of the European consuls, and the superior social and intellectual condition of its inhabitants, as contrasted with the rest of the town, affords a fine comment upon the two different systems of government.

Sept. 3d. In the course of a long ramble this evening, I encountered in a secluded field surrounded with trees and hedges, a large party of Greeks, who had assembled together for dancing and amusement; there were among them some very pretty girls lying at full length on the grass with flowers stuck in their hair; some more elderly matrons, in the Greek jacket and turban, were seated on a bank eating grapes, and some of the young men were amusing themselves with jumping, and singing on the grass below. The Greeks seem to be very fond of fetes, and out-of-door amusements; they love on festive occasions to congregate together in gardens, and eat their frugal meal under the shade of the trees or by the side of the flowing stream.

The modern Greek language is the prevailing language among the Franks of Smyrna; it is the general language of most of the young ladies of Boujah, and is very beautiful, particularly soft and very musical. Most of the Levantine girls, however, speak Italian and French with perfect fluency, which is a great advantage to those travellers who come here ignorant of the Greek language. Many girls of English extraction, called English, and under the protection of the British consul, cannot speak two sentences of the language; the general language of most of those calling themselves English, is the modern Greek.

Sept. 8th.-A beautiful little English steamer has lately arrived here, intended to ply between Constantinople and Smyrna; and after some delay and many conferences, we have mustered a large party of Syrian and Egyptian travellers, and have made a tempting offer to the captain to take us down to Syria and Egypt. His vessel is now advertised in the Smyrna Gazette, for "a grand and novel excursion."

Sept. 10th.-Our party is now mustered, and appears composed of travellers from all parts of the world; some are from Persia, some from Egypt, some from America, and two have just arrived from Liverpool.

There are some Englishmen going as far as Jaffa, in order that they may ride across the country while the steamer is lying off the coast and get one peep at Jerusalem, contenting themselves with a few hours' glance of one of the most interesting countries under the sun; and they will then go

home and talk with enthusiasm of their extensive travels, and of the various countries which they have seen, with about as much advantage as if they had witnessed them in the exhibition of a panorama.

Sept. 13th.-I rode into Smyrna at sunrise, to prepare for our departure, which is to take place at mid-day. It was a lovely morning, and I looked with regret for the last time upon the bewitching prospect that is presented to the eye on descending the steep eminence to the valley of St. Anne. I often regret that we have no fine range of mountains in England; without them no scenery can be truly beautiful.

The landlocked gulf of Smyrna presents from every point of view the appearance of a magnificent lake, and the beautiful mountains by which it is environed, the green foliage that extends along its shores, and the deep indigo blue of its waters in these cloudless skies, always afford a most fascinating prospect.

All fear of the plague is now over in Smyrna, and the pretty Greek and Levantine girls are seen lounging at the doors of the houses as usual. All these girls have an odd fashion of chewing mastick, a gum which is imported from the island of Scio. I at first thought it was India rubber, from the noise that it made when pressed between their teeth; it is said to give an odoriferous smell to the breath. The Smyrna, Frank and Greek girls are very pretty and very pleasing.

The Rayahs or Greek subjects of the Porte, are very superstitious, and some of them very bigoted. Their patriarch is elected by the Greek bishops, whose choice is confirmed by the Sultan; the priests are allowed to marry, but bigamy is forbidden, and it is considered a disgraceful thing among the Greek laity to follow the example of the Turks by indulging in more than one wife. They admit no images in their churches, but pictures ad libitum, before which lamps are hung. Their priests wear three cornered caps, black cloaks, and very long beards, and are generally dirty ill-favored men, and very ignorant. The liturgy of St. Chrysostom is used in their churches. The other day I witnessed a Greek funeral, which was very revolting, as the corpse was borne along on a bier, exposed to the gaze of the passers by.

CHAPTER XV.

DEPARTURE.-BAY OF TCHESMEH.-SAMOS.-SCIO.-DELOS. -SYRA. NAXOS. cos. — RHODES. STREET OF THE KNIGHTS.-CATHEDRAL.-FORTIFICATIONS.-PILGRIMS.

EXCURSION IN THE ISLAND.-SCENERY.-DEPARTURE.CYPRUS.-LARNECA.-PAPHOS.-STATE OF CYPRUS.-LATE

TROUBLES.

Non ego te, Dis et mensis accepta secundis,

Transierim, Rhodia, et tumidis, Bumaste racemis. GEORGICS.

SEPT. 13th.-We got under way at mid-day, bound for the island of Rhodes. We passed a fine English brig of war lying at anchor, and in a few hours we arrived at the entrance of the straits of Scio.

The broad expanse of water, and the distant mountains were brilliantly illuminated by the golden flush that spread along the western horizon.

We were within a stone's throw of the Asiatic shore, darting rapidly along a line of dark perpendicular cliffs fringed with the white foam of the breakers. Aloft in the indentation of a barren parched mountain, stood a white Turkish village, surrounded by wild rocks and precipices, and further on, we passed the little Bay of Tchesméh, celebrated for the destruction of the Turkish fleet during the night of the 7th and 8th of July 1770, by the Russians, who sent in two fire-ships commanded by English officers, and burnt the whole, amounting to twenty-four vessels, so that one only of sixty guns escaped the conflagration. Ship after ship exploded in the air, and the shotted guns, as the fire reached them, discharged their contents and beat down the houses. We could distinguish the green trees of the rich pianura of Scio backed by the bold blue mountains of Armista.

From Scio is brought the mastick which the Levantine ladies are in the habit of chewing, it is obtained from the lentisk, a small shrub, the rind of which is pierced in the month of August, from whence a gum distils, and at the expiration of about a month after this puncture has been made,

the gum is gathered, refined, and exported to all parts of the Levant. I never think of the desolate, deserted aspect of this lovely island, which is now so saddening to the view, without calling to mind the accounts of its flourishing condition given by our early travellers. Sandys, when he visited the island in 1610, speaks of the merry Greek who would never let a holiday pass without some public meeting for rejoicing, "where intermixed with women they dance out the day, and with full crownd cups enlengthen their iollitie the streets do almost all night long partake of their music. . . . . The women celebrated of old for their beauties, yet carrie that same, I will not say, undeservedly. They have their heads tricked out with tassels and flowers. The bodies of their gowns exceed not their arme pits; from whence the skirts flow loosely fringed below; the upper shorter than the neather of damasks or stuffes less costly, according to their condition."

The lofty blue land of Samos was seen in front, the island celebrated in ancient mythology as the birth-place of Juno, who is reported to have been born under a willow tree close to the river Imbrasius, and famous in authentic history as the birth-place of Pythagoras. The island is not more than a quarter of a mile distant from the continent of Asia, and is now almost entirely deserted and desolate.

Sept. 14th.-At sunrise we were off the sharp rocks of the island of Delos, which according to the ancients once floated upon the bosom of the waters and was at last firmly fixed by Jupiter. The oracles of this island were once very celebrated, but their reputation is said to have declined about the time of the birth of our Saviour. 'Sandys makes a happy conjecture on a story of Plutarch's concerning the decline of oracles about that period. "Plutarche reports from the mouth of one Epitherses, who had been his school-maister, that he imbarking from Italy, and one euening being becalmed, they sodainly heard a voice from the shore calling to one Thamus, a pilot, who till the third call would not answer. Then, (quoth the voyce,) when thou art come to the Palodes proclaim it aloud that the great Pan is dead. All in the ship were amazed when they heard this. When drawing neare to the aforesaid place, Thamus standing on the poupe of the ship did vtter what was formerly commanded, forthwith there was heard a great lamentation, accompanied with grones and skreeches. This coming to the knowledge of Tiberius Cæsar-hee

sent for Thamus who auouched the truth thereof. Which declared the death of Christ the great shepherd and subjector of Satan, who had now no longer power to abuse the illuminated world with his impostures."

In a short time we cast anchor at Syra, where we were surrounded by crowds of people, who were astonished and amused at the sight of a steamer, and were apparently quite confounded when they saw us letting off the steam. The British consul and several of the inhabitants put off in boats to speak with us; not the slightest communication was allowed with the shore as we were all in quarantine. After leaving letters, &c., we took our departure for the island of Naxos. The weather was lovely, we had a large awning stretched over the deck, which shaded us from the sun, from under which we could agreeably survey the calm still expanse of water and the blue rocky shores of the different islands.

At four o'clock in the evening we ran close alongside the beautiful shores of the island of Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades; the coast is very bold and lofty, and irregular precipitous rocks in many places hem in the shore. Naxia, the capital of the island, is beautifully situated on an eminence by the sea-side on the western coast; the old Venetian walls so bravely defended against the Turks still exist, and the scenery from the eminences in the vicinity of the place is most lovely. The site of the old town is to the north of the castle; there are the ruins of an aqueduct and some substructions of masonry. The celebrated fountain of Ariadne is still pointed out near the sea-side; it is merely a scanty rill of water.

On a rock within a stone's throw of the main land, near this fountain of Ariadne, are the ruins of the temple of Bacchus, consisting of a part of the foundations of a building, and of the architrave of a gateway of white marble. A bridge is said to have united this small rocky island to the main land, across which was carried an aqueduct conveying water used by the priests in the sacred offices of the temple. Some fine statues are said to have been found here. of our friends, who spent some time in the early part of the summer on the island, describes the Greek girls as possess ing considerable beauty, they are fond of putting artificial flowers in their hair, and some of them tend the flocks and goats upon the mountains, but they are very shy and very wild.

One