An Excursion in the Peloponnesus in the year 1858. By the late Right Hon. Sir T. W. ... Edited by his niece, W. M. Wyse. With numerous illustrations

Chapter I. Elra

— PHIGALEIA. — BASSÆ. Ascent of the mountain-range dividing Messenia from Arcadia — Valley of the Neda — Site of the Fortress of Eira — Thunderstorm — Village of Kakaletri — Eide through the woods during the storm — Paulitza, the Ancient Phigaleia — Remarkable Gate in the walls — Ride to Bassæ — Dimitri loses all trace of the road — Disregard to rights of the public throughout Greece — Temple of Bassæ — New road in the valley — Arrival at Andritzena 1

Chapter II

BASSÆ CONTINUED. Return to the Temple of Bassæ— Its Architecture and Sculpture 44

Chapter III. Valley Op The Alpheus

Preparations for departure from Andritzena — Description of the Town given by the Demarch — Passage of the Alpheus — Site of Heræa — Fording of the Ladon and Erymanthus — Mount of Corœbus — Khan at Muria VI CONTENTS. PAGF

Chapter IV Olympia

Ride through the Pisatis — Sellus, Xenophon's country seat — Olympia — Successive writers on Olympia — Necessity of a Museum at Athens — Origin and progress of the Olympic Games — Roads leading to Olympia — Temple of Zeus — Its Architecture and Sculpture — Variety of Decoration and Colour used in the Ancient Temples of Greece 81

Chapter V. Olympia Continued

The Altis — Sacred Buildings and Monuments comprised within its extent — Mount Kronion — The Zanes — Stadium and Hippodrome — Quarter external to the Altis and Hippodrome — Its Monuments and Traditions — Remains of Roman brick-building — The Kladeus — Departure from Olympia — Ascent of the range behind Mount Kronion — Bold Scenery and View of Zante — Village of Douka — Grievances of the Doukans 129

Chapter VI. Lala And Psophis

Lala — Battle of Lala during the War of Independence — Khan of Birbisi — Rough mountain road to Tripotamos — Psophis — Greek Piety — Difficulties of Travel in the rude Highlands of Arcadia — Zophanos — Convent of the CONTENTS. VII PAGE Lavra or 'Ayia Aavpa — Revolutionary .Standard raised in 1821, still preserved in the Convent — Arrival at Kalavryta 154

Chapter VII. Kalavryta And Megaspilion

Unhealthy air of Kalavryta — Apparent effects on the inhabitants — Visit to the Schools — History of Kalavryta and Kynætha — Statistics — Ride to Megaspilion — Stern and gloomy grandeur of the scenery — Eeception at the Monastery — Visit to the Church — Celebrated " Sacred Image " — Greek Ecclesiastical painting in general — Tradition of discovery of the "Sacred Image" — Cellar — The Monks' cells — Library — Absence of remarkable MSS. — Conversation with the Monks 181

Chapter VIII. Megaspilion Continued

Greek inattention to Religious Ceremonies — Merry peal of bells on our departure from the Monastery — Comparison between the Greek and Latin Monastic Systems — Present state of the Greek Church — Ride through the Aroanian defiles — Descent to the Ægialos — Arrival at Vostitza 217

Chapter IX. Vostitza Or

ÆGIUM. Ancient Statues at Vostitza— Old Plane-tree— Ægium— Its Monuments and Sacred Edifices — Table d'hote for the CONTENTS. PAGE Argive Gods — Climate of Vostitza — Currant Trade — Epi demic in the Currant Vine — Vexatious Enactments and Administration of the Greek Law — Improvement of the system and consequent increase of the Currant Trade- Statistics of Vostitza ■■ 243

Chapter X. The Achaian Coast And Sicyon

Picturesque ride along the Achaian coast — Destruction of Helike — Earthquakes in this district — Monastery of St. Michael, the "Taxiarch" — Kaki Scala — Akrata — Annihilation of a Turkish corps on this spot in 1823 — Richly cultivated Currant Plain — The Mavra Litharia — Site of Ægeira — Remarkable greeting by a Currant Proprietor — Cape Augo — Ride through currant plantations — Village of Sykia — Furniture of the houses — Sicyon — Its favourable position for peace or war — Remarkable traces of streets — Ancient Theatre — Stadium — Monuments described by Pausanias 270

Chapter XI. Corinth

Magnificent view from Sicyon, near the modern village of Vasilika — Road through the olive-grove — First visit to Corinth in Turkish times — Earthquake in February, 1858 — Ascent of the Acrocorinthus — Malaria on the mountain caused by rank vegetation — Number of wells — Fatal accident to the Purser of H. M.S. Portland— Temple of Aphrodite — Reflections on the History and Resources of CONTENTS. IX pagi: 335 Corinth, suggested by the view from this point— The Diolkos and Ship canal — St. Paul at Corinth— The Peirene Spring — Antiquities of Corinth — Temple of Athena Cha linitis — Ride across the Isthmus to Kalimaki — Return on board the Desperate — Arrival at Athens 312 APPENDICES. I. — Translation of a Note on the Firs of Greece, by Di*. von Heldreich, Professor of Botany at Athens . . . II. — Extract from a Note by the same, on the new Arcadian Fir, Abies Regime Amaliæ 336 III. — Note on the Currant Trade in Greece 338 IV. — Translation of a Note on the Earthquake at Vostitza (Ægium) in 1861, by Dr. Schmidt, Director of the Observatory at Athens 339 " VOL. Page ERRATA IN VOL. II. 48, line 14, for " Mycon" read " Myron." 84, „ 27,for"0Xvread'Oxl. 88, „ 30, for " Winkleman " read " Winkelman." 91, „ 35, for " Deigilaos " read " Dexilaos." 101, „ \S, for avrayovioTutv read avraytoviiTTmOV. 112, ., 10, for " on the apex.

He," read " on the apex he. 119, „ 23, for ETTiyoirvaTO read et.1 yovvaat. 123, „ 8, for ttKpaQ read uKpat. 135, „ 22, for " Keranius" read " Keraunius." 139, „ 8, dele"o{." 141, „ 8, for "Paneygris" read " Panegyris." 164, „ i,for \L6pos read 184, „ 21, for ctE-KttjEi read cuiit-aifa. 238, „ I, for " Agioyate" read " Agoyiate." 246, „ 7, for " in " read " on." 253, „ 17, for " spherolates " read " sphyrelate." 254, ,, 30, for 'EXXiiixrv read 'EXXyi-tot'. 256, „ 16, for 'ima read oca. 258 „ 32, for IXtKiav read i)\tKtai'. 317 „ 26, for " beautiful " read " healthful." LIST OF PLATES. Frontispiece. — Valley of the Neda. From a drawing by Sir Thomas Wyse. 1. Temple of Bassæ, Arcadia. From a drawing by V. Lanza To face page 30 2. Valley of the Alpheus, from the khan near Hereæa. From a drawing by V. Lanza 74 3.

View from the khan of Birbisi, Arcadia. From a drawing by Sir Thomas Wyse 156 4. Psophis, Arcadia. From a drawing by Sir Thomas Wyse 160 5. Church at Psophis, Arcadia. From a drawing by Sir Thomas Wyse 164 6. Valley near Megaspilion. From a drawing by Sir Thomas Wyse 188 7. Convent of Megaspilion. From a drawing by V Lanza 213 8. Abbot of Megaspilion. From a drawing by V. Lanza... 217 9. View of Gulf of Corinth, between Megaspilion and Vostitza. From a drawing by Sir Thomas Wyse ... 235 10. Bridge of Akrata, Gulf of Corinth. From a drawing by V.Lanza 286 11. Sicyon. From a drawing by V. Lanza 305 12. Corinth LIST OF WOODCUTS. Arches at Phigaleia Page 22 Map of Stadium and Hippodrome at Olympia, according to Curtius : 144 Map of the same, by Sir Thomas Wyse 145 New Arcadian Fir. From a photograph IN THE PELOPONNESUS.

Chapter I. Eira

— PHIGALEIA. — BASSÆ. May 18. — Half-past four a.m. found all our party on foot. Whilst the baggage was packing, I strolled about the village and examined its posi tion as to plain and mountain. Bogas is one of the many small hamlets scattered along their skirts, and which complete the resemblance to the inundated plains of Egypt, particularly the Delta. Many of the old names have sunk into oblivion, and those which remain in ancient writers are not easily identified with modern sites ; but it may also be taken for granted that the present are the successors of the old population, induced to the choice of residence by physical, and subse quently by social causes. The inundation was followed by the miasma, and the miasma inter changed with plunder and war. Erom almost all these points — slightly elevated as some of them are — Ithome, the Akropolis of the whole land, may be seen.

It was to the Messenians what the Akrokorinthos was to the Isthmus, and the Parthenon-crowned Akropolis to Athens. On the other side, east, the mountain rampart- VOL. II. B wall comes sheer down upon tlie plain, but with far less imposing grandeur (albeit on the same topographical plan) than the great bulwark of Tay getus. This aspect, as seen at Bogas, though more precipitous than at other points, may stand as a type of the general configuration. The very name derives from its deep gorge — Bogasi signifying ravine in Turkish — which is striking as the coun terpart of the gorge immediately behind Mistra. Starting from Bogas at a quarter after seven, and taking the road to the north, we soon entered the mountain-range which bounds the valley of the Neda — more torrent than river at this part of its course.

As we ascended, the upper plain spread out more widely below us at each step, showing very distinctly the relations of Ithome to the whole of the great Stenyklarian basin, and of that, again, to the Lakonian mountain boundary. The minor divisions, too, the ridge dividing upper from lower Messenia, and that which separates the valleys of the Leukasia and Electra, become very clear. Passing the village of Dimandra at nine, we soon after crossed the topmost point of the pass, and descended by highly-wooded but sharp declivi ties into the ravine of the Neda. In half an hour, we found ourselves on a platform commanding a noble view of the subjacent torrent with its sparkling waters and many diversified windings. Far ther on, a short rest could not be resisted, close to its banks, under fine spreading plane-trees and beside a small fountain.

The scene was most pic turesque, and to us very refreshing, after what now seemed a long acquaintance with the plain, and we unwillingly continued our route. It led through a complicated labyrinth of ascents and descents, over a broken and precipitous bridle-path, which was frequently entangled by the crossing roots and branches of the forest timber, and at one moment followed the edge of the torrent, rising at another high above its banks. The base of a conical hill was at length reached, said, by Dimitri, to stand right above the village of Kakaletri. Extensive remains of wall and fortification crowned the height, the present object of our interest. We soon set about climbing the northern side, which was steep enough, though not rugged, and came at the summit to a fragment of wall, a por tion of the line which probably ran along the brow.

It is of irregular construction, though not strictly Cyclopic, both in size and courses. Other similar fragments were to be seen in the same direction. Many of the stones, especially at the basement, left for the most part rough or very coarsely finished, are of great size, measuring not less than fifteen to eighteen feet. On this side, we perceived no towers. Crossing the fragment of wall just mentioned, we reached an oblong platform, at the highest point of the hill, strewn with ruins and pottery. Here was the cppovpiov, or Akro polis. On the south and west the hill is still steeper than on the north, but it declines gently to the east. The walls on these three sides are easily traceable : on the south and east they are in better preservation, and in considerable masses, particularly at the two angles south-east and south west.

At the latter are considerable remains of a tower. A small portal opened externally from the tower on to the ravine. To the south-east the wall, though lower, is of good height. The masonry at this point is much more regular than what we had noticed in ascending. The greater part lies in well-shaped, even courses, the blocks not differing very much in size, but Avithout concert. Internally there were also traces of buildings, but nothing which could indicate a temple or civil structure. The general aspect from below, towards the south, was that of a citadel or fortress, on the ordinary Greek plan and construction, and of various dates, capping a very steep isolated cone, in the midst of mountain and river surrounding it on all sides, like Phyle, Eleutheræ, and many others in various parts of Greece.

The peak of Tetrazi is seen to the south-east, and opposite rises the range of Cotylion, from which this fortress-height is di vided by the bed of the Neda traceable a considerable way down the valley. The view of the Neda's windings through the woody foldings of the gorge, and the lofty stretching mountains beyond, is sin gularly fine. The natural characteristics of this spot, its seclusion, its difficulty of approach, its situation in reference both to Messenia and Arka dia, — a point of peculiar importance in ancient times — all go to justify the decision which identi fies it with the fatal fortress of Eira. The imagination, it must be admitted, pleads not less warmly in the cause. A more fitting scene could not be devised for the enactment of that final drama. The desperate death-encounter, the stubborn de fence, the unmerited fall, the inexorable enemy, the Nemesis and the Moira, the Dike and Ate, crowd upon us, and we sympathize with Pausanias in all his Messenian predilections, in the description of the expiring effort — the ultima vestigia of a brave and unfortunate people.

The curtain here drops over their fortunes for a long period. The annexation is completed, another Dorian autonomy is audaciously absorbed, and we have to wait until the exiled people, after a three hundred years' absence at Naupactus, shall be restored to their inheritance, on the death of the usurper, by a stranger's hand. There are few passages in history more striking than the dramatic narrative of this last struggle in Pausanias. The consultation of the Oracle — the fatal answer, — Hvte rpdyoc wLvnai NtS);c kXtKoppoov vcurp, Ovk eti l\mEC(Tiivr]v pvofiai' c)(Ec6dEV yap oXedpot;' * the interpretation, the burial or hiding of the x^b-fym'iv of Lykos on Mount Ithome ; the reali zation of the prophecy soon after by the intervention of the singular incident of Emperamos and his herdsman ; the brave resistance of women as well as men ; the electrical accompaniments of thunderstorm and rain ; the obstinate defence for three days and nights ; and the final withdrawal rather than flight, after a siege of eleven years, of the last relics of a wronged, yet not humiliated or servile people, all follow each other like the events of a mediæval romance, but with the epic dignity of all the earlier achievements of Hellenic history.!

Nor are gentler traits wanting, to invest Aristo menes with the charms of the domestic feeling of Hector, combined with the loftier heroism of Paus. Mess. c. xx. t Ib. c. xx. Achilles, and a patriotism more local and intense than any hero, mythic or historic, of Greece. And amid the tumult uprises the prophetic form of the soothsayer Theoklos, prescient of his own death, pointing out to Aristomenes, along with his new duties, the future fate of his country, then rushing into the ranks of the enemy and perishing. It is nobler than any similar scene, even in the pages of Homer. The conclusion is worthy of thc other portions of the drama ; more sublime, and as heroic as the passage in our times from another Eira, of the last remnant of the garrison of Meso longhi : the little band of Aristomenes follow his lance, and the Lacedæmonians, directed by their soothsayer Hebraldos, draw back and allow them passage through.* It is a matter of no surprise that the neighbouring and friendly Arkadians, filled with reverence and admiration, should have given them an asylum on Mount Lykæon, and subse quently in their towns and villages, not only sharing with them their bread and clothing, and sending their highest official personages to receive them, but afterwards dividing with them their land.

The heroic Life of Aristomenes was not, however, yet closed. The very next incident is a characteristic trait of that vitality and elasticity, which did not abandon him to the end. He pro ceeds at once to renew the battle, and boldlv ■** v projects an invasion, not only of the Lakonian territory, but of Sparta itself; not an idle reso lution, but with every prospect of success, had it not been betrayed in time by the envy or servility Paus. Mess. c. of the Arkadian Aristokrates, — some old enemy, who at length, from the indignation of the Arka dians, meets his just reward.* The whole of these events, from their variety and abnormal character, scarcely appear to belong to ancient history. They contain elements of romance, adventure, and indi viduality, — a sort of Cid patriotism and miraculous success, — a free-band Great Company, or kleptic recklessness, and an Hellenic mythic dignity and solemnity, not elsewhere combined.

To find them in the pages of Pausanias would be a surprise, had he not drawn them from E-hianos ; but it is scarcely less difficult to comprehend, where Rhianos found traditions of a character so little recognisable in the general pages of Greek renown. Leake places Eira much lower down the Neda, grounding his theory on the greater facility that situation afforded for provisioning, as well as its immediate contiguity to the plain of Messenia. But, unless close to the mouth of the river, the whole land in that part belonged, not to Messenia, but to Arkadia. The present site of Eira was discovered by the Erench, t and it fully corresponds to the description of the poet and the traveller. It lies enveloped in the midst of the " foldings of the white or snowy mountains," — OvpEOC apytvrdto irEpn.Tv-)(aQ, as Rhianos describes it in the poetic Doric-Æolic phrase, — dpyewoiog for dpyog, — though in Homer this applies not to snow but to sheep.

Eira is uncon nected with any cultivable land, as its present name * Tans. Mess. c. xxii. + P. Boblaye, p. 110. Kakaletri testifies — a combination of xaxov and d7\sTpi (a kind of diminutive for dporpov), or " bad for ploughing." Surrounded, however, by high declivities, fitted only for sheep, olives, and fruit-trees, it was a place where the population and flocks of the neighbouring plains might be easily collected, as became the case eventually in the second Messenian war, much in the manner they had been gathered from their villages into Ithome during the first war. Nor was the fortress inadequate for this purpose. The slope towards the east, coming down from Tetrazi and its range, a mountain itself 4,300 feet high, a long sweep of elevated land, bounded by two torrents, on which a large population could be disposed of, this projecting neck of rock, too, ter minating in a citadel, afforded sufficient protection, and answered as a place of refuge whither the people could fly from any sudden irruption of the enemy.

With few exceptions, this is the arrange ment of most town fortresses in Greece, as at Orchomenos and Thespia. Some of these were subdivided again into upper and lower, by cross walls, as at Platæa. The proximity to Arkadia was not less a primary condition in the choice of Eira, giving an additional facility for aid and shelter. The Messenians who escaped from its final capture, took refuge in the difficult fastnesses and valleys of that rude and mountainous region, and in that portion especially where they might still hover about the Lakonian territory. This advantageous position was used by them with signal success. In scattered bands, they devastated their own territory of Messenia and that of Lakonia simultaneously, Aristomenes keeping around him a chosen party of three hundred. They carried on this svstem with such result, in rich plunder of corn, cattle, and wine, besides moveables and slaves, that the Lacedæmonians, laying it down as a maxim, " that they were cultivating the land rather for those who were in Eira than for them selves," left that portion of Messenia contiguous to Lakonia unsown, so long as they continued the war.* A scarcity of corn ensued, and a sedition ; " for those who had property in that quarter could not endure that it should remain idle ;" — a sedition which Pausanias asserts was appeased by the verses of Tyrtæus.

The irruptions from this point were easy and continuous. In one night before sunrise Aris tomenes reached from Eira the town of Amyklæ, which is farther south than Sparta, without obser vation. This would have been impracticable from the site fixed on by Leake, both from its greater distance and the difficulty of escaping notice in traversing the plain. In the subsequent part of the war, Aristomenes finds this plain infested with Cretan archers (mercenaries), and, relying on the truce, and regardless of danger, he is faithlessly taken prisoner by seven of them.f The situation of Eira j is contrasted by Pausanias with that of Andania.§ It does not appear, at the time of the second Messenian war, to have had * Paus. Mess. c. xviii. + Ib. c. xix. X Written Ira by Suidas and later writers, affording new evidence of the same sound being given to the diphthong and to the letter t. § Kai 'Avlaviav plv cat e"i ti dXXo iv fiEtroyaia iroXitrpa ___i<r _ ra TToXXa €k\eIttsiv, es t)e Tr)v Hlpav to opoc dvoiKi^Eutrai. — (Paus.

Mess. C. xvii.) . VOL. II. C walls; it is still ooog, and not <ppobpiov. Thc pas sage, however, into Lakonia and across Messenia to Ithome, never seems to have been impeded, even in spite of the Cretan archers. The Neda flowing below, is the appropriate scene of the solu tion of the oracle. The prophet Theoklos leads Aristomenes from Eira to its banks, and shows him the fatal r^dyog, ■■ the fig-tree drinking of the waters of the Neda," — E3ts rpdyog Tr'ivro-i NeSrjs s7.ixoppoov Zoœp* The place still bears many wild fig-trees dipping their leaves in its waters. t The space between the citadel and the river was occupied, though not unreservedly, by the fugitive Messenians, who had already built houses, as they had fortified the summits. Some pasturage could be found along the edges of the stream, and this the herdsman of Emperamos had taken possession of for his master's flocks.

Here it was that he met the woman coming down from those houses to thc Neda, as we saw some from Kakaletri this day, and where he formed the acquaintance which led to the final fall of the citadel. Her husband used to go up to the fortress on guard, and his absence afforded opportunities to the herdsman. A storm of rain drove the guards from their posts, and this man, returning unexpectedly to his house below, narrated the cause to his wife. Overheard by the herdsman, the facts were at once conveyed to Paus. Mess. c. xx. + The common Messenians understood the oracle to mean that their destruction would be at hand when a " goat should drink the waters of the Neda ;" but Theoklos interpreted rpayoc as a "fig-tree," — a meaning which the word also bore amongst the Messenians. Sparta. An additional force was despatched to the siege ; the opportunity of a similar wet night was seized, the akropolis attacked in its weakest point, and the last spot remaining to the Mes senians, after an obstinate defence, carried by the Lacedæmonians.

The assault began on the side sloping towards the Neda, but was not confined to it : for the Lacedæmonians, finding the ground too broken and precipitous to allow them to use their columns, attacked the akropolis, probably also on the south and west. The fortress, however, was apparently yet un finished. On the first arrival of the Messenians, the upper part of the hill had been enclosed with walls and gates : but even in this year, the eleventh of the siege, the works were not completed. They were obliged to retreat, as we have seen, on stormy nights, for want of shelter, want of towers, covered passages, or other protection — to outs lird7.^stov lo-to- X0t>0[X7]fX£VOOV OUTS TO^ytOV bvTO cnroodrjg rob T£i%io-y.ob~,* supplying a distinct evidence of the original state of the position. Outside the fortress were the habitations of the poorer women and children, who took refuge above in times of danger.

Towards the south, the rock sinks to a lower level, and in this position towers, as we have seen, are traceable — a sign in itself of its having been used as a place of defence in later years. The fragment of wall towards the north and the Neda, seems a portion of the old and hasty walling of Aristomenes ; but the lines running south and west cannot date higher than the building of Messene, if not later. They display the same principles of construction, * Paus. Mess. c. xx. and are very regular, though smaller and feebler.* This is not matter of surprise. We find many of these early fortresses retained, with more or less change, down to the period of the Romans — as for instance Andania, Pheræ, and others. The Messenians, however, were evidently not confined to the site of Eira at the moment of its capture.

The Lacedæmonians afterwards carried off those whom they found in that district, and distri buted them amongst thc nelots ; unless we are to understand the word Tsp),f as used by Pausanias, in the restricted sense of the dwellings immediately encircling the fortress. Eragments of pottery still abound in the neighbourhood, so usual in such ancient sites, and furnishing another evidence of habitation. Pausanias states, that, at the last fatal attack, the women tried to use the tiles for weapons of defence, but the rain prevented them from even climbing to the roofs. J Tiles appear at all times to have been favourite weapons, as substitutes for stones : the latter are mentioned by Xenophon, at the siege of Haliartus and the Peiræus.§ The loose manner in which tiles are laid rather than fastened on the roofs, even to the present day, make them readily available for the purposes of defence.

While busily engaged in examining the topo graphy and ruins, a thunderstorm, which had been threatening all the morning, began to break over us, accompanied with heavy drops, preluding torrents of rain. It formed a lively realization of the scenes that had signalized the last defence of Messenia in * Boss believes this portion to have been built in time of Epaminondas. (See Reisen durch Griechenland, i. v. p. 97.) + Paus. Mess. c. xxiii. X Lb. c. xxi. § Hell. 1. iii. 20. the same place, and compelled us to retreat rapidly to the village of Kakaletri immediately beneath. We stayed here some while in a small hut watch ing the flashes through the roof, which let in the pouring rain. The clouds, however, dispersing, and the brief repast that filled up the interval being finished, we were again on horseback, and proceed ing through the scattered hamlet, which consisted of houses stuck amid weedy gardens, without street and often without communication.

Descending by craggy and slippy windings, we crossed the still shallow stream of the Neda, and mounting the opposite side of the bank, set our faces to the west, on the road towards Paulitza, the next point near Bassæ which could afford us a night's lodging. The site, rather than the pillars of the Temple, had been discernible from the summit of Eira : but there was no appearance, in the mountainous and wooded country, of village or habitation for miles around. Erom the opposite and northern bank we now had a fine view of Tetrazi, and below it a more cha racteristic outline than any yet seen of Eira. The command this fortress possessed of the neighbouring district, is very conspicuous. As we advanced, the road became more rugged over the spurs and offshootings of Lykæon on one side and of Elaion on the other, the Neda meandering on through the folds of both, amidst umbrageous Avoods, towards the sea.

We had constantly to descend and ascend over a mere track of sharp rocks, which were becoming more dislocated and doubtful at each step, and sometimes offering as road only the questionable bed of a mountain torrent, half blocked up with the rough blocks borne down it in winter. These obstacles were further increased by thc thick brushwood — the 7\do-iov %to%iov of Xenophon — some times so entangled that we had to send on Dimitri with a detachment, knife and stick in hand, to pioneer our way through. But the climax was not yet reached. The storm, which had only moment arily been interrupted, began anew. Thc clouds came drifting back from Mount Tetrazi, with threat ening growls of thunder. Rain now followed in gusts, with lightning. We raised our umbrellas against wind and wet ; but they got entangled every moment in thc shrubbery, now grown into a wood, the trees stopping our way as they bridged over the narrow path with their rugged branches.

There was danger that, in some unlucky turn (for our horses took no heed of our difficulties), we might have been hoisted from our seats, and, like knights of old, left flat or worse upon the roadside. Then the rocks had become slippery, and in some of the half-perpendicular passes, were more perilous than a montagne Musse : our only remedy was to dismount, and let our horses pursue their own wild way, through the serpentine com plications of the road. Somehow or other, what with the example of others, their own mountain instincts, the shrill guiding cries and rebukes of their masters, and few or no aberrations into thickets, they extricated themselves very creditably from their embarrassments. We did not fare quite so well. The rain had soaked the soil, and tho roughly wetted the matted trees ; so that, between both, we found ourselves, after a time, in a not much better state than either.