TRIPOTAMOS-DEBRIS.

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ruins occupy a large space on the right bank of the river, and consist of foundations of city walls and temples. In the yard of a convent, the only habitation on the spot, built upon one of these ancient foundations by an old monk in 1825, were a number of broken columns and capitals. The village of Libartsi is not far distant, but out of sight.

k

Just after leaving the ruins, and when about to crossthe stream which comes down from the snows of Olonos, the mountain itself appeared through an opening in the hills, bearing a little west of north and not far distant. Another stream enters the Erymanthus from the other side, and it is from the junction of these three rivers that the place is called Tripotamos. The modern name of the river below this junction till it falls into the Alpheus, is Dogana. Our route lay over an old pavement sadly out of repair, above the deep, tortuous, wooded glen containing the bed of the Dogana. The oaks here are quite a forest, with acorns enough to feed many an Erymanthian boar. Coming to a most rugged and toilsome ascent up a mountain of slate, called Cacoskale because of its difficulty, the river bends to the left, and we again entered ELIS. A road branches to the right leading to Gastoune, perhaps through the town of Dibris, a strong hold in the mountains said to contain 600 or 700 houses. It escaped the ravages of the enemy, and afforded a secure retreat to many of the defenceless inhabitants of the plain of Elis: our mule

(k) "This old man preached to the Greeks to abstain from theft and other sins, and strongly pressed on them to fast perpetually; to abstain from the duties of marriage; to give up all Turkish property which had fallen into their hands; and to use no other weapon than the sign of the cross. He solemnly assured the misguided multitudes, that in this manner the Turks would all perish, and themselves be defended from on high. I should myself have been rather disposed to consider the man as deceived, than a deceiver, were it not for the immense sums of money which he amassed by his preaching. I have been assured that he collected no less than 700,000 piastres, the offerings of the enthusiastic multitudes. Their eyes were opened when Ibrahim Pasha came and put the old man to death, and took possession of his treasures."-Rev. Mr. Hartley's Journal in London Miss. Register for 1830, p. 233.

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NEW ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.

teers refused to take us there on account of the badness of the road. Having surmounted the hill we entered an undulating, grazing country, interspersed with trees chiefly the oak, and stopped to dine on the shaded banks of a brook. Here our interpreter came near being bitten by a serpent, not many yards from the spot where we were reclining on the ground. The reptile belonged to the species we saw the day we left Tripolitsa, and approached him with head erect and a hissing noise, but was happily arrested and killed by one of the muleteers when a few inches distant.

Turning round a hill we looked abroad over a great plain, or table-land, stretching to the horizon between the south and west-an Elian prospect, differing widely from those of Arcadia. The general direction of our route was southwesterly, bringing us down upon the table-lands and into a forest of small oaks, now quiet and safe, but infested not long since by Wallachian robbers of singular ferocity. Our muleteers had themselves no doubt been klephtes, (robbers,) and told us many tragical stories of occurrences in these woods, not half of which, probably, were founded in truth. They said the old monk at Tripotamos did much for the suppression of robbery in these parts. Farther on, we entered an open, but uncultivated tract of considerable extent then a grove of oaks-and beyond this we found ourselves on the edge of the more elevated plain. A second, which we crossed in ten minutes, is perhaps 100 feet lower, and from the elevated verge of that we looked over the great plain of Lala, whose green surface at the moment was softened and enriched by the rays of the setting sun. Lala itself, or rather its scattered relics, appeared on the farther extremity. Descending by a precipitous path, we found a little spring and sheep-fold where we encamped, being thoroughly exhausted with fatigue. In the evening I went out to contemplate a rare scene in the Peloponnesus-a great, unbroken semicircle to the eye formed only by the

horizon. The steep declivity of the plain above stretched along from the northwest to the southeast, like a vast wall, while the moon shone with resplendent clearness from out of the dark blue sky. If striking scenes in nature are fitted to awaken devotion, what a spot this for one who enters into the spirit of the xixth Psalm.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PELOPONNESUS.

Province of ELIS continued--Productions of the plains-Lala-Douca-Plain of Olympia-Valley of the Alpheus-Re-enter the province of ARCADIA-Rivers Erymanthus and Ladon-District of Liodoras-Albanian villages-Langadia-"Heap of cursing"-River Gortynius-Reception at Demetsana-School -Description of the place-Religious customs-Conversation with a schoolmaster-On making the Scriptures our only rule of faith and practice-The Oeconomos of Demetsana-Muleteers-Costume-Food of the peasantryStriking scenery on the road to Carytæna-Carytæna-Theodore Colocotrones -Mount Lycæus and fine views-Andritsana and its school-Another heap of cursing-Situation at night-Temple of Apollo Epicurius-River Neda-Enter the province of UPPER MESSENIA-Comparative interest of this provinceCustom in relation to the dead-New range of mountains-Convenience of a tent-Scripture imagery from pastoral life-District and town of ArkadiaRoad to Navarino-Philiatra-Reflections on the battle of Navarino-Navari

no-Mothone---Corone.

THE plains mentioned at the close of the last chapter abound in fern. At the time when bread-corn was rarely to be obtained by the impoverished inhabitants of the Morea, the root of this plant was employed as a substitute; and it was found to be a more nutritive succedaneum, than any of the other herbs of the field to which the famishing multitudes were driven for food. On the plain of Lala there is a species of clover interspersed with the fern, that affords good pasturage for the flocks. Few marks of tillage are now anywhere to be seen; yet the grape, olive, and winter grains might be cultivated. Cherry, fig, almond, and walnut trees now grow upon and around the site of Lala. The ruined walls of three or four chieftain's palaces, apparently the only buildings made of stone, are all that remains of the town. The walls of the other houses, about 1,000 in number, being composed of unburnt bricks and laid open to the rains, have melted into heaps of clay. Thus does a considerable town disappear from the

Not

earth in the short space of seven or eight years. a dozen families now reside on the ground. Lala was inhabited almost solely by a clan of Albanian robbers, who formed one of those half-rebellious, half-independent communities, that are tolerated by the weakness or policy of the government in so many parts of the Turkish empire. Always clad in armor, and formidable for their brave and warlike disposition, the Laliotes kept the surrounding country in awe. Like most mountain tribes, they held inviolable the right of asylum, and the refugee with them had little reason to fear the orders of the pasha. They took arms early in the revolution to assist in subduing the Greeks, and were defeated by a body of Ionians, and compelled to fly to Patras, while the victors entered their town and burnt it. The defeat of the most intrepid body of Moslems in the Peloponnesus in the first battle between the Greeks and their oppressors, must have greatly encouraged the Greeks in their revolutionary struggle.

Not being able to obtain any bread here, we went off our road to Douca, a new and flourishing village of 50 houses, where the inspector of police for this district resides. He showed us many attentions, and gave us information freely. Having procured bread enough for two or three days, we returned to our road, and had new evidence, in a continued descent of an hour, of the great elevation of the plains above. We travelled down a glen. Much of the path was shaded, and springs fre quently gushed from the hill side forming the Cladeus, which pours into the Alpheus on the plain of Olympia. Both that plain and the Alpheus were visible at 5 P. M., and a little after sunset we pitched our tent between a large tumulus and the "Hill of Saturn." After having traversed the rich and beautiful plains of Arcadia and Achaia, I cannot say I was struck with anything remarkable in the present aspect of this renowned spot. The hills on the north are covered with the sea-pine, instead of the oak, and, at this season, look dry and uninviting. On the other side of the Alpheus, however, they were