is now called Lyakoura; this barbarous name, however, is not quite modern: anciently one of the mountains of this chain was called Lycorea, and one of the most ancient places in the country Lycoreia. At a village in the mountains, bearing the same name, it is said, there are some antiquities; in winter the snow forces the inhabitants to leave it, and betake themselves to the neighbouring villages. Parnassus is a third rate mountain: the snow rests on it only a part of the year; and it is thought that none but subalpine plants grow on it; yet a most extensive prospect is enjoyed from its summits, on the one side beyond Euboea, and on the other across the gulf of Corinth, as far as the mountains of Peloponnesus. The whole of Phocis lies under the feet of the spectator, with the poor villages that occupy the places of the little flourishing republics of the Phocenses. There is only the plain watered by the Cephisus, now Mauronero, between Parnassus and the mountains of Thessaly. Upon a platform of Parnassus is a grotto of 300 feet long by 200 broad, which receives only a feeble light through a narrow and low entrance; stalactites hang from the roof in the form of draperies and chandeliers; the stalagmites, that rise from the ground, assume the most singular forms; and the water, dropping from the top of the grotto, renders the floor very slippery. At the end of this cave there is a passage, which perhaps leads to another. An ancient inscription on the rocks shows that the place was dedicated to the nymphs and the god

Pan.

Proceeding along the gulf of Aspra Spitia, to the east of that of Salone, we arrive at Dystome. The country round it is planted with the Kermes oak, which must have been very ancient; as, according to Greek authors, the town of Ambryssus was formerly engaged in the culti vation of this article. This town must have nearly occupied the site on which Dystome now stands. From Aspra Spitia, formerly the gulf of Anticyra, hellebore is no longer exported, but a pretty brisk trade is carried on in the productions of Livadia. Near a barren coast is situated the monastery of St. Luke Styrites, built in the Gothic style; the church, which attracts many pilgrims, is

partly paved with great flags of ancient green stone. Spon found, in the monastery, 150 monks, and in their cellar vessels twenty feet long. In the library there are only a few manuscripts spoiled by the dust. Near St. Luke stood the port of Balis, where they used to fish for purple shells. On this port also is the little port of Kokosi, and two little islands; Didascalo, receiving its name from an ancient school, now in ruins and the abode of wild pigeons, swallows, and immense bats; and Ambelia, full of rocks, where falcons nest in great numbers. Elatea, the ancient capital of Phocis, is in ruins: and the tomb of Laius, and the temples formerly scattered over it, are now no more. It is still, however, possible to assign the situations of the fortified cities of the Phocenses. Elatea was probably situated at the entrance of the defile, leading from the plain of the Cephisus to Thermopyla, where now the hamlet of Turco-Chorio stands. Ascending the Cephisus, from this place, we find the remains of an ancient fort, perhaps Drymæa. Other ruins, at the entrance of a read leading to Delphos, seem to mark the situation of the ancient Charadra; and the village of Agourea is probably on the site of ancient Lilæa. There are also remains of the foundations of walls and towers in the modern villages of Ladon and Velizza, the latter the Tithorea of the Greeks. Near the village of St. Blaise must be sought the site of Panopeus; the circuit of the city is marked, and the ruins of the citadel are on a steep rock. There is the appearance of an acropolis near the village of Thavlia, the ancient Daulis probably, pleasantly situated on the Parnassus. On this mountain, and at the foot of the chain, there were eight ancient places, not less fortified by art than by their situation, being founded on precipices and heights very difficult of access; walls, flanked with round or square towers, follow the inequalities on the surface of the rocks, on the declivities and at the foot of which are some towns: forts only, without towns, protected the most important defiles of the country.

The half savage district of Ætolia presents itself on passing the mountains of Pindus, which leads from the frontiers of Epirus and Macedonia to Thermopyla, and forms the barrier of the north of Thessaly. TheAchelous and the Evenus, descending from the same chain, bound it on its two sides as far as the sea, into which they empty themselves. Upper Ætolia has always been the resort of robbers, and left uncultivated; but lower Ætolia, with Æolia the maritime district, was more civilised,and contained some flourishing cities, the names and monuments of which have disappeared, and we can now scarcely recognise a single trace of autiquity. Aspropotamos and Fidari are the modern names of the country, and the chain of the Pindus, separating it from Thessaly, is called Agrapha. Foreign people and foreign manners have been imported into this country; and the true descendants of the ancient Greeks are to be found among the poor goatherds, who forsake the soft climate of the plains to take refuge from oppressions among rocks and forests on the Agrapha, buried in snow during a great part of the year. These shepherds have some vivacity, energy, and, above all, the love of liberty, aud

of the soil, which seems to have been a granary: near the middle of the town there are some walls of a beautiful construction, but as there is no marble, no sculpture nor any inscriptions, the name of this place is quite unknown.

On the west of the Evenus or Fidari extends another district, answering to the ancient Etolia Epictetes, called in the Levant the Venetian. It has sixteen miserable villages, and about 1357 Greek and Mahommedan families, and offers nothing remarkable, except the castle of Lepanto, formerly Naupacte, commanding with that of Patras in the Morea, the entrance of the great gulf of Corinth; it occupies the extremity of the cape once called Antirrhium. Taphius is the highest mountain of this depopulated district. In a grotto, not far from Naupacte, the young Greek girls consult the lot about the choice of a husband, as once they addressed their prayers to Venus. The country on the gulf of Crissa, to the east, inhabited formerly by the Locrians, now forms the province of Malandrino, inhabited by about 6000 people, and infested by robbers, who find a refuge in retreats inaccessible to those who pursue them. The village of Malandrion, in a valley watered by the Hyleus, and Galaxidi with its port, are the principal places; the poverty of the latter port sufficiently proves the stagnation of trade on this coast.

The aspect of the country and the manners of the inhabitants of Acarnania have undergone little change since the days of antiquity. It contains, as formerly, only fortified towns, or groups of houses; the little islands and bays are favorable to piracy, as they once were, and the interior still serves for a retreat to bands of robbers, whose ferocity has not diminished since the earliest historical times of Greece: the district of Heromeros, opposite to Ithaca, is a favorite retreat for them. The forests, chiefly consisting of oaks and chestnuts, abound in wild boars and deer; meadows and desert valleys, lakes, rivers and mountains, shaded with pines and cypresses; and the absence of all traces of the plough, and of the haunts of civilised society, remind us of the immense savannahs and heights of South America. A few poor villages widely scattered form the residence of the modern Acarnanians; while some solitary chapels, or monasteries show the religion which they profess. Not one flourishing city has assumed the situation of those of the ancient people, the ruins of which have for the most part disappeared; Metropolis, the ancient capital, and Stratos lying in the east of the country, cannot be discovered with certainty; but the ford of the Achelous is still practicable, except in winter. In the environs of Lepenou, supposed to occupy the site of Stratos, is seen the monastery of Licobiti, the most considerable in Acarnania, containing about twenty monks, and the village of Machala, consisting of seventy houses; not more than ten families form the population of Medenico, on the declivity of mount Vips. Here the ruins of ancient Medeon are visible in several large blocks of stone, near which is the defile of Porta, by which it communicates with the sea; in this pass is situated the little monastery of Saint George. The ancient port of Limnea is in the same state of

ruin; it is now called Loutraki, and has a custom-house and some warehouses, but attracts scarcely any vessels. There is little more activity in the small port of Candili, at a short distance from which are some ruins, probably of the city of Alyseus. So great has been the decline of this district, that of 224,000, which constituted the former population, there are said to be not more than 8000 remaining, including Agrais and du Valtos, and its depopulation is continuing. The little trade that is carried on by the inhabitants, is transacted at Dragomestre, but a part of this town, near the sea has fallen into decay; the remainder is inhabited by about 100 Greek families and some Mahommedans; the only antiquity to be met with is found in the remains of a fort. It is surrounded by deserts, the great forest of Menine, and the monastery of Vedernico.

On the west, towards the gulf of Previsa, are the ruins of a place very celebrated in Grecian history, or rather in that of Rome-the city of Actium. Here the monuments, both of the victors and the vanquished, have sunk into decay, and we can scarcely recognise the foundations of the temple, the theatre, and the site of the naumachiæ. The city of Nicopolis, built by Augustus opposite to Actium, no longer exists, though the principal monuments, and even the houses, are standing, having survived the existence of the Roman people. At some distance from Actium is the lake of Bulgaria, surrounded by thick forests, and the monastery of Pleya, almost as wild as the country. Warm and moist vapors rise from the marshes near the sea, and noxious animals, such as serpents, vipers, and troublesome insects abound. The most considerable place in the west of Acarnania is Vonitza, a town inhabited by 100 Greek families, and the capital of a canton containing 2550 people; it stands in a valley watered by the Kiphalo-Vrysi, and is commanded by a mountain fortified by the Venetians. Dye-stuffs, rice, and maize, are exported from this place to Sainte Maure. There is a convent near, bearing the fine name of Paradisi, whither pilgrims resort to be cured by the Virgin of the fevers with which they are afflicted.

The gulf of Ambracia, now Previsa, strait at the entrance, and incumbered with pieces of rock, will not admit large vessels; it washes the canton of Vonitza, and the whole of Acarnania. A number of creeks and bays indent the shores of this gulf, inhabited by pelicans, cormorants, swans, and other aquatic birds; crabs and shellfish of different kinds, as well as dolphins, mullets, eels, and a variety of other fish, employ the hands, that under the despotism of the Turks do not find security in agriculture. A north-west wind, called Imbat, blows on this gulf from eleven o'clock till sun-set, and during this time the fleets carry their shell-fish and other marine productions to the coast of Acarnania; at the close of the day the sea is calm, and the fishermen apply themselves to their fishing during the night. The island of Sainte Maure or Leucadia, once a part of the continent, and separated in fact only by a narrow strait, is now reckoned among the Ionian Isles, under the protection of England. The neighbouring islets are favorable

for pirates, and the channel itself was much infested previous to the arrival of the English; Leucadia, however, has a fortress which commands part of it, but that can be bombarded from the coast of Acarnania. There are still to be seen the remains of a bridge built over the strait by the Turks. For about twelve leagues round Leucadia presents good pasturage, and fields fertile in corn and fruits, such as oranges, citrons, figs, and almonds; yet the harvests do not furnish much more than half the quantity consumed by about 18,000 people, contained in the capital and about eight or ten villages, the remains of thirty, which once existed. For further particulars of this island, as well as of Ithaca, Cephalonia, &c., see IONIAN ISLES.

Beyond the gulf of Arta, and at the foot of the mountains of Albania, two little republics have not long since displayed the heroic valor of their ancestors, or rather that austere courage and inflexibility of the ancient Spartans, which sometimes bordered on ferocity. Parga and Souli have acquired some celebrity in the records of their country. Ancient Epirus, or Lower Albania, is a mountainous but fertile country, supporting a population of Greek origin, but as warlike and energetic as the other Greeks were mild and peaceable. The situation of their villages is such as to induce them to form themselves into independent tribes, and to carry on a warfare against their neighbours, or any troops that might be disposed to subjugate them. They cultivate the soil no farther than is necessary to afford them a supply of miserable food, but they like to possess large flocks; and, while the life of a shepherd is in other places peaceful, here it is intimately connected with the profession of arms. Privations do not affright them; they delight in danger; if their enemy injures them, they live in the hope of taking signal vengeance; their fiery passions know no moderation, and, if despair seizes them, they are the first to sacrifice every thing that is dear to them. When they lose their liberty, and their native soil, nothing any longer attaches them to life; they are totally unmanned, become incapable of any generous resolution, and brutalise in servitude. We refer here to the Epirots, who practise the Greek worship, and speak the Greek language; the Armaouts, or indigenous Albanians, unite the greater barbarism with the fanaticism of the Mussulmans. From some remains of antiquity it would appear, that the Parginots very early established themselves in this country; but it has been in modern times, that they occupied and fortified the steep rock on which they lately established themselves, perhaps to shelter themselves from the inroads of other Albanians. Their citadel was on the rugged summit of a precipice, beaten by the waves, and commanding a little territory of unequal level, but well watered and covered with corn, groves of cedars and cypress, and plantations of olive and orange trees. Parga, notwithstanding the weakness of its population, amounting only to 5000 souls, made its independence to be respected by the Venetians, though it could not hinder them from putting a garrison into its port, which had become important for the protection of the coast of Epirus.

VOL. X.

It remained for the ferocious Ali to complete its ruin, and the expatriation of its people, as we shall see in the slight sketch of modern Grecian history, which we intend to present to our readers. Souli, which has sustained a more bloody and obstinate struggle against the same oppressor, is composed of several villages situated among the rocks, and surrounded with fields, pasturage, and plantations. A river, which appears to be the Acheron of the ancients, and which falls into the sea near Parga, waters this mountainous territory, a little nearer to the sea than Janina, the capital of Epirus. Its population is greater than that of Parga; it was not able, however, to protect it from the forces of Ali Pacha, who attacked it with 12,000 men; but of this barbarous and unwarrantable outrage we shall hereafter speak.

III. The Peloponnesus has received the modern name of the Morea, according to some, from its plantations of mulberry trees; and to others from the epithet of Oraia, the Beautiful, which was given to it by the ancients. Here, as in Great Greece, a few ruins are the only remains of flourishing kingdoms and republics; and it is surprising even to find these, after the many natural and political revolutions which this peninsula has experienced. Of the 2,000,000 inhabitants once living here in splendor, not more than 300,000 now remain, scattered chiefly in mean villages, and barely subsisting by the produce of their land, their flocks, and other resources which nature has provided for them. Almost the whole of the peninsula is surrounded by mountains of a small elevation, barren on their summits, but fertile at their bases. Mount Pholoe, in Arcadia, and the Taïgetus in the country of the Spartiots, are distinguished in those chains which stretch to the southern extremities. The Alpheus, the Eurotas, and the Pamisus, which issue from the mountains of the interior, flow through the valleys, the fertility of which has been justly celebrated by the ancients.

The

The corn harvest here is abundant. wheat is gathered in the month of June, and yields ten or twelve per cent. A clayey soil, requiring little culture, constitutes the fields destined for the growth of corn; but the defects in their instruments of husbandry necessarily diminish the harvests. The barley of the peninsula is gathered in May, but is not equal to the wheat, which, notwithstanding the bad cultivation, is exported in great quantities; and the Ionian laborers, who come to assist in the harvest of the peninsula, are paid in this commodity, which is scarce in their islands. The bread of the Morea is however bad, on account of their negligence in the grinding and baking.

The soil of the peninsula is not less favorable to the cultivation of vegetables. Instead of those large forests of lemons, oranges, and citrons, which formerly stretched as far as the eye could reach in the environs of the principal towns, we now see only small orchards of them; and the lemons are small, and rather acrid: the peaches, pomegranates, and almonds, also partake of this flavor, as well as other stone fruits, which they have no idea of improving by grafting. The figs have a more agreeable taste, especially in the

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