very

well pleased, although one of them yesterday, when I happened to be

"Crooning o'er an auld Scotch sonnet,"

desired me to be quiet with my groaning. Soon after, he offered to serve me as a Janissary during my travels. The Turkish character has unquestionably much simplicity in it. There is something curiously animal about my fellow-passengers a sort of mastiff docility, which at once tempts me to teaze them, and inspires caution in the manner.

The breeze, after we left Idra, as I have already mentioned, was very light. For the greatest part of the following day, we were alongside of St. George, an uncultivated rocky island, that lies about fifteen miles South of Sunium, and is inhabited by two or three pastoral Albanian families, who possess a few flocks of sheep and goats. Towards the evening, the wind became rather brisker, but less favourable, and obliged us to steer close upon Provenzale and under the Cape; where, had we been in a boat, instead of a large vessel, we should, in all probability, have been pounced upon by some of the pirates, who conceal

themselves in the creeks along the shore. These uncommissioned heroes have lately become so formidable, having been reinforced by a number of banditti from a French privateer, that they have attracted the attention of Government, and an Ottoman frigate is expected to be sent to cruize in this quarter, if she is not already

arrived.

The sea, round the Cape, was vivid and rippling; and the promontory, crowned with white ruins and desolate columns, was brightly illuminated by the setting sun. Seen from a short distance, and as part of the objects in the landscape, ruins produce their appropriate effect on the mind. The shrine of antiquity should not be approached too near. The devout pilgrim must worship reverentially aloof, if he wishes to retain his enthusiasm : a rash approach will incur the insensibility of a dealer in dates and dimensions.

Soon after sunset the wind entirely subsided, and we were becalmed close under the long island of Macronisi. This island, in which the ruins of an antient city are visible, is inhabited by two or three Greeks from Zea, who cultivate a little

grain, and tend a few sheep. It possesses a fine spring of water. I was not on shore, but such is the account I have received of it. About sixty years ago, it is said to have been infested by a prodigious serpent, which killed the sheep and the shepherds. A Greek sailor undertook to destroy the monster, and having succeeded, the Captain Pashaw of that time rewarded the modern Hercules with a vessel.

In the course of the night we were disturbed by a voice hailing either from the island or a boat, which reminded me of the proclamation of the death of Pan, as it is said to have taken place on the evening of the Crucifixion. Conceiving that it might be a signal from some of the pirates, we prepared ourselves for an attack, but it was not repeated. At midnight a Sirocco wind began to rise; and becoming boisterous, the master judged it best to come into the harbour of this island (Zea), one of the finest ports in the Archipelago, and capable of sheltering a vast number of vessels from every wind. The island itself is beautiful, and differs greatly from Idra. It appears to have been originally as barren; but, in the course of the many ages that

it has been inhabited, the precipitous sides of the hills have been formed into innumerable artificial terraces. The town stands very high; and I counted, on the lower side of the road which leads to it, at one place, forty-nine terraces under me, and in several places on the opposite hills upwards of sixty. The number of these rude but necessary works, more effectually impresses on the mind of a stranger a just notion of the long period that the island has been inhabited by a civilized community, than monuments of greater invention and art..

The form of the town resembles that of the city of Idra; but it is inland, and stands much higher. From the sea it appears an inconsiderable village; and even until arriving at the upper part, I thought it in a state of Sicilian dirtiness and misery. However, in getting out of the narrow and nasty lanes by which I ascended to the Consul's house, I was agreeably surprized at its magnitude, and the respectable appearance of many of the buildings. It is said to contain not less than a thousand houses. The population of the island is estimated at upwards of five thousand souls, all Christians, for the religious go

vernment and instruction of whom there are thirty-four churches, five monasteries, and the half of a public schoolmaster. Thermia has the other half of Lingo, who spends alternately a year in each island. At present he is in Thermia. There are, however, one or two private schools, where the children are instructed in the mere rudiments of reading.

The great production of the island is Valonia, of which it formerly exported a considerable quantity to Italy, but the war has stopped that, trade. It also exports, in common years, two or three cargoes of grain, and three or four thousand barrels of wine, of an excellent flavour on the island, but which it sometimes loses at sea, where it is apt to become not only sour, but putrid: this, however, might be prevented by brandy. At present, all the trade here is literally at a stand. The inhabitants, however, have not the reputation of being very active or enterprizing.

The cattle that I have seen are uncommonly small, but well formed. An ox is worth about one pound fifteen shillings, and a good sheep five shillings. As in the islands generally, a little silk is raised here, and the British agent has two or three orange and