:

situation and inactivity of the people having reduced their numbers to less than fifty. I was recommended by them (for they would not point out which was their Aga,) to remove to a little distance, as they had very recently had illness among them. No mark of hospitality was shown to me, and on applying to hire horses I was shunned by all. The authority of the firman was useless, for they would not point out the chief to whom I might present it: the temptation of money was also of no avail, as they said they did not want it, and their horses were at pasture in the plain others led me to suppose they would bring horses; but all failed, and I was unable to proceed. The children were not checked for calling us Ghiaours, and we were laughed at by the people,—a situation by no means soothing to the temper of either an Englishman or a Greek. My servant Demetrius swore at the whole nation of Turks, and upbraided me by asking where was the great hospitality for which I praised this people. Not being disposed, in consequence of one instance to the contrary, to condemn all the nation, I said that there must be some cause for our being so neglected here.

Some peasants passing through to the next village, Sansoón, were prevailed upon as a favour (for they were not influenced by money) to carry the baggage; and a lad, partly by our intimidation and partly by his own poverty, was led to take the bold step of supplying us with two riding horses, which we agreed should go with us for a fixed sum to Chánly, the second village on our route; the others were going there also, but they would only agree to carry the baggage half way, and this as a favour. We no sooner got out of the village, than sociable chat commenced, and the mystery of our ill-usage was solved. Last year four Europeans,—it is to be feared English,-the Captain, two Milordos, and another person, paid a visit to the ruins from their vessel; they hired horses to return to the sea, a distance of about ten miles. On the way Milordos struck one of the Turks; a

quarrel ensued, and a lad was severely beaten, and left they say half-dead. The Turks upon this put down their load, leaving the party half-way upon the road, to get as they could to their vessel, but offered no violent retaliation. On their return the whole village swore to have no intercourse with Europeans in future; and in order to do this without breaking the law, they would not point out their chief, to whom, or of whom, alone an application or complaint can be made. The lad who accompanied us was of a neighbouring village, but was cautioned by the people of Palláttia that we did not intend to pay him, and that he was sure to be well beaten by us. We could not remove from his mind the fear of this, and as we found plenty of horses at the Greek village of Sansoón, at his earnest request we released him from his bargain of accompanying us further, and he, to his great joy and surprise, returned home without a beating, and with money in his pocket. This incident, I think, shows how much forbearance and philosophy there is in the conduct of these people.

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CHAPTER X.

SOUTH OF LYDIA.

PRIENE.-SANSOON.-THUNDER-STORM.-NATURAL HISTORY.-CHANLY. -SCALA NUOVA. - EPHESUS.-ITS REMAINS.-IDIN, THE ANCIENT TRALLES.-A MARKET-DAY.-VALLEY OF THE MEANDER.

May 1st.-The Greek village of Sansoón is prettily placed' house above house, upon the rocky slopes of the mountain, and commands a splendid view of the valley and lake which we had passed. An horizon of beautiful mountains, rising behind richly-wooded hills, gives bounds to the plains below.

Within a mile of Sansoón towards the sea, and upon a bolder and more precipitous rock, stood the ancient Priene. The admirable choice of situation for these two towns shows that the taste of their ancestors is inherited by the modern Greeks. The Turkish village of Sansoón, which lies in the valley a mile below, is now for the most part in ruins, and at this season is wholly deserted by its inhabitants for their tents in the hills. The villagers of the Greek Sansoón soon came within their legal quarantine distance to learn our wants, and on my return from a walk I found my servant gossiping with thirty or forty wondering and intelligent hearers who stood around him. These inhabitants were all employed in spinning, winding, or working in some way, and

their industry seemed, from the appearance of the houses and everything around, to have met with its reward. The

implements for spinning and the mode of using them are precisely those seen represented in the vases and sculptures of the ancient Greeks. I observed the same mode throughout the country, the store of wool being sometimes placed within the capacious sash or shawl, instead of on the distaff. The men are often employed in spinning the goats' hair and coarse wool for making their tents. We made our purchases of bread, flour, wine, and eggs, and the basin of water received the small return for our stores, and horses were brought to us in the morning.

I was not able to examine closely the ruins of Priene, but saw many old walls covering an extensive slope of a hill, out

of which, as if built by art, spring perpendicularly the rocks on whose top was the acropolis: a few walls also remain, and the cliff has been perfected in its face by the walls of the early Greeks, who worked well in concert with nature. A theatre behind is, as usual, cut out of the face of the hill.

In my tent at Miletus I experienced an awful night of successive storms of thunder. My tent appeared to be the target at which every weapon of the elements was aimed. The setting sun left us oppressed by a sultry heat; soon afterwards a gust of wind made the cords quiver and the canvas belly before the howling blast; the rain followed in torrents, loudly hissing as it fell, and scarcely turned from its downward course by the power of the wind; the tent was lit up by the successive flashes of lightning, and the peals of thunder, had they not been softened by the long echoes as they rolled into the distance along the ranges of mountains on either side, would have awakened even Demetrius, but he lay fast asleep. I called to him, but the noise of the falling rain on the tent had rendered his ears deaf to feebler sounds, and he slept on. Fine, calm, clear moonlight succeeded, and every dripping leaf multiplied the stars; but it was not in stillness; for the clouds, which had been borne beyond our horizon, were still pealing in their distant progress, leaving the mountains vibrating their notes. After slackening the braced cords of the tent, I lay down to sleep, but was again awakened by a repetition of the storm. The lightning, which seemed to linger on the canvas, showed me by my watch hanging at a distance that it was three o'clock. While dozing I was startled by seeing amidst the flashes a light and smoke within the tent, and calling with all my strength to awake Demetrius, found that he had just been roused by the storm and had struck a light, and that it was his brimstone match which I had mistaken for a thunderbolt. To converse was impossible, and listening to the twice-told tale of the storm I soon again fell asleep,