The Greece of the Greeks
G. A. Perdicaris
'I'iC J)»i ;' 1jp& tK«m»" '.o ':< .Jure MiMt rii'»«; but I am uoi «urpii<i. d » i »•-«»: . v fnr I 'noi '»n. Ue»*'iiy .^ c *<r «*.*. .)««$ to oroU!*™ noroetHng ncw» ii I 'ju,,. :'•. • w. f.k ttt well i'i Uu- *■ r.agr \ rj t h<- pc*er n" . '?sii.." N W W - Y n il iv : . AT& . J THE GREECE THE GREEKS: BY G. A. PERDIOARIS, A.M. IN TWb iTbLITMES. VOL. II. *The Deity has chaafed to nothing those cities ; bat I an not surprised thereby, for I know that Destiny is erer striviaf to produce something mw, and changes the weak as well as the strong by the power of Necessity.* Pausaxia*. NEW-YttRK: PAINE & BURGESS, 62 JOHN STREET. 18 4 5. Eatered, acecrdfof to A«l ©f Copgttnt, in the year 1845, Mr ;g. a* j»mu>ica1sis, a.m. b At Cltrk'i Omce-of^^MJriet. Court /qr the Southern District of N. York. 2 * -e- ■■£ 6.2 a I SLg - | § co^^'S-s J g = > 5 « — esi «-s ^r * INTRODUCTORY. Before we cross the Isthmus, let us take in brief review some of the more prominent events which commenced with the conquest of the Peloponnesus by the followers of Mahomet, and which preceded their expulsion. The power of the Venetians, whose castles and fortifications crown the hills, and girt the shores of the peninsula, gave way before the Turks, who, after the capture of Palamedi and Napoli, in 1715, established . themselves as lords paramount in the Morea. But while one conqueror was driven out of the land by another, the original inhabitants, and with them the still few remaining embers of liberty, yet lingered in the glens, and still glimmered on the mountain tops of Arcadia, of Achaia, and Lacoriia. Nor was the cruelty and the fanaticism of the Turks calculated to allay the fears and the suspicions of those who preferred the toils and privations of mountain life to the luxuries and the servility of INTRODUCTORY. cities and villages ; they preferred the risks bf the outlaw to the safety of the bondsman. The Turks, though loath to endure the presence of these Gaiours, were at the same time unable to extinguish an evil which was indigenous to the land, and which wa3 nurtured and countenanced by the Greeks in the towns and the villages, who sympathized with the brave klefts, even at the ex- pense of incurring the displeasure of their masters. To the klefts of the mountains, and the pirates of the seas, were added with time the growing and powerful influence of the Primates, or the Cojaba- sees, t. c, Bigheads, who, though dependant upon, and subservient to the Turks, owed them never- theless the tribute of hatred; and while they con- tinued to be in perfect understanding with the rebels on the mountains, they seldom lost the opportunity of soliciting the sympathy and the aid of those who were united to them by the sacred bonds of a com- mon faith. It was through the machinations of the chief Primates, that in 1769, the Messenian Castles wit- nessed the presence of a Russian armament, and it was through their instrumentality that the people rushed to arms with the firing of the first cannon against the walls of Navarino. But the Primates of Vostitza, and with them the people, were soon overpowered by the Turks, and by those hordes of Albanian banditti who, animated by revenge and love of booty, spread over the whole of, the Pelo- INTRODUCTORY. ponnesus, and overpowered its helpless inhabitants, who had no other appui but the presence of a few ships in the Messenian seas, and a few Russians within the walls of Navarino ! With the disappearance of the Russian forces, the Greeks returned to their senses and their allegiance; and the Turks, having satiated their cruelty, re- sumed once more their authority over the land. But the wild Albanians were not willing to leave the rich valleys and fertile plains of the Pelopon- nesus, and by their cruelties towards the peaceable peasants, and constant collisions with the klefts, increased the miseries of the Greeks, and the fears of the Turks. The Turkish government felt at length the ne- cessity of exterminating the Albanians as well as the klefts, and Hassan Pasha, the high admiral of the empire, adopted the wise policy of uprooting one evil by the agency of the other. With this object in view, he first called to his aid the Greek chiefs, and then marched against the Albanians, who sought refuge within the walls of Tripolitza, and who beheld the plains of the city and the neigh- bouring mountains covered with the tents of the Vizier and the wild forms of the klefts, their in- veterate foes. They were too brave to yield without a struggle; but their enemies were as brave as they, and while the dauntless Hassan Pasha rushed into the city at the head of his Delhis, the Greeks intercepted the 1# INTRODUCTORY. fugitives in the mountain passes, and gave the finishing stroke to this work of slaughter. Out of twelve thousand Albanians, seven hundred only cleared the Isthmus ; while the rest, together with those who were left in other cities, were butchered by the Turks and the Greeks, who, in commemo- ration of their united triumph against a common foe, raised as trophies pyramids with the skulls of the Albanians. Two years after this sanguinary event, Hassan Pasha essayed the extermination of the Greek kief ts, and having succeeded against two of the principal chiefs, he drove the rest to their hiding-places, and brought about for a while a comparative tranquil- lity. But the Turk, like the cultivator of a rich soil, had to weed his domains every other year, or else he was sure to he overrun by the growth of its rank luxuriance. The old evil had scarcely been rooted out, when a new and more vigorous crop of klefts sprung up in different parts of the Morea. It was at this time that the Capetanata, or chiefdoms, were established in almost every province, under the auspices of different chiefs ; amongst whom the celebrated Colocotroni, like the imposing mountains of his native Arcadia, towered above the rest The Turk went once more to weeding, and once more cleared the land of its briars ; but the seed of the rebel weed was in the soil, and no weeding could arrest its growth. The klefts who disap- peared in 1817, reappeared in 1821, as rebels, and INTROBUCTOEY. planted the standard of the Cross in the stronghold of the Turk, who, like the conquerors that had gone before him, paid the penalty of tyrants. The Peloponnesus has justly been denominated the Acropolis of Greece. Its position and physical conformation gives it an acknowledged advantage over the other portions of the country. Its moun- tains continued through all time to be the strong- holds of liberty, and in the course of the last revo- lution, when the plains of Corinth, of Blis, of Mes- senia, and of Argos, when the whole of Greece was overshadowed by the presence of a superior antago- nist, ^he spirit of freedom still sat on the heights of her Acropolis, on the mountain tops of Arcadia and Laconia. Here, within the narrow limits of this peninsula, are to be found the earliest trophies of liberty, and there is hardly a foot of land which has not been dyed and consecrated by the triumphs and the suf- ferings of man. Its history is a succession o'f fierce struggles, and what the poet has said of Corinth may be applied with greater propriety to the whole Peloponnesus : « But could the blood before her shed, Since first Timoleon's brother bled, Or baffled Persia's despot fled, Arise from out the earth which drunk The stream of slaughter as it sunk, That sanguine ocean would o'erflow Her Isthmus, idly spread below: INTBODUCTORY. Or could the bones of all the slain, Who perished there, be piled again, That rival pyramid would rise More mountain-like, through those clear skies, Than yon tower-capt Acropolis, Which seems the very clouds to kiss." CHAPTER I. MEGARA. I left the city of Athens early in the morning, on the 3d of October, and passing through the olive groves to the west of the capital, I crossed once more the stream of the "meek Cephisus," and leav- ing to the right and left the groves of the Academy, and the bright seas of Salamis, I climbed the heights of iEgaleos, descended through the pass of Daphne to the sea, and having enjoyed the view of the Eleu- sinian bay, with its calm waters, and its borders of majestic mountains, I coasted along the 90ft out desolate shores, till I came to the equally desolate but beautiful village of Eleusis. In former times, the right and left side of the " Sacred Way," which led from Athens to the great temple of Ceres, was adorned with the temples of the gods, and the monuments of heroes and phi- . losophers. It presented an unbroken chain of agree- able objects, well calculated to prepare the mind of the pilgrim for the mysteries of the Eleusinian sanctuary. But at present, almost every object but the natural features of the land have disappeared, 10 MBGARA. and the traveller, who is fortunate for being able to recognise some few of the localities in his way, finds himself encompassed by ruins and desolation, even when within the precincts of the great temple. A few broken columns of the temple, and some few opened tombs and tumuli in its vicinity, are all that remain of Eleusis. The Tenitian tower on the brow of the hill, and the huts of the Albanians in the plain, belong to the desecrations of modern times, and are consequently neither in unison nor in rela- tion with the objects and the scenes which once animated the courts, and enlivened the porticoes of Eleusis, the " religious capital of Greece." But while the altars of the heathen gods have ceased to burn, and the hearts of their worshippers have long since ceased to beat, the place which was once de- dicated to religion has not lost its sanctity; it still has its holy influence ; it still teems with moral lessons. A few paces beyond the village of Eleusis, we left the carriageable road to Thebes for the foot- . path which leads to the Morea. The first hour and a half after leaving the Eleusinian plain, led us along the sides of Mount Candili ; and while we were winding our way through the mazes of the pass, which is now known by the name of Oerata, we had to the right the sides and the crags of the mountain, and to the left the hushed seas, and the island of Salamis. The bay at this time was as calm and as solitary as if it had never been agitated by the armaments of contending nations. MEGARA. II iEgaleos, the island of Salamis, and the Pass of Mount Cerata, command some of the best views of the scene of action. As soon as we descended from the sides of Mount Cerata to the plain along the sea-shore, we entered the territory of Megaris, and shortly after fell in with a praiseworthy work of the Megarians — the carriageable road which was intended to unite the town of Megara with the capital of Greece, but which, having received b v ut little aid from the govern- ment, has not as yet succeeded to double the rocky pass that lies between it and the plain of Eleusis. The work, though incomplete, is not altogether useless. We travelled over it for nearly two hours, and when we came out of the olive-groves which threw their branches and their purple fruit over it, we saw to the south-east and against the mountains of the Isthmus, first, the two conical hills of Caria and Alcathous, and shortly aft$r, the habitations of Megara, the only place in Megaris and Attica in- habited by Greeks. We had scarcely enjoyed this beautiful picture, when we found ourselves not only in the street of the town, but in the vestibule of Mr. Vlachos's khan, which, being lately built, looked neat and com- _ fortable ; but at the time of our arrival the inmates, the landlord and the lady, were in open war, and for a while I doubted the propriety of entering a terri- tory involved in a domestic feud, which promised to last as long as the Peloponnesian war, and which 12 MBGA&A. might not end without the mediation and interfer- ence of the Allied Powers. In this, however, I was mistaken ; the contest, though fierce, was short, and the countenances of the Megarians, like the skies of their native land, grew brighter and milder after the storm. Leaving the cares of hospitality to Mrs. Vlachos, I put myself under the care and the guidance of Epaminondas the Modern, who led me through the labyrinths of the streets to the top of the Alcathean rock. Besides two or three little chapels which pro- bably occupy the site of ancient temples, and the Venitian tower which surmounts the apex of the hill, there was nothing else except some few frag- ments of the many monuments which adorned the sides of this hill in the days of Pausanias. Time had done its work, and the rock owned nothing but the associations of its past history. From the top of the Alcathean rock, we had before us, and almost at our feet, not only the habitations of the town, that ascend the sides of the hill, and which, by their irregularity and terraced roofs, form a picture of themselves, but also the plains, the olive-groves, the seas, and the mountains of Mega- ris. The prospect, though less extensive than that of the Athenian plain, has all the peculiarities of Attica. While on the top of Alcathea, it was my good fortune to enjoy the scene so truly described by Byron: MEOAEA. 13 " Slow sinks* more lovely ere hie race be ran, Along Morea's hills, the setting son ; Not as in northern climes obscurely bright, Bat one unclouded blaze of living light ! O'er the hushed deep the yellow beam he throws, Gilds the green ware, that trembles as it glows. On old JSgina's rock, and Idra's isle, The god of gladness sheds his parting smile ; O'er his own regions lingering lores to shine, Though there his altars are no more divine. Descending fast, the mountain shadows kiss Thy glorious gulf, unconquer*d Salamis ! Their azure arches, through tljie long expanse, More deeply purpled, meet his mellowing glance, And tenderest tints, along their summits driven, Mark his gay course, and own the hues of heaven; Till darkly shaded from the land and deep, Behind his Delphian cliff he sinks to sleep.* 9 On our return to the khan we rolled dotra the Ml, and in seeking our way through by-paths and alleys, we got among the houses of the Megarians, who very kindly allowed us to pass over their ter- races, which in many cases serve as bed-rooms and as balconies, or look-outs, to the matrons of the town. This sort of ramble was rather fatiguing, but it afforded a better opportunity of seeing the place than a week's stroll through the streets. The hour of the day, too, Was rather propitious. The men were returning from the fields ; the women sat with their distaffs on the tops of the houses ; and what with the children in the stfeets, with the chicketas, the dogs and the dohkeys in the court-yards, the interior of the town presented as lively a scene of vol. n.— 2 14 MEGARA. life as in the days when Megara was the capital of a kingdom, and the mother country of colonies. The province of Megaris, now as in ancient times, comprehends the mountainous portion of the Isth- mus, and its capital occupies its old position. The habitations of the people are still clustered round the rocks of Caria and Alcathous, and are still piled upon each other ; but the monuments, with the exception of a few truncated statues lately discovered, and a few ruins of doubtful origin, have all disappeared. The long walls which joined the city to the beauti- ful port have mingled with the earth, and Nisaea lias preserved little else besides its locality. Thus the city and the province which founded such cities as Byzantium, have all but disappeared from the face of the earth ; its present population being little more than 7000. Megaris, though apparently sterile, is neverthe- less rich in resources. The land is well adapted to the cultivation of the mulberry and the olive tree. Her olive groves, and the oil of the province, are both noted, and its people seem to be frugal and in- dustrious ; but from the days of Chalchas, who f according to Homer, know the past, the present, and the future, to the days of the present Demark of Megara, who knows neither the past nor the present, the people have followed the absurd cus- tom of dividing their landed estates into as many parcels as there are inheritors; and this, which is often carried to the extent of dividing each field into MfiGARA. 15 parcels, has cut up their little possessions into new strips, and has imposed upon the owners the neces- sity of going to their occupations in a body. When I asked what the crier was at, I was told that he -was calling the people to their work. Besides this evil, which is not calculated to ad- vance the interests of the place, the people labour under other troubles. Before the revolution, as well as since the pacification, the landed proprietors have been in the habit of anticipating their income, and as every year left a small arrear of debt, they have at length found themselves in the hands of creditors who extort from them twenty, twenty-four, and often forty per cent, interest. Under such a state of things it is impossible for them to exist, and the only way of escape from the fate which awaits them would be the interposition of the law, and more than that, the completion of the road, and with it a more direct and easy way of communication with the capital. We feel the more interested in the fate of the Megarians, as the inhabitants of Megara, unlike those who occupy the villages of Attica, are of Greek origin. Their houses are unlike those of the Albanians, and they differ as much in their man- ners and appearance as they do in language. The men, who are noted for their pedestrian feats, aTe remarkable for their light and graceful appearance; while the women, though wanting in the education which would make them the belles of King Otho's 16 XSOAftA. court, have nevertheless the finished features and the subdued air which we notice in some of the monumental bas-reliefs. Their noble forms, their fine countenances, and their large black eyes, are worthy the study of the artist CHAPTER IL THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. We issued out of Megara, crossed its little plain, and ascended the acclivities of the Geraneian moun- tain, while the greater portion of Megaris was still enveloped in the morning mists, when its mountains formed the borders, and the twin hills of the Acro- polis the islands of the beautiful mirage at our feet A ride of little more than an hour over barren hills and steep acclivities, brought us to the public road along the eastern coast of the Isthmus — the road which for ages . continued to be the great thoroughfare between the capitals of Corinth and Attica, between Southern and Northern Greece, and which witnessed the passage of formidable armies, lay now in ruins and overgrown with grass; but as a great part of this remarkable work is cut in the rock, and as portions of it are supported on the sea-side by massive blocks of stone, we had sufficient indications of its former magnitude, and our attention was more than once arrested by the deep ruts of the carriage- wheels in the lime-stone rock. 2* 18 THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. Besides the Scironian pass, there is, on the west- ern shore, another, so steep and so exposed to the force of the winds, that the Peloponnessians, on their return from the battle of Leuctra, lost their shields. Between the two is the great Derveni, or pass, which winds its way along the sides of Mount Geran- eia, and which became noted for the destruction of the Albanians after their defeat before the walls of Tripolitza. All. these passes are remarkable, but the first, or Scironian pass, from its position and comparative advantages over the other two, has been, and is to this day, the principal thorough- fare. The more difficult portion of the eastern pass, though elevated far above the sea, had only a gen- tle ascent, and we continued to travel with the precipitous sides of Mount Geraneia — which rise from the level of the sea to the height of 4495 feet — and the waters of the Saronic gulf to the right and left, till we came to the Scironian rocks, the key of the pass. The rock which, according to the an- cient tradition, witnessed the cruelties and the well-merited punishment of Sciron, has a smooth perpendicular surface, and the road was carried around it by the aid of an artificial gallery. This continued to connect the two neighbouring pro- vinces of Megaris and Corinth till the early part of the late revolution, when the Greeks broke down the galleries, and thus interposed another difficulty in the way of the Turkish armies. Nothing can THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. .19 be more sublime or more awful than this portion of the pass. To the broken arches of the galleries, and the overhanging rocks of the mountains, add the heaving masses of the Turks and the Greeks on either side of the abyss, and we have something of the scene it presented in the course of the na- tional struggle. Since the restoration of peace, the government has had no time to repair the loss of this useful work, and the people have supplied the want of ,it with a footpath, which is as honourable to their en- . terprize and boldness, as it is disgraceful to the neg- ligence of those who rule over them. The modern path descends by a series of temporary galleries to the sea, and then ascends again the sides of the hills. However beautiful as a picture, it is a life and death affair as a work of use. It does pretty well when the weather is fair, but when the sea is agitated or swollen by the storms of winter, the passage be- comes impracticable. In our descent to the sea, we gave the lead to our horses, and then followed the guide ; but just when about half way, we fell in with a herd of cattle, which being frightened by the surge of the sea, or some other cause, rushed madly through the windings of the foot-path, and thus rendered our po- sition doubly difficult ; we had to hang on the rocks, or expose ourselves to the danger of being thrown into the sea ; but we did not fail to wish His Ma- jesty's Minister of the Interior in the hands of a 20 THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. Sciron. Such a road, and so near the capital of the kingdom, is only excusable on the plea of pover- ty. But why not spend some of the gold which decorates the uniforms of the king's ministers in repairing the public thoroughfares? On the other side of the Scironian rocks we found the valley and the little village of Kineta, which, though deserted, is still encompassed by groves of fig and olive trees, and then entered a succession of little plains and valleys, wliich stretch from the last mentioned village to the port of Kalamaki, with the mountains of the Isthmus and the waters of the. Saronic gulf to the right and left. There being nothing of interest, we continued to press on for Corinth ; but a heavy gust of wind and rain obliged us to seek refuge in the khan of Kalamaki, and gave me the opportunity of making the acquaintance of Captain Petmeza, a noted chief of the Peloponne- sus. In the latter part of the afternoon the rain ceased — the clouds which but a moment before enveloped both land and sea, rolled away : and the bay of Ka- lamaki, the mountain and the islands to the south- eastofit — the ruins of Kenchries — the Isthmus, and the rock of the Acrocorinthus — were all before us, fresh and beautiful as when their possession was first disputed by Neptune and the sun. There being no time to be lost, we set off for Corinth, and our company was further augmented by Captain Petmeza and his followers, all of whom being in THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. 21 their national costume, added materially to the pic- turesque effect of the scene. The public road from Kalamaki to Corinth has been lately graded ; it first winds along the sea- shore and the Hellenic ruins of Kenchries, passes by the Etexamillia, and then descends from the higher points of the Isthmus to the city. It is an easy and agreeable road, but Captain Petmeza, who cherished an inveterate dislike to carriage roads, described it as too long and too dull, and advised us to follow him through a path which, besides being shorter, had the still greater advantage of being more varied in its scenery. Leaving the public road to the left, we took the foot-path to the right, and after passing over some low and swampy ground, entered a wild ravine, in which I thought I noticed the remains of the Diolcus, or ship-way of the ancients, but which, to the eyfes of my com- panion, was the more interesting, as it reminded him of the days when the land was subject to the sway of Turks and klefts. My companion, who was first a kleft and then a chief, was familiar with the scenes of these regions. He had a story for every rock ; and while in his company, and listening to his entertaining narra- tive, I went with him back to the exciting times when the Isthmus was a camp, and I almost felt that he was leading me to the city, through the tents of the beleaguering infidels ! Prom the ravine we ascended the elevated por- 22 THE ISTHMUS AND COBINTB. tions of the Isthmus, and shortly after came to the point from whence we saw the seas of the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs, with the city of Corinth and the Acrocorinthus. Abounding as Greece is in beautiful localities and magnificent prospects, there is nothing that can surpass or even equal the one which is commanded from the hills on the Isthmus — the blue seas, the cultivated hills, and the rich plains, with the sites of such cities as Sicyon and Corinth, were encompassed by a border of magnifi-. cent mountains. The ppsition on which we stood was the camp of Dramali, before the capture of the Acrocorinthus, and, as my companion said, " but for the vagaries of those who were enamoured with the old stones ' of Athens, it would have become the capital of Modem Greece." The Isthmus of Corinth was re- commended to the government as one of the most appropriate localities for the foundation of a great capital — for to the advantage of its central position it added the still greater convenience of being in the-vicinity of two seas, and in the neighbourhood of the richest lands in the kingdom. Nor was it deficient in associations — the scenes of the Isthmian games — the Acropolis and the city of Corinth — the sight of Sicyon, the seas, and the islands of the iEgian — the mountains of Argolis, of Arcadia, of Phocis, and Locris — were equal, if not superior, to the localities commanded by the most eligible posi- tions in the country —they are sufficient to satisfy THS ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. the most extravagant admirer of Ancient Greece. But the project which promised so much to the husbandman and the scholar, promised still more to the commerce of the country; it promised to accomplish what has been a great desideratum for ages — to unite theJ2gian and the Adriatic — to give to Greece and the East a new emporium ! The foundation of the capital on the Isthmus of Corinth would have been the crowning work of the Greek revolution, but the ill fate of the land has defeated the project — the manifold advantages of this locality, and the prodigality of nature, are left abandoned and neglected ; a few miserable villages, and the equally miserable representatives of Corinth and Sicyon, are almost the only points of relief throughout the length and breadth of this magnifi- cent panorama, which, but for the ignorance and the folly of strangers, might have been teeming with life. From the Isthmus to the city of Corinth, there was hardly anything to disturb the repose of nature. Here and there was to be seen a flock of sheep on the hills, or some solitary sail on the waters of the gulf; but these were calculated to add to, rather than diminish, the solitude of the scene, and we con* tinued our journey in profound silence, till the ruins of Corinth awoke us from our revery. The high walls on each side of the street were still standing, but the greater portion of the area was covered with the ruins of its former habitations ; and the only 34 THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. resting-place we could find in the once opulent city of Corinth, was the poor locanda of Signor An- tonio. I took advantage of the evening twilight to visit the few remaining localities of interest in the city; and having wandered through a string of khans and miserable hovels in the lower part of the city, I at length found myself among the ruins where Alp met " The maid who might have been his bride f but where I met with as perfect a scene of desola- tion as is to be found even in the city of Corinth. Now as before the revolution, " There is a temple in ruin stands, Fashion'd by long forgotten hands ; Two or three columns-, and many'a stone; Marble and granite, with grass o'ergrown !" and this interesting ruin is almost the only remnant of ancient Corinth. Having no Francesca " by my side," and die evening air being rather too chilly for a solitaire, I left the columns of the temple to watch over die soft scenes of love and glory, and then repaired to the governor of the province, whose quarters, though in sight of the ruin, were as inaccessible as the Aero- corinthus. In the upper loft of the tower I found, besides the governor and his intelligent lady, half a THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. dozen Corinthians, Excepting the lady, they alt seemed to be employed in some plot or local intrigue, and for a while they looked as if they would rather have me in America than in Corinth. Fortunately, Capt. Petmeza came to our relief, and his curiosity about America and its aborigines furnished us with themes of conversation for the evening. The old chief seemed to be particularly pleased with the » simplicity of savage life; the bow and the blanket^ of the Indian were better adapted to his way of acting and thinking than the elaborate forms and uniforms of civilized life. Having contributed my share to the entertain- ment of the evening, I felt myself entitled to a return, and the governor of Corinth proved very liberal in all matters, except in such as were too nearly connected with the politics of the place and the day. The province of Corinth, though the largest in point of territorial extent, holds the sixth rank in point of population among the pro- vinces of the Peloponnesus. The present number of inhabitants is a little more than twenty-five thousand ; while Mantinea, with half the extent, and most of this mountainous, has more than fifty- three thousand^people. Even in its present state of depopulation, Corinth yields to the national treasury an annual income of more than 600,000 drachmas, and might be made to yield three and even four times this amount under a different management ; but unfortunately, most of the landed estates, the vol. n. — 3 - 26 THE ISTHMUS AND CORINTH. very best portion of them, belong to the national domains, and the peasants who cultivate them are obliged to pay to the national treasury twenty-five per cent, of the gross produce ; and as if this were not enough, they are farther subjected to the vexa- tions of the tithe-gatherers, who are the worst scourges of the land, and they are thus deprived of the protection they enjoyed when they were the i tenants of the Turkish Beys. So that, while the city is a hotbed of politics, and its port filled with mud, the interests of agriculture are labouring under the manifold evils of a system of taxes which is disgraceful even to Turkey. We have driven out the Turks, but why keep their system of taxation and vassalage ? The governor of Corinth shrugged his shoulders, and twisted his mustache. RUINS OF CORINTH LITHOFCIW ENOrCOT r CHAPTER IIL ACROCOKINTHUS AND DERVENAKIA. Eakly in the morning we left the locanda of Signor Antonio, and passing by the copious fountain at the foot of the Acrocorinthus, commenced our ascent to the citadel by a narrow and winding foot- path. A ride of little less than an hour brought us to the foot of the walls, and in sight of the entrance, whose massive gate and high towers were of them- selves a sufficient recompense for the trouble we had taken. Leaving our horses outside of the castle, and passing over the drawbridge into the outer enclo-, sure, we were shortly after admitted into the inte- rior of the citadel by the sentinel on duty. To the right of the gate, and under the shadow of its towers, we noticed the celebrated fountain of Pei- rene, and furtheT in we found a number of wells cut in the rock ; but with these exceptions, and one or two Turkish houses in the possession of the gar- rison, the rest of the area, which, as late as 1821, had, besides two hundred and fifty houses, four Turkish mosques, and four or Ave churches^ with ACROCORINTHUS AND DERVENAKIA. the cathedral of the province, had nothing else to show but a vast heap of ruins, wherein the altars and the temples of the heathens were lying side by side with the mosques of the Turks, and the sanc- tuaries of the Christians. A flock of sheep were browsing among the ruins, and though the fountain of Peirene was still flowing, it seemed as if life had ceased to throb. Even the few sentinels on duty looked more like the ghosts of departed warriors than like living beings. We rambled for a while through the ruins within the walls, and then climbed to the eastern pinnacle of the rock, from whence we enjoyed the magnifi- cent prospect at our feet. In the early part of the morning, the greater portion of the view was par- tially concealed by a bright haze, but these golden exhalations were soon dispelled by the rays of the sun, and the half of Greece was spread before us. In the fore-ground of the picture lay the city of Corinth, with its mournful ruins, and its soft hills : farther to the east, and to the right and left of the Isthmus, "The land-mark of the double tide. That purpling rolls on either side,'* were the waters of the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs, with their soft islands and rocky promontories ; and beyond these seas, the picture, which comprehended such names of classical celebrity as Sycion, Cryssa, Salamis, and Athens, was bound by a magnificent border of mountains, among which I could easily ACROCOKINTHUS AND DERVENAKID. 29 recognise "the forms of Cytheron^ Hymettus, Heli- con, and Parnassus ! Surely nothing can be more magnificent than the prospect from the Acrocorinthus, and nothing more grand or more imposing than the Acrocorinthus it- sell The dwellings of man and the sanctuaries of religion have indeed disappeared, and even the can- non, which in the course of the last three hundred years enveloped in their smoke the rock of the Acro- corinthus, and so often disturbed the repose of na- ture, have been thrown into the plain and coined into vile leptas ; but the walls, with their battle- ments, and the towers which crown the "hoary rock," are still standing, and while under their effect I knew not which to admire most, to which to give the preference, to the works of nature and of art which rose above the earth and suspended themselves in the air, or to tfce associations of his- tory and of poetry, which from the earliest to the latest days have enveloped this scene in their re- splendent folds " Many a vanish'd year and age, And tempest's breath, and battle's rage, Have swept o'er Corinth ; yet she stands A fortress form'd to freedom's hands.** To the stirring scenes which were enacted within and without the Acrocorinthus through the succes- sion of ages, the late revolution has added another episode t6 her interesting annals. The siege of the 3* 80 ACROCORINTHVS AND DERVENAKIA. Acrocorintbus by the Greeks, and the invasion of the Peloponnesusby Dramali Pasha, forms the clos- ing scene in the history of her last conquerors. The Acrocorinthus, besides being well stored with ammunition and provisions, was too strong a post to be surprised, or brought to terms by the insur- gents; but Kiamil Bey, the chief spirit of the place, was invited to Tripolitza previous to the opening scene of the struggle, and while in the capital of the province, and deliberating with his compeers as to what was best to be done under the existing state of things, the Greek revolution broke out, and like a long smothered, fire, spread all over the country; Every place of importance was besieged, and at length Tripolitza, the city in which the Beys- and the Agas of note had congregated, became the rally- ing point of all the Greek forces. The siege was followed by the captujp, and the ill-fated Tripolitza witnessed the sad overthrow of her fortunes. The massacre which followed the surprise of the city was without discrimination ; but while the infirm and the innocent suffered with the strong and the guilty, prudential considerations indnced the Greek chiefs to interpose their authority in behalf of the principal Turks, and amongst them was the well known Kiamil Bey of Corinth. The wealth and influence of Kiamil Bey were the considerations of this merciful act on the part of the Greeks, and accordingly the illustrious prisoner was carried from Tripolitza to Corinth, where, partly ACROCORItfTHUS AND DERVBNAKIA. 31 through promises, and partly through threats, he became instrumental in the surrender of the citadel, which had been for the last century in the hands of his ancestors, and which at this time contained his wealth, his devoted followers, and his family. The surrender of the fortress was followed, first by the pillage, and then by the massacre of its de- fenders, and Kiamil Bey found himself a prisoner in the stronghold of his power. With his imprison- ment his good star seemed to desert him, and to his other misfortunes was added the sight of his palaces and his villages, which glittered in the city and gleamed in the plain, and the consequent recollec- tion of the magnificent heritage he had lost. The only pleasures which his fortunes had spared him, was the enjoyment of his consoling chibouk, and the presence of his family, though the last were often the means of adding to the anguish of his heart by their participation in his sorrows and humiliations. The great object with the Greeks after the sur- render of the citadel, was the wealth which this distinguished Turk was supposed to possess; but Kiamil Bey, either because he had nothing to give, or because he was animated with the hope of speedy deliverance, refused to comply with the wishes of his captors, and submitted to his fate and his suf- ferings with the dignity and the resignation which became the gravity and the fatality of his race. Kiamil Bey prayed, and smoked, and played with his beard for six months. He looked upon the seas, 32 ACBOCORmTHUS AND DERVEANKIA. but excepting the Greek mysticoes, not a ship of his nation was to be seen. He watched the Isth- mus, and saw nothing but Gaiours. His patience and hope had nearly given way, when the horizon was darkened, and before he could explain the cause, Dramali, with eight other Pashas, rolled down the mountain, and burst upon the Isthmus like an impetuous and resistless tide. The moun- tains and the plains were covered with the most splendid army that was ever witnessed since the days of Bajazet, and the description of the poet was in this instance verified to the very letter. " On dun Citheron's ridge appears The gleam of twice ten thousand spears ; And downward to the Isthmian plain, / From shore to shore of either main, The tent is pitched, the crescent shines Along the Moslem's leaguering lines ; And the dark Spahi's bands advance Beneath each bearded Pasha's glance, And far and wide as eye can reach, The turband'd cohorts throng the beach." Kiamil Bey "beheld from the window of his prison this animating and imposing spectacle which spread below, and which called the garrison to witness in silence and fear the strength and the splendour of the power they had brought against them. It was at this moment that the illustrious prisoner conceived himself on the threshold of his prison, and his ap- prehensions gave way to delightful anticipations. ACROCORINTHUS AND DERVENAKIA. 33 He once more found himself surrounded by obedient and beautiful slaves. His palaces were again thronged with the bravest of his race, and freedom, with all her charms and fascinations, invited his eyes to dwell upon the luxuries and the splendours of oriental magnificence ; but at the moment when his hand lay upon the insignia of power, that were thus brought within his reach, and while his imagi- nation was feasting upon scenes which thrilled and bewildered his whole system, the angel of death summoned him before his Maker. At the time of Dramali's appearance before the walls of the Acropolis, the fortress was not only ill provided wiih provisions and ammunition, but poorly garrisoned, and the commandant, who, a few days after the desertion of his men, destroyed him- self, was obliged to follow the men whom he could no longer govern. The Greeks, who could not an- ticipate anything less than a siege, took occasion to decamp before the passes were closed, and amid the hurry and trepidation of the moment Kiamil Bey was forgotten, and might have escaped with his life had it not been for one of the men, who chose to close the scene of their dastardly conduct by shooting the unfortunate prisoner. The last scene of the tragedy was thus aggravated by a bloody and cowardly act. The tranquillity which reigned in the fortress through the night was too remarkable to escape the notice of the Turkish general. He attributed the 25 34 ACROCORINTHUS AND DERVENAKIA, silence of the Gaiours to anything but the right cause, and when, on the next morning, he went to reconnoitre the fortifications,, he found, to his great surprise, the gates of the outer and inner enclosures thrown open, and the Hanumoi Kiamil Bey await- ing his arrival at the entrance of the Acrocorinthus. 