■AW-i\ ■■•.-. 
 
 Two Roving Englishwomen 
 
 in Greece 
 
 ISABEL J. ARMSTRONG 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
V 
 
* ' 
 
 TWO ROVING ENGLISHWOMEN 
 IN GREECE. 
 

 ►^ S/^L ^ - '■ '-5" * 
 
 COMING DOWN FROM THE MONASTERIES OF METeORA. 
 
 [Frontispiece. 
 
TWO ROVING 
 
 ENGLISHWOMEN 
 
 IN GREECE 
 
 BY 
 
 ISABEL J. ARMSTRONG 
 
 LONDON 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY 
 
 Limited 
 §X. Jhmstnn's ijottse 
 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 
 1893 
 
 \_AU rights reserved.'] 
 
TO 
 
 MRS. EDMONDS 
 
 WHO HAS PLEADED THE CAUSE OF THE 
 
 GREEK PEOPLE 
 
 IN SONG, BIOGRAPHY, AND 
 
 ROMANCE 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 To the majority of English people, Greece is still 
 a terra incognita, and to that fact alone can be 
 attributed the wide-spread belief in the dangers 
 encountered by the traveller in that kingdom. 
 On my friend (Edith Payne) and I announcing 
 our intention of starting off by ourselves to Greece, 
 the general opinion seemed to be that we were 
 going out to be murdered ; or, if it did not come 
 to murder, that we should get into some hobble out 
 of which it would take at least a modern Perseus to 
 deliver us. Our experience taught us that Greece 
 was a charming country in which to travel, and if 
 we did encounter danger, that was purely of our 
 own courting. 
 
 In the spelling of Greek names every writer 
 appears to take out his own patent, but as I 
 could only draw from the Fountain of Ignorance, 
 it has been my endeavour to give the names spelt 
 in the way that we found of the most practical use. 
 
 W3A 3310 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 Likewise, in the same spirit, I have tried to refresh 
 the memory with the common traditions con- 
 nected with those places, and which will not always 
 come when they are called. Thessaly being very- 
 dear to us and almost an unknown country, my 
 pen may have lingered there too long, but for 
 this and the many blemishes that I fear do figure 
 in these pages, I can only throw up my hands 
 to a generous public and cry " Tobah ! " trusting 
 that my sins of omission and commission may find 
 exoneration in the desire to portray faithfully a 
 glance at a state of society that is fast being swept 
 out of Greece by the advancement of railways and 
 the introduction of Western ideas of civilization. 
 
 I am indebted to the exceeding kindness of Miss 
 Eggar for the spirited frontispiece, in which she 
 has portrayed with wonderful accuracy the dress 
 and character of " Ariel," the chief of our guard to 
 the monasteries of Meteora. 
 
 The rest of the illustrations are reproductions of 
 some of my sketches. 
 
 I. J. A. 
 
JpYYmVrtvtif 
 
 i 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 About the Greek — Facts and thoughts . . . . i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Land at Patras— Railway to Olympia — Stay at a Greek 
 inn : its domestic economy — Primitive ideas of 
 Leonidos with regard to cleanliness — The Museum 
 and the ruins — The last days of Olympia . .it 
 
 CHAPTER 111. 
 
 La vie saavage — Beautiful scenery between Olympia 
 and Andritsaena — Pass through Krestenaand Greka 
 — White heath and red anemones — Arrive in the 
 dark — Strange quarters — The young student — We 
 sleep on the floor 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Give up Phigaleia on account of the rain — Stony road to 
 Bassas — Splendid situation of the temple, and utter 
 desolation of the spot — We go without escort — 
 Grisly experiences— Are received by the priest's 
 wife at Andritsaena — Our mistakes in etiquette — 
 Return to Olympia 58 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Our classic wash — The last of Olympia — From Patras 
 to Athens — Sikyon — Old Corinth and its acropolis — 
 Akro-Korinthos — Isthmian Wall and the Canal — 
 
x Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Eighteen German professors — Athens — Treasures 
 from Mykenae, and old tombs — Alexanders sarco- 
 phagus by Lysippos — Walk up Pentelicus and look 
 down on Marathon ....... 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Huckleberries on the Parthenon — Mykenae — The shaft- 
 graves and bee-hive tombs — Argos — Nauplia — 
 Drive to the Hieron of Epidauros ; the perfect 
 theatre — Asklepios as physician and humorist — 
 Tiryns : its wonderful walls and galleries . . 108 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Nauplia to Athens by sea — The sacrifice of lambs — 
 Anniversary of Greek Independence — The royal 
 family — Good Friday and Easter Eve ceremonies — 
 Dancing at Megara — Disturbed state of the country 
 — Brigands and soldiers fighting in Thessaly — 
 Everyone advises us not to go there — Finally we 
 escape from Athens 142 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Start for Thessaly — Experience Greek hospitality atVolo 
 — Leave for Larissa — First view of Olympos and 
 Ossa — The town of Larissa — A Gypsy Wedding — 
 The poor Bride 160 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Vale of Tempe — A brigand scare — Caesars inscrip- 
 tion and the Professor's ponlet — Spring of Kryologon 
 — The three-and-twenty murderers develop into 
 cattle-lifters — A go-as-you-please — Green tortoises . 184 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 We start for the monasteries of Meteora — The classic 
 ground of Thessaly — Synopsis of the history of the 
 monasteries — Interviewed by the Demarch of Kala- 
 baka ; our escort — Extraordinary position of Hagia 
 Trias ; the net cannot be lowered, so we have to 
 climb the ladders 205 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PAC.B 
 
 Arrive at the Monastery of St. Stephen's — The Hegou- 
 menos' reception, his keen sense of humour — He 
 dines with us, entertaining us royally — Ariel turns 
 valet, strange proceedings of everybody — The 
 churches, beautifully carved altar-screen — The cells 
 of the Brothers of St. Basil 240 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Leave KalaMka — Volo and the old cities in the neigh- 
 bourhood — We are criticized by a Greek woman — 
 Thermopylae at sunset, and splendid view of Mount 
 Parnassos — Khalkis, the Euripos, and Bay of Aulis 
 — The mines of Laurion— Beautiful position of the 
 temple on Cape Sunion— Arrive at Athens two days 
 late, the manager of our hotel thought we had been 
 killed 271 
 
 Conclusion 298 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Coming down from the Monasteries of Meteora Frontispiece 
 
 Isabel J. Armstrong 
 
 Xenodochfon — Hotel d'Olympie 
 
 Olympia .... 
 
 Temple of Apollo, Bassae 
 
 Entrance to Gulf of Corinth 
 
 Akro-Korinthos 
 
 Fort Bourzi — Looking across the Bay of Nauplia to 
 
 Argos, and Fort of Larisa 
 Larisa — Mount Zara — Mount Elias 
 Treasury of Atreus . 
 
 Mykenae between Mounts Elias and Zara 
 The Lion's Gate, Mykenae 
 Lion and Feet of Two Figures from Mykenae 
 Nauplia from Tiryns 
 Edith Payne . 
 Mount Olympos 
 Minaret, Larissa 
 Mount Ossa . 
 
 Hagia Trias 
 Hagios Stephanos 
 Gulf of Volo . 
 Khalkis . 
 Cape Sunion . 
 
 vin 
 21 
 28 
 64 
 9i 
 93 
 
 in 
 
 113 
 11S 
 119 
 120 
 124 
 140 
 
 159 
 171 
 
 174 
 202 
 227 
 241 
 278 
 285 
 291 
 
TWO ROVING ENGLISHWOMEN IN 
 GREECE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ABOUT THE GREEK. FACTS AXD THOUGHTS. 
 
 FOR his own comfort and interest, any one travel- 
 ling in Greece without a dragoman should certainly 
 have a slight acquaintance with modern Greek, 
 not but that I believe a traveller with a good 
 temper and a sense of the ridiculous could get 
 through the Peloponnesus on three words — 
 krassi (/cpaal), wine, psomi (-^eo/u), bread, kald 
 {icaka), good, beautiful, &c. 
 
 Wine and bread appeared to be the staple food 
 of the people, meat we found had to be ordered, 
 and the traveller does not generally stay long 
 enough in a place to benefit by the execution of a 
 lamb, whilst the word kald is absolutely indispen- 
 sable. This kald seemed to stand for a number 
 of words and expressions all in the pleasant tense ; 
 thus, when you were struggling over an intensely 
 
 B 
 
2 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 nasty native dish, your hostess stood over you and 
 asked you if it was not kald ? and then puzzled you 
 very much the next morning by making kald 
 stand for farewell, a good journey. In fact, 
 there would be no knowing how a Greek would 
 use this word ; in Thessaly we found it synony- 
 mous with " All right," whilst the Peloponnesian 
 would make mdlista (fxdXia-ra), "certainly," 
 do duty for that term. The slowly dragged out 
 mdlista came much more suitably from the lips of 
 the silent Greek of the Peloponnesus than the 
 quick kald of the gay Thessalian. And whilst on 
 the subject of the language it might be as well to 
 say that the difficulty the novice finds is in the 
 daily use of so many synonyms for the same word ; 
 thus in our short experience when asking for hot 
 water we came across three words for hot. Early 
 in our travels it was said to us, " They will under- 
 stand you, but you will not understand them, 
 because though they may bring your question into 
 their answer they will reply in other words/' This 
 we found was litetally true. Our difficulty was 
 not that they could not understand what we said, 
 but that we knew so very little to say. In the 
 same way the names of places are duplicated or 
 even quadrupled, which at first causes the stranger 
 some confusion of mind ; for instance, there is Mt. 
 Olympos in Thessaly and another in Euboea. 
 Orchomenos in Arcadia and the Orchomenos in 
 
A Boot and Shoe Standard. 3 
 
 Bceotia, where Dr. Schliemann excavated the 
 Treasury of Minyas ; whilst in Argolis at one 
 glance we could sweep in three hills with the name 
 of Elias. 
 
 Besides bread and wine, eggs and coffee came in 
 as a luxury ; the latter, of course, was black, and it 
 was not necessarily good. With regard to cleanli- 
 ness, we were obliged to take a practical view of it, 
 and for further convenience we brought all things 
 into a shoe-standard or a boot-standard. Shoes 
 and civilization seemed to go hand in hand. When 
 you had to get into bed with your boots, and there 
 take them off, you knew what you had to expect. 
 Until we went to Thessaly I do not remember 
 seeing a cow in Greece, but there were sheep and 
 goats in abundance, and so milk and cheese could 
 be had ; butter was an extravagance that we only 
 tasted at Patras, Athens, and Volo. Oxen were 
 used for ploughing, and presented an extraordinary 
 variety in shape and size. Ponies, donkeys, and 
 mules were the beasts of burden ; horses seemed 
 to be principally kept for carriage use, and a 
 miserable lot they were. 
 
 We were told that the national costume was 
 fast dying out, and that probably we should hardly 
 see it, but in this we were singularly fortunate 
 throughout our tour. At Olympia men in 
 fustanella were constantly coming to the Greek 
 inn at which we put up, even sometimes sitting 
 
 B 2 
 
4 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 down to our table, and the blacksmith's shed out- 
 side — as in England — was the local club, more 
 than half of whose members wore the national 
 dress. When we went still farther into the depths 
 of the country all the men appeared either in 
 fustanella or loose white tunics and Turkish 
 knickerbockers of various patterns ; likewise at 
 Athens, owing to the influx of countrymen for 
 Easter, we constantly saw the national dress, irre- 
 spective of the Queen's guard. On the other 
 hand, excepting when dressed up for Easter, we 
 never saw a Greek woman in the typical costume 
 of her country. Sometimes in the fields a woman 
 would be seen with her head tied up in a gorgeous 
 handkerchief, whilst an apron that once had 
 been embroidered was twisted about her waist ; 
 and when seated on a bright striped rug on a 
 mule she would make a patch of colour, but 
 as a rule the women looked like walking bundles 
 of dull-coloured rags. It seemed as if the occu- 
 pation of the men was such as to permit them 
 to wear their " swagger clothes," but that the work 
 that fell to the lot of woman was of a nature that 
 would allow of no display of dainty dress ; even 
 their hours of recreation apparently were spent in 
 washing the clothes of the male portion of their 
 houses. This can be no sinecure considering that 
 the ordinary Greek, with the exception of his 
 black cap and black embroidered jacket, is clothed 
 
The National Dress. 5 
 
 in white from head to foot — white shirt, white 
 fustanella, white woollen hose, and, in many cases, 
 white turned-up shoes. The marvel is how he 
 manages to keep his clothes as clean as he does, 
 for Greece is by no means a land guiltless of mud ; 
 the dust is proverbial, and heavy rain often turns 
 this into a sea of slime ; in Athens alone after rain 
 some of the streets would be ankle deep in mud. 
 To tall dark men the national dress is particularly 
 becoming-, and although artistically the fustanella 
 that has the fewest pleats is the most elegant, this 
 is not the Greek ideal, which appears to be to 
 plait as many yards as you can cram into the 
 waistband so as to make it stand out in a perfect 
 frill all the way round ; over this in cold weather a 
 black coat is worn, fitting in at the waist and with 
 long flaps covering the white skirts. To our ideas 
 there was something intensely feminine about the 
 cut of these coats, and made their wearers look 
 exactly like a troupe of ballet girls masquerading 
 as brigands ; indeed, when they lounged in elegant 
 attitudes about the picturesque shoeing-shed at 
 Olympia it might have been a scene out of an 
 opera ; moreover, they all walked with the same 
 peculiar swagger that is noticeable in the premifre 
 danseuse as she crosses the stage. Whatever the 
 ancient Greek might have been, with the excep- 
 tion of his dress, there is nothing feminine in the 
 physiognomy or physique of the modern Greek ; 
 
6 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 his face may be characteristic of distrust, but 
 his figure is the embodiment of true art. If such 
 were the models the old Greeks had ever before 
 their eyes, it is no wonder that Greece produced 
 such a succession of sculptors and painters. 
 Whether the women retain any of the famous 
 classic grace I cannot venture to say ; certainly they 
 displayed none in the home life as we saw it, 
 neither did we see one really pretty girl among 
 the people. In the higher grades it is different ; 
 there are ladies famous for their beauty, and the 
 few Greek ladies we came across were all good- 
 looking. Afterwards at Constantinople, and 
 especially at Broussa, we saw lovely Greek women, 
 but we were told they were all the wives and 
 daughters of well-to-do Greeks. 
 
 The Greeks as we found them appeared an 
 exceedingly odd jumble of education and barbarity. 
 Latin and French they are taught at school, and 
 yet they think nothing at night of all sleeping in 
 a row on the floor in one room — beginning with 
 the father and mother down to any stranger that 
 might happen to turn up. At the date we visited 
 Greece (April, 1892), all education was free— from 
 A B C up to the university at Athens, and a free 
 education a Greek looked upon as his birthright. 
 No doubt this was a reaction from the time when 
 under Turkish rule it was impossible for many a 
 Greek child to receive any education at all. In 
 
Free Education. 
 
 like manner a reaction the other way seems to 
 have set in, helped perhaps by the financial posi- 
 tion, and the result has been the introduction of a 
 bill for payment by students in the three higher 
 schools, the lowest or elementary school being 
 still entirely free. As the highest fee, that of the 
 university, is only proposed to be ioo drachmas a 
 year (4/. at the outside), the fees in the schools 
 below cannot be called excessive ; yet, of course, 
 this bill is producing great agitation among " the 
 politicians." The Greeks rightly are very proud 
 of their free education, but the present generation 
 do not appear to have found it the panacea they 
 expected, and I was very much surprised to hear 
 both young men and middle-aged men speaking 
 against this unlimited free education. 
 
 "We manufacture nothing but professors and 
 writers," exclaimed one, " whilst what Greece re- 
 quires are men to cultivate her waste lands, 
 artisans, and engineers. Look at our railways ; 
 they are laid out by foreign engineers, the same 
 with our mines, the same with our canals. The 
 Greek should be educated to be able to perform 
 the work which the advancement of his country 
 requires ; " and he seemed to think that anything 
 that would check the absorbing desire of coming 
 up to the University of Athens would be a step in 
 the right direction. 
 
 Another national institution against which the 
 
8 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 young Greek is beginning to inveigh is " the poli- 
 tician." Now, as far as we understood, cabinet 
 ministers and members of Parliament were not in- 
 cluded in this term, which they used to designate 
 the professional amateur ; in a word, all Greeks are 
 " politicians," from the shepherd upwards. This 
 gift of everlasting political talk appears to have 
 come to them as a heritage, and is styled by the 
 practical party " the curse of the nation/' In the 
 railway carriage, on board the boat, in the streets, 
 at the khans, verily, where two or three Greeks 
 are met together, there will politics be talked. Of 
 course, as we visited Greece just before the elec- 
 tions that put M. Tricoupis into power again, we 
 had the benefit of this mania far into the witching 
 hours of night. 
 
 The characteristic of the Greek that struck me 
 most — and I do not think that this was due to the 
 force of contrast — was his intense patriotism. The 
 rich Greek may make his money abroad, but he 
 spends it freely for the embellishment of his own 
 country ; witness Athens alone, with its streets of 
 marble palaces and its beautiful public buildings, ail 
 built at the expense of private individuals. Then 
 talk to the people, and their intense love of their 
 country is at once apparent. Perhaps some of 
 their patriotism may be credited to the rebound to 
 liberty after centuries of oppression ; anyway their 
 late servitude accounts for their bitter hatred of the 
 
His Face a History. 
 
 Turk. Although the nightmare is over, the horror 
 of it is easily kept up in a country where there is 
 hardly a family that has not some curdling 
 domestic tragedy dating from that dark hour. 
 
 Then again the Greeks appear to excite the 
 dislike of many tourists by their dark and often 
 distrustful look, their forbidding silence, and slow- 
 ness to comprehend the wants of a stranger which 
 are shouted at him in an unknown tongue. Over 
 and over again you hear, "Those stupid Greeks, 
 they never understand what you want, so different 
 to the dear, delightful Italians, who are always so 
 bright and smiling.''' So humbug, even with both 
 hands held out for coin, ever wins the day. 
 
 I quite admit that the Gieek peasant has not 
 the charm of manner, the attractive beauty, the 
 inimitable power of telling pleasant fibs, which is 
 possessed by his brother in Italy ; but then our 
 experience of the Greek taught us that he never 
 begged, never expected money for doing nothing, 
 was always satisfied with what he got ; in many 
 cases more than pleased. I was told, however, 
 that the English, and our still more self-indulgent 
 cousins beyond the sea, were doing their best to 
 destroy this happy state of things. The Greek of 
 to-day carries in his face an epitome of the modern 
 history of his nation ; the slightest scratch below 
 the surface shows a man who, under oppressive 
 servitude, found safety alone in silence, that stealthy 
 
io Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 tread is the outcome of those years of hunted life, 
 that dark suspicious glance was bred by repeated 
 treachery, whilst the women are only to be glanced 
 at to see that every good-looking one has been 
 swept out of the land. The War of Indepen- 
 dence is still green in the memory; it is only ninety- 
 four years since the protomartyr Rhigas, poet 
 and patriot, was murdered in prison at Belgrade, 
 and his body thrown into the Danube. The 
 people have not had time to shake themselves free 
 of those years of gloom ; no doubt the rising 
 generation will be lighter of heart. The poems 
 may sing of " the gay pallikar," but the life he led, 
 which was little removed from that of the wild 
 beast, had in it no element of gaiety, and it was 
 only through sacrifice, such as this, that the sons 
 of Greece won through to freedom. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Land at Patras — Railway to Olympia — Stay at a Greek inn : 
 its domestic economy — Primitive ideas of Leonidos 
 with regard to cleanliness — The Museum and the ruins 
 — The last days of Olympia. 
 
 From Brindisi to Corfu we had had the boat to 
 ourselves, but on boarding the steamer the next 
 day we turned grey at hearing that our advent 
 brought the number up to five in the ladies' 
 cabin, which a brutal naval architect, with a 
 cynical disregard to the intricacies of the human 
 mechanism, had designed for six. As yet we 
 were novices in this department of travelling, and 
 we were about to learn that the amount of com- 
 fort or discomfort experienced entirely depends 
 on the — we will not say caste, but — character of 
 the occupants of those other berths. 
 
 We gazed at lovely Corfu until the inexorable 
 dinner-bell rang, and, after that repast, alas ! it was 
 too dark to see anything. The rock of Leukas 
 wreathed with the memory of Kephatos and 
 Sappho, Ithaka, Kephalonia, all places we had 
 looked forward to seeing, would be passed in the 
 dark, and with sadness in our hearts we went 
 
12 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 down to our cabin ; but our gloom was soon di- 
 verted by the charm and liveliness of our com- 
 panions. We had a consumptive lamp that 
 momentarily threatened to go out, and everything 
 insisted on rolling off the table and under the 
 sofa-berths, but nobody troubled about such 
 minor evils as these. Then it occurred to us 
 generally that not one of us knew at what time 
 in the morning the boat arrived at Patras. "And 
 how," exclaimed one, " can we possibly go to 
 sleep if we don't know the hour we are to 
 awake ? " 
 
 Everything can be heard on board ship if only 
 you speak loud enough ; so the baroness called 
 for her son, whom Edith had christened Signor 
 Dov'e, from his commencing every Italian sen- 
 tence by that word, and we soon heard him seek- 
 ing for information in various tongues all over 
 the boat. How that boy talked, and how he 
 loved to air his English, and how excited he 
 grew, and then how involved his language became, 
 but he never gave in. One of our companions, 
 an Australian, had been immensely amused by 
 his asking when she was going to return to her 
 " wild country," and he gave us a graphic ac- 
 count of how he went to school for three months 
 in the Isle of Wight to learn English. Apparently 
 he did not take kindly to school life, so he 
 shammed being ill, and was placed in what he 
 
Signor Dov'E's Experiences. 13 
 
 would insist upon calling "the Reformatory." 
 Then he was sent to London for change of air, 
 which, he said, with great glee, " agreed with me, 
 splendid, but I never come again to your shores 
 because of your Channel." 
 
 "Why, what did the poor Channel do ? " 
 " Oh, that Channel ! It began to move, to 
 rock ; I felt so bad ; I went down to the cabin, 
 and I screamed, and I screamed, and I screamed ! 
 And the captain he did come to me, and he took 
 me by the shoulder and he did say, ' Oh, you 
 damn boy, for why do you make that noise ? ' 
 
 If Patras is lovely under the mid-day sun I 
 cannot say, but at dawn, in the early morning, 
 and at evening, it is simply exquisite. When we 
 came on deck, dawn was still struggling with 
 night ; the dark mountains were backed by a pale 
 primrose sky ; a boat getting up steam stood out 
 a splodge of violet-black in a streak of gleaming 
 straw-coloured sea. Moreover, we had nothing 
 to do but to admire the scene, for we found we 
 were all going as baggage, that is to say, we had 
 Cook's railway tickets, and were to be landed by 
 him. Indeed, his indefatigable agent had been 
 endeavouring to effect this for the last hour, but 
 as we knew the time our train started, likewise 
 the unexhihrating atmosphere of a station wait- 
 ing-room, and we were well amused on board, 
 we pretended not to understand. Besides, the 
 
i4 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 baroness' thirteen trunks took about that time 
 to be hauled up and lowered into the many boats 
 that awaited them. 
 
 A few minutes' row on the dark waters and our 
 boat touched the steps. We were all very anxious 
 to be the first to land on the classic ground of 
 Greece, and Signor Dov'e jumped off with such 
 ardour that he drove the boat halfway back to 
 the steamer. Somehow the air of Greece seemed 
 to get into our heads. It was the native soil of 
 one ; to the others it was the long-looked-for goal 
 of their desires. In a phalanx we took Patras 
 by storm until our attention was arrested by the 
 words and signs of the loafers who were here 
 congregated, if possible, in greater numbers than 
 at any other place. We then saw our guide 
 sending out signals of distress, and, on retracing 
 our steps, found that here our ways parted, those 
 going by train to Athens turning to the left, 
 those bound for Olympia to the right. Having 
 rescued our modest Gladstones and roll of rugs 
 from the miscellaneous heap of petit bagagc, we 
 watched our courteous and agreeable companions 
 depart, the thirteen trunks and Signor Dov'e's 
 little black box at the top bringing up the rear. 
 
 It was a longer walk to the train than we had 
 expected. I say train, advisedly, because out of 
 the many buildings that stood before the waste 
 piece of land where we found our train, I never 
 
First Tickets to Olympia. 15 
 
 did discover which was the station proper. By 
 this time the sun had risen and the beautiful out- 
 line of the coast of Greece was shadowed out in 
 the softest pinks, a peak of snow brightening the 
 colour here and there, just as Chinese white 
 does in a water-colour. We thought we made 
 out to the north-west where Mesolonghi lay, and 
 farther west where Kephalonia began and Zante 
 faded into sea, but as the coast and the islands 
 appeared to the eye to be one continuous line, it 
 was exceedingly difficult at first sight to distin- 
 guish the one from the other. 
 
 The railway line from Patras to Pyrgos had 
 been opened about two years, but the continua- 
 tion to Olympia was of quite recent date ; in fact, 
 we held the first tickets, respectively numbered 
 one and two, that had been issued by Cook and 
 Son. These unfortunate tickets created quite a 
 sensation, the guard calling together all the 
 officials and hangers-on of the place, and passing 
 them round for inspection. When at last our 
 precious yellow papers were returned to us we 
 hoped they would be able to recognize numbers 
 three and four when they came that way ; but 
 they seemed to have a doubt on the subject, and 
 asked to turn the papers over yet another time. 
 
 Soon after leaving Patras a lovely range of snow 
 mountains came in view on our left ; these were a 
 part of the Erymanthos group, and many exquisite 
 
16 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 peeps we had of them. As we coasted along the 
 Peloponnesus the line brought us opposite to Meso- 
 longhi, which was pointed out to us at the foot of Mt. 
 Arakynthos, whilst a little to the right lay hid the 
 ruins of Kalydon, so interesting in connection 
 with Meleager's celebrated Kalydonian Boar-hunt, 
 which by the way appears to have set the precedent 
 of presenting the lady with the brush, though in 
 this case it was the skin and the head that Me- 
 leager gave to Atalanta for being in at the death. 
 Turning our back on the lovely outline of Northern 
 Greece, we now only had Kephalonia and Zante 
 before us ; but the sea view was perfect the whole 
 way to Pyrgos. We passed quantities of red 
 anemones, and masses of violet, blue, and pink 
 flowers; whilst a few early poppies gave us a foretaste 
 of what they would show us later on, and amid all 
 this brilliancy cropped up the grey-green lily leaves 
 of the star-like asphodel, crushing down and tram- 
 pling over her bright sisters till in places she spread 
 out into fields. Such was our first taste of the 
 physical beauty of Greece, a beauty which, to my 
 surprise, was never once spoilt by hard lines the 
 five weeks we spent in that enchanting land. 
 Accustomed to the villainous hardness of sky, sea, 
 and land of the Riviera, the pictorial softness in 
 Greece struck me with much force. The uncer- 
 tainty of the weather no doubt accounted in a 
 measure for this, and of course five weeks' experi- 
 
The First Impossible. 17 
 
 ence of a country is of no value one way or the 
 other. I can only trust that other travellers may 
 be as fortunate in atmospheric effects as we were. 
 
 We arrived at Pyrgos at twelve, and found the 
 train for Olympia did not start until 4.30 ; in fact, 
 it was the two o'clock train from Olympia which 
 came up, loafed about the line, reversed its engine, 
 and went back. This onerous journey it performed 
 twice in the day, and its time was regulated so as 
 to enable tourists stopping at Pyrgos to spend a 
 few hours at Olympia in the middle of the day and 
 yet catch the late train to Patras. We were told 
 there was a very good hotel at Pyrgos, and cer- 
 tainly the agent did his very best to persuade us 
 to give up our idea of staying at Olympia. In the 
 first place our Gladstones were seized, and he tried 
 to compel us to come in ; but finding that that 
 method aroused our British ire, it was then ex- 
 plained to us how it was not possible for English 
 people to go to a Greek inn. " And ladies, too ! 
 Why, there will be nothing fit for you to eat ; you 
 will starve ! But if you prefer all these discom- 
 forts, as you say you do, then you must go to the 
 new inn, the ' Hotel d'Olympie.' " To all of which 
 we listened with great attention, but it made no 
 alteration in our determination to go to the old 
 " Xenodochion." This was our first experience of 
 what afterwards occurred on every occasion when 
 we had made up our nrnds to go anywhere on our 
 
 C 
 
1 8 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 own account ; we were always assured that the 
 thing was impossible, yet we came through all, 
 thinner perhaps, but with zeal undaunted. 
 
 To our surprise we found the smiling and 
 obliging station-master of Pyrgos could speak a 
 little English, and during our hours of waiting he 
 repeatedly interviewed and practised on us that 
 knowledge. First he brought us his own chair, 
 which, by the way, had lost its back, but this we 
 afterwards found was the normal state of chairs in 
 Greece ; so long as a chair had four legs it could 
 hold its own with the best. Then he showed us 
 bags of silver and copper coins that he had col- 
 lected. These were exceedingly interesting ; we 
 made out the owls of Athens, the horses of Corinth, 
 and many others which I cannot remember, but as 
 neither of us understood coins we did not dare to 
 purchase. Afterwards we saw some similar looking 
 coins at Roustchouk, and wished that numismatology 
 had been included in our education. Whilst wait- 
 ing at Pyrgos we came across the first sign of the 
 far-famed dust of Greece, in the shape of a small 
 boy with a box, who turned up on the arrival or 
 departure of a train and dusted the men's shoes. 
 
 From Pyrgos to Olympia the railway runs in- 
 land, and the lovely coast line is left behind. In 
 solitary grandeur we started on our last stage to 
 01ympia,and were slowly drawing out of the station, 
 when into the next compartment there sprang a 
 
The Three Spiders. 19 
 
 heaven-sent messenger, in the shape of the French 
 engineer of the line, Monsieur V., who promptly 
 came to our assistance when a tall, serious- 
 looking man put his head in at one window, and a 
 grinning youth with a shock of black hair thrust 
 his in at the other, and let off a volley of Greek at 
 our heads. We found that this man and his 
 satellite, Leonidos, represented the old " Xenodo- 
 chion," established by Georgios Pliris, who had been 
 cook to the German excavators at Olympia, so we 
 arranged to be taken each for eight drachmas a 
 day. Our quarters being settled, we thought our 
 ways would now be those of peace, but when the 
 train slackened its very moderate speed there 
 sprang to the window a third man, who informed 
 us we were coming to the " Hotel d'Olympie " ; that 
 there we should find civilization and the French 
 language ; but we felt were his speech a specimen 
 of both they would be dear at the price. This 
 man refused to be shaken off, and when we alighted 
 at the temporary station at Olympia he walked on 
 one hand ; our Greeks, who had pounced on our 
 luggage, on the other ; and thus escorted we 
 approached the little rise on which stood the rival 
 inns, facing each other on opposite sides of the 
 road. Our Greeks maintained a discreet silence 
 but when the other, waving a proud hand in the 
 direction of the pink-washed, tea-caddy architec- 
 ture of the Hotel d'Olympie, pointed a finger of 
 C 2 
 
20 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 scorn at the sloping roof of the old Xenodochion, 
 then that serious Greek opened his mouth, and 
 no doubt it was as well we did not under- 
 stand. 
 
 The usual way of visiting Olympia is either to 
 come from Pyrgos, as already mentioned, or to 
 approach it from the south in the regulation tour 
 through the Peloponnesus. In the former case the 
 tourist is marched through the museum, walked 
 over tne ruins, lunched at the Hotel d'Olympie, 
 and returned by the two o'clock train. In the 
 latter his dragoman takes him to an empty house, 
 which has been swept and garnished for the occa- 
 sion, in the village of Drouva, which stands upon a 
 hill high above the Xenodochion, and from which 
 coign of advantage a splendid view is obtained of 
 the valleys of the two rivers, the Alpheios and the 
 Kladeos. The dragoman furnishes the house with 
 the contents of the tents, and whilst in Greece we 
 were very much amused by having Olympia quoted 
 to us as the place for comfortable quarters. Given 
 a dragoman and the appurtenances thereof, it 
 appeared to us that it must be sheer bad manage- 
 ment if you were not comfortable at every halt, and 
 with the increasing number of people who now go 
 through the Peloponnesus in that way surely a 
 chain of empty houses might easily be kept for the 
 season. We, however, had a desire to see the 
 houses as they are, to experience the surprises of a 
 
The Rival Inns. 
 
 21 
 
 khan ; if possible to catch a glimpse of the manner 
 in which the natives lived. 
 
 The accompanying sketch shows the rival inns 
 at Olympia as they stand scoffing at one another 
 across the road. The original building of the old 
 Xenodochion was comprised beneath the chalet- 
 looking roof, but a salle-a-manger with a bedroom 
 beyond had lately been added, and between this 
 
 
 r *u*i.£ 
 
 and the road the foundations of two more rooms 
 were being occasionally dug out. Without a 
 pause we were hurried up the steps of the salle-a- 
 manger, rushed through it to the bedroom beyond, 
 the double doors of which were thrown open, and 
 four eyes sought our faces for the admiration 
 which accommodation such as this must needs 
 call up. The room was square ; in the centre of 
 one wall was the door, the three other walls being 
 each broken by a window ; one was boarded up, 
 
22 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 one only half glazed looked down the road to the 
 temporary railway station, the other wholly glazed 
 eventually would open into one of the new rooms. 
 The walls were recovering from a recent lick over 
 of pink wash, a plank table stood in one corner, 
 another was occupied by a washing-stand which, 
 upon scratching, revealed that it once had had a 
 coating of blue paint, a long oak bench with a high 
 back, and two iron beds with new, clean, quilted 
 sateen coverlets completed the furniture of the 
 room, whilst two chairs flitted in and out at in- 
 tervals. A second room was forthcoming, only 
 this had seen many years' service and would not 
 pass the shoe-standard ; moreover the hens roosted 
 on the sills outside, and when Edith left her 
 windows open they walked in. 
 
 Our dinner turned out much better than we ex- 
 pected. Perhaps a desperate culinary effort had 
 been made on this first occasion, or the novelty of 
 the scene gave it a special flavour ; anyway, the 
 subsequent dinners never appeared quite to come 
 up to that one. The soup was strong — we pro- 
 nounced it excellent — though it cannot be denied 
 that it would have had a very soothing effect on a 
 troubled sea ; then came lamb cut about in curious 
 hollow forms and served a la discretion, followed 
 by cutlets which explained the former dish ; a sort 
 of very sour clotted cream and oranges brought 
 the repast to an end. The resinous wine of the 
 
Washing Done at Home. 23 
 
 country, both red and white, was quite drinkable, 
 dry and exceedingly wholesome. In some of the 
 villages they appeared to sweeten it, and then no 
 words can express the loathsome flavour it took. 
 The wine of Patras was very fair, and had more 
 strength in it. Both these wines were quite different 
 to the half-fermented heady kind that we tasted in 
 other parts of Greece. We noticed that after 
 dinner Monsieur V. tied his dinner-napkin into a 
 knot, and gave it to Leonidos with many injunc- 
 tions ; he explained that it was only by this means 
 he could keep it from general use. So fearful 
 grew we that we carried ours about with us. We 
 remarked that the household linen of the 
 Xenodochion had a distinctive appearance, and 
 this we found arose from ircning and mangling 
 being things unknown at Olympia. If starch, 
 ironing, and other refinements of washing were 
 wanted, the linen must be sent by rail to Pyrgos. 
 
 " Then do they never wash ? " we asked. 
 
 " Wash ! " returned Monsieur V., who had been 
 here upwards of a year ; " oh ! yes, they do their 
 washing at home, and hang the things on those 
 thorns outside where the donkeys kick up the dust 
 on them. I advise you not to risk it. Look at 
 me," he continued, drawing our attention to his 
 collarless condition ; " I have given it up. There is 
 no civilization here ; I am leading la vie sauvage /" 
 
 '•' I shall try a wash in the Kladeos," announced 
 
24 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Edith ; and certainly that was the only alternative 
 left to us, for we dare not submit our limited ward- 
 robe to the risk of taking a railway journey alone. 
 After experience taught us that rivers in Greece 
 were especially designed to supplement the 
 tumblers of water that on more than one occasion 
 appeared as the sole representative of Aquarius. 
 
 Finding our table decorated with a tin candle- 
 stick but no candle, we cried aloud for fire — the 
 Greek for candle of course escaping us at the 
 critical moment — but Leonidos guessed our need 
 at once. I must say he was wonderfully quick at 
 understanding, and I never saw any one try so hard 
 to make out what you wanted ; for a moment he 
 would stand staring at you with all his eyes, then 
 a gleam of intelligence shot into them, the grin on 
 his face deepened, he tossed his shock of savage 
 black hair, and you knew you were saved. I am 
 afraid we brought before him many conundrums, 
 but the most puzzling appeared to be one which 
 all unconsciously he produced himself by trying to 
 clean up my basin with two of his fingers. It was 
 in this way. Pitching a little water into the basin 
 he worked round the edge with his fingers, and 
 getting a fine sediment, jerked it out of the window 
 into the foundations of the new rooms; seeing 
 however, a little left at the bottom, in went some 
 more water, which he whirled round and round with 
 those two fingers, working harder and harder the 
 
Fear Seized Him. 25 
 
 blacker it grew, till at last, unable to account for 
 this extraordinary phenomenon, he held up his 
 hands in despair, and catching sight of those two 
 fingers so totally different in colour to the rest of 
 his hand, fear seized him, and he bolted from the 
 room. 
 
 The Greek bed is simplicity itself, a sheet is laid 
 over the red cushion which represents the pillow 
 and whatever does duty for the bed, and the cover- 
 ing consists of a light but warm quilted coverlet 
 with a white lining of the texture of cheesecloth 
 tacked to it, and which it is only virtuous to pre- 
 sume is occasionally washed. What was below 
 that sheet I never inquired, knowing that, let it be 
 what it might, I had to sleep on it, and as my 
 quilt was clean and the lining new, I did as the 
 Greeks do, and called not for a second sheet. 
 After our wakeful night on board ship we had 
 looked forward to one of peace and quiet at 
 Olympia ; it turned out otherwise. No, it was not 
 as you think ; for in that respect we found Greece 
 much maligned, and Keating not required in 
 greater quantities than in other countries : it was 
 the dogs that did it. In the towns in Greece we 
 were never kept awake at night by the dogs, but 
 in the villages they were as bad as at Constanti- 
 nople. At Olympia the dog parliament assembled 
 under my glassless casement ; there they greeted 
 one another with a snarl and a growl ; settled out- 
 
26 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 standing differences, and arranged the programme 
 for the night, which always ended in their breaking 
 up into packs to hunt the neighbourhood, the tired 
 sleeper in his dreams accompanying them over hill 
 and dale. 
 
 Our demand for hot water in the morning 
 created a crisis in the household. The serious 
 Greek wrung his hands and stood in silent despair, 
 but Leonidos, with a grin of such portentous 
 length that I really thought this time his face 
 must split up in the same manner as did the 
 ancient Greek musicians from overstraining their 
 " buccine muscles," produced a saucepan and 
 manufactured hot water in this way whenever we 
 called for it. No doubt people might have taken 
 exception to the purity of that hot water, but you 
 cannot allow yourself to be fastidious when you 
 have come out with the avowed object of seeing 
 things as they are. The breakfast set of the 
 Xenodochion was certainly complex, and there 
 was a pleasant freedom in the use to which the 
 various pieces were put. An old butter boat held 
 the sugar, the hot milk was served in a china 
 coffee-pot with the spout so chipped as to divert 
 the flow to a dangerous angle, the coffee was 
 invariably found in a cold lidless jug, and fids of 
 bread toasted very hard completed the first meal 
 of the day. There was one thing to be said in its 
 favour, you knew exactly what to expect, whereas 
 
We Seem to Fascinate Leonidos. 27 
 
 dinner was always a surprise, the menu varying 
 from three to six courses. 
 
 If we found novelty in all around us, Leonidos 
 evidently found the same in us, for he spent all 
 his spare moments, which were many, in staring at 
 us with that everlasting grin on his face as he 
 lounged just within the door communicating with 
 the room in which the general company ate, drank, 
 smoked, played cards, and slept. A window in the 
 wall also looked on this room, and in the evening 
 when the men were grouped round the table, eat- 
 ing a yellow-tinted mess out of tin pans, and 
 playing cards with the light from the lamp throw- 
 ing up their faces in bold relief, a series of most 
 exquisite pictures were unrolled to those in the 
 salle-a-ma7iger. 
 
 Before the Xenodochion rises the hill on which 
 is situated the new museum, which has been built 
 to hold all the objects that were discovered during 
 the exhumation of Olympia ; which great work 
 took six seasons to accomplish, and was under- 
 taken at the expense of the German Empire. 
 Following the road which winds round the 
 Museum hill, suddenly to the left there comes in 
 view an oblong plain strewn with cast-down 
 columns of gleaming marble, emphasized by the 
 dark platform of the Temple of Zeus, brightened 
 by the crimson spikes of the Judas-tree, massed 
 together by the grey-green leaves of the asphodel, 
 
28 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 and lightened by the fairy flower and foliage of 
 the pepper tree. And all this set in the most 
 exquisite amphitheatre of hills, with the broad 
 swift Alpheios enclosing it on the south, the cleft 
 of the half-dried up Kladeos to the west, the fir- 
 clad Kronion to the north, and the cornfields of 
 the Stadion reaching out to the hills on the east. 
 
 
 
 
 
 A more perfect site for this sacred city could not 
 have been found, faultless for its purpose, unlike 
 all others; indeed, that is so remarkable a feature 
 in the situation of all Greek temples — witness the 
 Temple of Apollo at Bassae, that of Poseidon at 
 Cape Sunion, although the Athenians spoilt the 
 point of this last by merging it into Poseidon- 
 Athene, and so to Athene alone. 
 
 In spite of the beauty of the situation, this first 
 
Nothing but Ruins. 29 
 
 view of Olympia almost strikes terror to the heart. 
 The vastness of the ruins, the terrible destruction 
 that has been bared to sight, involuntarily the 
 question arises— Can order ever be evolved out of 
 this chaos of huge fragments ? In point of fact, to 
 any one who will sit down calmly to the study of 
 the splendid map by Dr. Dorpfeld, the plan of 
 Olympia is wonderfully easy to make out. Of 
 course the geography of the place cannot be 
 understood by simply scampering over the ruins. 
 The little spur of Kronos overlooking the Heraeon 
 appears to be the favourite point of view, it 
 certainly should not be missed. Personally I 
 preferred to roam the great platform 2io£ft. by 
 9o|ft. of the temple of Zeus. Thence the whole of 
 Olympia, from the Stadionto.the Byzantine Church, 
 from the Prytaneion, where the Olympian victors 
 were entertained, to the Bouleuterion, where the 
 competitors took the oaths, is spread out before 
 the eye ; and, surrounded by these glorious ruins 
 of the past, it is easy in imagination to build up 
 temple and portico, to people the silent ruins, to 
 catch an echo of the plaudits that greet the victors 
 far away in the Stadion. On the platform alone, 
 besides the easily defined plan of the temple, there 
 is much of interest, fragments of coloured marble 
 pavement, bases heaped with pieces of white 
 Pentelic marble, and a pile of broken slabs of 
 black limestone marking the spot where stood the 
 
30 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 great chryselephantine statue of Zeus, that wonder- 
 ful work in ivory and gold by Pheidias. Looking 
 down at the ruins in the immediate neighbourhood, 
 it is tantalizing to think that had it not been for 
 those two abominable earthquakes in the sixth 
 century of the present era, some of those large 
 columns of the Temple of Zeus might still be 
 standing on the bases that now alone remain 
 upright on the great platform. In places the 
 columns, which were made of shell limestone, have 
 gone down in a clear line, and they look as if the 
 drums only wanted a giant darning needle run 
 through them to thread them all up into position 
 again. No doubt some wealthy Greek, with the 
 patriotism which is so notable a feature of the 
 Grecian character, will astonish the world some 
 morning by replacing one of these Doric columns 
 on its base. Below the east end of the platform 
 there are a mass of marble blocks, broken pillars, 
 and fragments tossed about, looking like miniature 
 icebergs in a river that is breaking up after a long 
 frost, and amid these rises the pedestal of the far- 
 famed winged Nike. Here too is the base where 
 the Trojan heroes stood, and it was this group 
 that was despoiled under the cloak of hypocrisy 
 by the self-crowned victor, Nero, Emperor of 
 Rome. A patron of art, who with one hand stole 
 the sculptures of the Greeks, and with the other lit 
 the torch which was to destroy the greatest master- 
 
The Her.eon. 31 
 
 pieces of the old Greek painters. Numbers of 
 bases bearing interesting names are heaped around, 
 but the statues, alas ! where are they ? At 
 Olympia man and nature seem to have vied the 
 one with the other to destroy the sacred city of 
 the gods. 
 
 Away to the east is the built-up arch of the 
 covered way to the Stadion, and at the foot of the 
 little spur of Kronos is the Hereon, with its 
 broken reddish-yellow columns puzzling the be- 
 holder by their varying size. This temple is of 
 great interest in many ways. It is said to be the 
 most ancient of all the known temples in Greece, 
 and that it was a copy in stone of the primitive 
 wooden temples ; indeed, so late as the second 
 century of this era, one old wooden column was 
 still incorporated in this temple. The cella was 
 divided by cross-walls,, like those which are so 
 plainly to be seen at Bassse ; but what endears 
 this temple above all others to the artist, is that 
 here still stands the pedestal of the statue of 
 Hermes by Praxiteles, just where that prince of 
 tourists, Pausanias, saw it some seventeen cen- 
 turies ago. Before his pedestal, embedded in the 
 sand cast up by the Kladeos, the statue from the 
 knees upwards was found ; one perfectly shaped 
 foot, with its scarlet and gold sandal, still clung 
 to its base, but the other foot, both calves, and 
 one arm were gone, burnt for lime most probably 
 
32 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 by savages claiming to be the civilizers of the 
 world. A little farther on stand the circles of the 
 Philippeion, built by Philip II. of Macedon to 
 hold statues of his family. When its Ionic and 
 Corinthian columns were standing it must have 
 been a very beautiful building ; in form it is like 
 the Tholos of Polykleitos, which afterwards we 
 saw at Epidauros. It would be tedious here to go 
 through all the interesting ruins that Olympia can 
 show, but the Museum must not be passed over 
 without a word. 
 
 The Museum at Olympia, one of the examples 
 of the generosity of a Greek citizen, is not only a 
 splendid home for the treasures that have been 
 unearthed, but is built so as to give the student 
 some idea of the proportions of the temple of 
 Zeus. Thus, the two columns of the portico are 
 reproductions of those we saw cast down to the 
 ground, whilst the length of the central hall corre- 
 sponds to the breadth of the temple, and here, 
 against the two long walls, in the exact manner 
 in which they used to stand, the east and west 
 pediments have been built up out of the frag- 
 ments that have been recovered. The parts of 
 the figures that remain are in wonderful preser- 
 vation, considering the treatment they have had, 
 and how that nearly all of these pediment-sculp- 
 tures were found built into the wretched hovels of 
 Ihe Christian village that had been erected be- 
 
Pediment Sculptures. 33 
 
 tween the Temple of Zeus and the Stadion. Of 
 the two, the East Pedim ent, representing the 
 " Preparation of Pelops for his chariot-race with 
 CEnomaos," is the easiest to make out, and the 
 Sitting Boy and Kneeling Girl in this group 
 should not be passed over. It is interesting to 
 remember that this representation commemorates 
 a local event, as King CEnomaos lived at Pisa 
 about two miles farther up the Alpheios, and that 
 upon Pelops winning the chariot-race, he married 
 Hippodameia, and eventually became so powerful 
 a monarch that he is supposed to have given his 
 name to the Peloponnesus. The West Pediment 
 represents the "Fight of the Lapithae and the 
 Centaurs," with Apollo looking calmly down on 
 the strife. This was very interesting to us, as we 
 hoped later on to go to Yolo in Thessaly, where 
 we should be close to Mt. Pelion, from whose 
 heights the Lapithae drove out the Centaurs, the 
 war being caused by one of the Centaurs getting 
 objectionably hilarious at the marriage of Peiri- 
 thoos with another Hippodameia. Two very 
 good little plaster restorations hang on the walls 
 behind the original groups. At the end of the 
 hall, on the upper portion of its pedestal, stands 
 the Xike of Pseonios, which looks as if flying 
 towards the spectator ; the poise is something 
 wonderful, but, unfortunately, the mutilated mask 
 that has to do duty for the head, gives the be- 
 
 D 
 
34 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 holder an unpleasant shock. In the room behind, 
 alone as is meet, stands the greatest statue that 
 the soil has given back to the world, the Hermes 
 with the young Dionysos on his left arm, the 
 work of Praxiteles. The accusation of effeminacy 
 cannot be brought against this statue ; the peace 
 of the face bespeaks the god — but such work is 
 best left without words, the impulse of the artist 
 is to cast himself down before this, the most per- 
 fect of all statues in the world. All the small 
 rooms are full of interesting relics in marble, 
 bronze, and terra-cotta ; among the first, on a 
 pedestal, were two lovely little feet of a child. In 
 the Roman room we were much amused at com- 
 paring the different representations of the warriors' 
 fustanellas, and when looking at these marble folds 
 there could be no doubt whence the Greek got his 
 national (?) costume. 
 
 The advantage of staying at Olympia is that 
 you have the ruins and the Museum to yourself 
 to wander in and out of them at will. In truth, 
 to fully realize the sacred precinct, utter solitude 
 is wanted ; and this was reached one Sunday 
 afternoon. The flight of the tourist was passed, 
 the swirl of the waters of the Kladeos, where they 
 rush to join the Alpheios, could not be heard ; no 
 woman's form was to be seen in the currant-fields, 
 not a man was toiling round the Kronion, urging 
 his tired mules forward ; the note of no bird broke 
 
Last Days of Olympia. 35 
 
 the intense silence ; the very gods seemed asleep. 
 One gorgeous expanse of blue sky looked down 
 on the many-coloured stone and pure white 
 sparkling marble, in the near distance the outline 
 of the Museum stood out against the hills, and 
 then the memory came that there, on that hill 
 above the Museum, the foundations of an hotel 
 were being marked out. An hotel which would 
 overshadow the Museum, an hotel from whose un- 
 blushing windows " the principal objects of in- 
 terest among the ruins " would be pointed out to, 
 and viewed through a telescope by, the visitor 
 who did not care for the trouble of walking down 
 to the sacred precinct. 
 
 Olympia, dominated by a fin-de-siccle hotel, 
 Anno Domini nineteen hundred, triumphant over 
 the centuries Before Christ ! Hideous conception, 
 a sacrilege sufficient to call down the thunder of 
 Zeus. Olympia with turnstiles and police, a 
 second Pompeii. But to this it must come, or else 
 how will those thousands of glittering fragments 
 be preserved from the omnivorous tourist ? With 
 the railway at its gates, the hotel on its hills, and 
 the globe-trotter descending from above, the last 
 days of Olympia are at hand. To all lovers of 
 art, to all lovers of nature, to all lovers of reli- 
 gion, I would say, Come, ere it be too late, and see 
 the pathetic past in its fit setting of silence and 
 of solitude. 
 
 D 2 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 La vie sauvage — Beautiful scenery between Olympia and 
 Andritsaena — Pass through Krestena and Greka — White 
 heath and red anemones — Arrive in the dark — Strange 
 quarters — The young student — We sleep on the floor. 
 
 We had often laughed over the shortcomings of 
 the Xenodochion, but in spite of all Monsieur V. 
 said, it was not until we went to Andritsaena that 
 we experienced the real vie sauvage. 
 
 About a day and a half's journey below Olympia 
 is the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, which still 
 has some thirty-five columns standing, and what 
 makes this temple so particularly interesting to 
 the English is, that the beautiful frieze of the con- 
 tests of the Greeks and the Amazons, now in the 
 British Museum, came from it. When Bassae is 
 visited it is generally approached from the south in 
 the regulation tour of the Peloponnesus ; we in- 
 tended to run down from Olympia and see it. Of 
 course, dragomen and beds were not to be ob- 
 tained at Olympia, but a native guide was forth- 
 coming who undertook to see us through the 
 expedition in three days — viz. Olympia to An- 
 dritsaena, one day ; the Temple of Bassae, the ruins 
 
Start for Andrits^exa. 37 
 
 of the ancient city of Phigaleia, and back to An- 
 dritsaina, second day ; return to Olympia the 
 third day. Baedeker gives ten hours for the 
 journey between Olympia and Andritssena ; our 
 guide said, including one hour's necessary halt for 
 the animals, it would take twelve; in point of fact, 
 owing to the state of the roads, or rather the want 
 of any roads at all, we were over that time. We 
 made no inquiry as to our lodging, as we thought 
 the less we said the more likely we were to stumble 
 on the real life of the natives. 
 
 Soon after six a.m. we flitted down the salle-a- 
 vianger to see if there were any preparations for 
 our departure, and, tied to the thorns, our eyes fell 
 upon two animals with the heads of ponies and 
 the tails of donkeys, further I could not venture to 
 define. We found that neither dXoyov {dlogoti) or 
 fxovkdpi (mouldri) seemed to describe them, so we 
 called them 'itttto? {ippos), with which definition 
 our guide seemed perfectly satisfied. The hipposes 
 being there, we hurried up, and naturally thought 
 we had only to depart ; but we had yet to learn 
 that a start was not a thing lightly to be entered 
 upon, and that so serious a matter could not be 
 accomplished all in a moment, in actual fact it 
 was close upon seven when we left. 
 
 As everything had to be put on our two animals, 
 we had brought down our personal effects to a 
 minimum ; a long fish basket, a sketching satchel, 
 
38 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 and a roll in a small string bag representing our 
 kit. To this was added two bright-coloured 
 striped bags, belonging to the Xenodochion, two 
 dirty canvas ones containing fodder, and a large 
 leather bottle of wine. It took our guide more 
 than half an hour to disarrange and rearrange the 
 baggage, and when at length he got everything to 
 his satisfaction, he found that one of us rode much 
 heavier than the other, which caused a fresh 
 distribution of weight. Our saddles, of course, had 
 no pommels, being the ordinary wooden-peaked 
 ones, whose flat sides, especially designed for the 
 porterage of barrels and sticks, no doubt are much 
 more satisfactory to the barrels and to the sticks 
 than to human beings. When one of these 
 saddles is used for riding, a rug is thrown over it, 
 another folded on it, and upon this you sit, a piece of 
 rope with a broken bit of iron doing duty for stirrup, 
 and when two of these were fastened to one side 
 and both feet supported, it was declared to be a 
 great rest. Unfortunately, I never got the chance 
 of testing it, as not all the ingenuity of all the 
 Greeks ever succeeded in shortening a stirrup 
 within my diminutive reach ; occasionally I 
 wormed a toe into the top of a hanging rope, and 
 was thankful for that. Our bridles consisted of a 
 short chain and a long piece of rope, and as this 
 latter was tied through the mouth of the animal, 
 you had little or no control over your steed. 
 
At the Ferry. 39 
 
 In the highest spirits we started, and although 
 an hour late felt no qualms ; we were sure to be 
 in at Andritsaena before it was dark ; neither did 
 we give a thought to the plight we might be in 
 when next our eyes rested on our friendly Xeno- 
 dochion. Leaving Drouva on our right and the 
 Museum hill on our left, we passed close to where 
 men were busy at work levelling for the new hotel, 
 and plunged beneath the olives, winding in and 
 out of them for about half an hour, when we came 
 to the shanty of the ferrymen, and there below us 
 was the beautiful sweep of the broad Alpheios, 
 Avith marshy fields on the farther bank, reaching 
 to the foot of the hills. Sliding down a sandy 
 incline, we were bidden to dismount. 
 
 " But where is the ferry ? " we exclaimed, gazing 
 round in every direction. 
 
 " Below," was the laconic reply, and there we 
 found the ferry-boat, hidden under the overhanging 
 bank. 
 
 One mule was already on board, and our 
 animals were soon in, notwithstanding one of 
 them refused over and over again; the three ap- 
 peared to recognize each other, and thought to 
 have a little friendly intercourse, but this show of 
 courtesy on their part was promptly suppressed ; no 
 doubt it was as well, as the stream was very strong 
 and the boatmen seemed to have a difficulty in 
 keeping the boat straight. The ferry-boat stopped 
 
40 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 about twelve feet from the opposite bank, and we 
 began to wonder how we were to land. 
 
 "Do you think we are carried on shore?" said 
 Edith, in an anxious voice. 
 
 " If that is the programme, then will Andritsasna 
 never greet your eyes, for I doubt any one of those 
 three men being up to your weight." 
 
 Our guide, unknotting the bridle, held the rope 
 at its extreme end, and made the animal leap into 
 the water, where, after a struggle and a plunge, he 
 pulled it to the side of the boat, and we mounted. 
 The second hippos was as loth to leave the boat 
 as he had been to enter it, but being a moral 
 beast, the good example of the others, together 
 with a sound whack on his flanks, brought him to 
 reason. 
 
 Regardless of paths, we plunged through the 
 young corn, to a track winding up the side of the 
 hills, and here we passed between currant-fields, 
 the plants just looking like young vine-trees. 
 " Currant-vines/' our guide called them, for our 
 better understanding, I suppose, in contradistinc- 
 tion to what he termed " wine-vines." From 
 here we had the most lovely view of the valley 
 of the Alpheios, and looked across the gleam- 
 ing river to where the ruins of Olympia lay, 
 shut out from sight by the high banks cast up by 
 the two rivers. Although not so much as a broken 
 column nor a sparkling block of marble can be 
 
Olympia in Classic Times. 41 
 
 seen, it was easy to conjure up before the eye the 
 beautiful sight that of old that valley must have pre- 
 sented, when the Alpheios was lined by glistening 
 porticos, and the plain covered by magnificent 
 temples, the dark firs of Kronos throwing out the 
 varying architecture of the Treasure-houses and 
 the old Heraeonj the exquisite line of the Echo 
 Colonnade running from north to south, whilst 
 the Stadion led the eye onward to the graceful 
 winding of the river, till it lost itself in the embrace 
 of the languishing hills as they die in the soft, 
 blue mist of distance. 
 
 Our route now led us along the most diverse of 
 ways, and through the most varied scenery. At 
 one moment we were treading a watercourse 
 between fields of lush green corn, a turn, and we 
 were plodding through deep sand, the road being 
 broken up by numbers of sand heaps standing in 
 rows like hay-cocks ; a slither down a bank, a 
 glissade over the side of a rock, and we were 
 landed in the middle of the large village of Kres- 
 tena, where travellers generally break the journey 
 by stopping the night. Our animals scrambled 
 over the foundations of a house, and we came out 
 on a real road, the land on each side of which 
 appeared to be under strict cultivation. The way 
 they seemed to order things was this : a tall Greek, 
 in black embroidered jacket and spotless fustanella 
 and leggings, stood in a graceful attitude watching 
 
42 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 a row of white tunicked men hewing up the ground ; 
 these latter, we were told, were mostly Albanians. 
 Although on this three days' trip we passed 
 many men in the fields, I only noticed two in the 
 national dress who were actually doing any work ; 
 but if you met a man on a mule, or saw one stalk- 
 ing gloomily about, or lounging outside a khan, 
 it was quite safe to bet that he wore the fustanella. 
 I do not blame them. How can a man who is 
 clothed in spotless white, from toe to neck, work in 
 the fields which are either all mud or all dust. Be- 
 sides it would be cruelty to his wife who, in order 
 to keep her husband presentable under existing 
 circumstances, has to stick pretty close to the 
 wash-pot. I was surprised not to see more women 
 working in the fields ; apparently they did the 
 weeding, but I never once saw a woman digging 
 up the heavy ground or harnessed to trucks as in 
 other countries. Towards the evening we would 
 meet whole families with one or two mules 
 hastening towards the villages, which seemed to 
 indicate field labour for all. 
 
 But to return to our muttons. This grand road 
 out of Krestena ended as unexpectedly as it had 
 begun, and our track now led us beneath the wel- 
 come shade of some fir trees, and round huge 
 masses of rock which rose up like giant castles 
 defending the valley ; whilst from every stream 
 and every puddle the frogs sent up such a clatter 
 
The Frog Parliament. 43 
 
 as to completely drown our voices. Our guide 
 did not appreciate their croaking ; in his case no 
 doubt familiarity bred contempt, but accustomed 
 to the feeble croakings in an English pond, those 
 frogs of Greece came upon me as a revelation ; I 
 revelled in that perfect comic chorus. They were 
 a large and catholic community in that valley ; they 
 held drawing-room meetings for the conversion of 
 English frogs ; they were trying a sensational case 
 under an overhanging tree ; they had a Home 
 Rule question all their own, and appeared to con- 
 duct their parliamentary debates on the lines laid 
 down by Committee Room Number Fifteen. In 
 a mud-hole, all to themselves, two or three old 
 gossips were tearing to rags the character of every 
 frog in that valley ; suffice it to say those wicked 
 frogs seemed to be parodying life above water. 
 
 About two hours after leaving Krestena, wc 
 came in sight of the village of Greka perched on a 
 hill. Before the house, presumably of a friend, 
 our animals came to a dead stop, but being quite 
 satisfied with the exterior view of that house, wc 
 said we preferred lunching in the country, and 
 accordingly descended to a delightful gorge down 
 which rushed a leaping torrent. The rugs were 
 spread in a little hollow above the water-fall, our 
 carpet was of anemones, our canopy the beautiful 
 budding foliage of large spreading trees. By the 
 side of the stream we sat, discussing a frugal meal 
 
44 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 of bread, chocolate, and oranges, our operations 
 eagerly watched by a tall shepherd, dressed 
 entirely in skins and of sinister countenance, who 
 had arisen out of the bushes and attached himself 
 to our party. Although for the most part he kept 
 a dignified silence, he was not above taking a pull 
 at the leather bottle, and he accepted a cake of 
 chocolate, but without a word and without a 
 smile. 
 
 Now I must say a word as to our native guide. 
 He was a little slight man, with a very hairy face, 
 and clothed in blue from head to foot. His close- 
 fitting woollen leggings were blue, and they were 
 sewn on to sandals, from which apparently he 
 could never be free until the soles parted company 
 with the hose, which, by-the-way, one did before 
 we had accomplished the whole of our expedition. 
 His shaggy coat, with a pointed hood, was blue; it 
 fitted in at the waist, the skirts standing out with 
 large pockets, and there was something about the 
 cut of this coat that made him look exactly like 
 an Italian organ-grinder's performing monkey. 
 When it grew hot and he threw off his shaggy 
 coat, he came out as a sort of sporting character, 
 in spotless white shirt- sleeves, blue waistcoat, very 
 short corded breeches, and an enormous Greek 
 belt, which consisted of a number of folds of leather, 
 making innumerable pockets all round the waist. 
 In one fold he carried one-drachma notes, in another 
 
Our Native Guide. 45 
 
 notes of higher value, coppers in yet another ; in 
 fact all his worldly goods were stowed away in 
 that belt, but the most conspicuous object in it 
 was a snowy-white pocket-handkerchief. How he 
 kept that article in its immaculate state during 
 those three days and two nights was a puzzle, we 
 fancied he must have had some artful way of re- 
 folding it each morning ; there was, however, this 
 in its favour, although flourished about on occa- 
 sions, it never came into active service. In spite of 
 his hairy appearance and monkey coat, his face, 
 when you could see it, wore a decidedly benevolent 
 expression. 
 
 It was one hour before the baggage was once more 
 satisfactorily roped on to the saddles, and we walked 
 up the precipitous side of the gorge, our guide and 
 the shepherd bringing up the animals ; then it was 
 explained to us that if we wished to go through 
 the Peloponnesus the shepherd would be very 
 pleased to guide us from Andritsaena to Megalo- 
 polis, but a searching glance at his sheepskins 
 decided us in the negative, and he disappeared into 
 the bushes as suddenly as he had appeared. 
 
 Although the way might be long it took us 
 through such a continual change of scenery that 
 we were kept entranced the whole of the time. 
 On high ground a glorious panorama spread out 
 around us, with the green hills of the Alpheios 
 and the snow peaks of Erymanthos to the north, 
 
46 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 and on the east and on the south mountain upon 
 mountain of varied colour, with gleaming points of 
 snow in the far distance ; indeed, at one place we 
 saw no less than three separate snow ranges. 
 Then, leaving the stunted, straggling oaks, we 
 plunged into a rich tangle of arbutus, laurustinus, 
 thorns, and rocks, with white heath arching over- 
 head, and at our feet red anemones of every shade, 
 from pale pink to vivid scarlet ; the sensuous scent 
 of the white heath, the riot of crimson colour em- 
 phasizing this scene of unique beauty. The gorges 
 were shut in by large forest trees, and there was 
 one glade carpeted with trickling water and 
 maidenhair fern, and as the sun, piercing the light 
 green, leafy, tracery above, struck upon the water 
 it danced and sparkled like a thousand gems, turn- 
 ing that glen into a veritable fairy scene. 
 
 If, after passing Greka, we entered upon what 
 seemed the most picturesque part of our route, we 
 certainly came upon the worst part of the road. I 
 had begun by counting the streams we crossed, 
 but soon had to give it up, as we appeared always 
 to be either descending to or wading out of water, 
 and I now saw the reason of our guide's strange 
 feet gear ; wet boots would have been intolerable 
 to walk in, but these sort of sandal affairs threw off 
 the water and dried up at once. Owing to rain 
 the track had been washed away in many places, 
 and we had to take to the water to get round 
 
Rough Roads. 47 
 
 corners. Across several of the large streams sub- 
 stantial bridges had been built, ready for the road 
 when it does come ; the difficulty, however, was 
 to make your way up to the bridges, and it often 
 saved time and trouble to ford the rivulet. Oc- 
 casionally, when gaily winding your way in a deep 
 rut between rocks, you were suddenly brought to a 
 halt by a recent fall, and there was nothing for it 
 but to back and try your luck in another cut. 
 Again, where the road was traceable it was often so 
 swampy that, unless led, your animal would bolt 
 straight through the bushes, in sublime indifference 
 to your face, your clothes, or the baggage it car- 
 ried. These mules or ponies, or whatever they are, 
 dote on stones ; a slope of loose boulders pleases 
 them immensely, a perpendicular zig-zag, which 
 has the appearance of a disused grave-yard, warms 
 their hearts, but what their soul loveth best is a 
 parapet one foot wide. Soft roads they abhor, 
 boggy ground they simply refuse, and it takes a 
 deal of riding to make them keep straight in a 
 muddy track. 
 
 Having had an eye nearly taken out by a swift 
 charge through bushes, I had brought my hippos 
 back into the muddy track and was having a battle 
 royal with him to keep him in it, when I received 
 unexpected aid by a timely attack in the rear from 
 a soldier, whom we had passed toiling up the 
 steep ascent, and who now brought the butt end 
 
4S Two Roving Engltshwomen in Greece. 
 
 of his gun into action. As soon as he thought he 
 could be of any use his fatigue seemed to vanish ; 
 he seized the rope bridle out of my hand, and, 
 though burdened with all his kit, lightly sprang up 
 the rocks, pulling my recalcitrant hippos along the 
 muddy path. As an act of reciprocity I relieved 
 him of his kit, which consisted of a military cloak, 
 a grey blanket rolled up in the shape of a horse 
 collar, and a large pocket-handkerchief tied at the 
 four corners. By this time all the baggage, with 
 the exception of the fish basket, had been heaped 
 on my poor little hippos, so it required some con- 
 trivance to take on this new load, and I looked 
 more like a travelling tinker than ever, all the 
 bright corners of my rug being completely hidden. 
 I regarded that grey blanket doubtfully, but having 
 ridden on our guide's blue sheep-skin since the 
 sun came out, thought it hypercritical thus late in 
 the day to take exception to anything ; besides, 
 the little soldier, who was not much taller than 
 myself, was tramping all the way to Andritssena, 
 and had quite sufficient to carry in his heavy gun. 
 When he had come to my rescue he had looked 
 terribly distressed, but once relieved of his kit he 
 became a different man, and seemed perfectly 
 delighted to join our party. It was, however, very 
 hard to get a word out of him, and when he did 
 speak it was most difficult to make out a word he 
 said ; so I told him the time, an infallible way I 
 
A Soldier's Offering. 49 
 
 found for making friends, and we got on better 
 afterwards. Once when we both grew hopelessly- 
 fogged, neither being able in the least to make out 
 what the other meant, he drew his sword and pre- 
 sented it to me ; a case, I suppose, of " I give you 
 all, I can no more, though poor the offering be." 
 
 We now came to one of the worst bits of the 
 road, a succession of small landslips, and our 
 animals, sticking out their forefeet, refused to go on. 
 Here our soldier, who seemed to know every inch 
 of the ground, seized my hippos, and rushing with 
 him into the bushes, took the soft ground higher 
 up, his face radiant with delight at having got 
 across first. 
 
 For the last hour we had been promised that the 
 next turn would bring us within sight of " beau- 
 tiful Andritsaena ; " and when at last the enraptured 
 exclamations of our two guides told us that it should 
 be seen, the shades of evening were too far advanced 
 for us to make it out clearly, and soon it became 
 quite dark. Our near proximity to a large village 
 was at once impressed upon us by a jangling of 
 bells, which came from the many mules that kept 
 looming up from below or coining down from above 
 and passing our tired animals. It was too dark to 
 see the path, there was nothing for it but to ride 
 with a loose rein and trust to the sagacity of the 
 hippos to look after himself. So we rode down to 
 Andritsaena, keeping our eyes on things above, but 
 
 E 
 
50 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 with a pleasing sensation that we were skimming 
 the edge of an unfathomable abyss. Here our 
 little soldier bid us adieu, and at last we perceived 
 that we were shut in by houses instead of rocks, 
 whilst an occasional damp splash on the face told 
 us we were wading through considerable mud ; 
 turning up some steps at a right angle our beasts 
 suddenly halted. 
 
 Benumbed with cold we tumbled off our animals, 
 stumbled up some creaky steps into total darkness, 
 out of which we were led by our guide to where 
 flickered a gleam of light, and there plumped down 
 on two chairs, and left. It was a most weird pro- 
 ceeding, and we began to wonder what was going 
 to become of us — we should fall an easy prey to 
 anyone, for we were too tired for resistance. As our 
 eyes grew accustomed to the sudden change, we 
 discovered that the light came from a lamp on a 
 small table, whose rays fell on the head of a boy 
 diligently reading, and that we were in a long low 
 room, around which were arranged a number of 
 high trunks, and two beds which were in them- 
 selves a study in archaeology. I looked at those 
 beds and I looked at my friend, and said, " If this 
 is our apartment we shall have to curl ourselves 
 up on our chairs." 
 
 " I cannot ; I dare not even turn my head, for 
 mine has only three legs," returned Edith, in a 
 dismal voce. 
 
Ax Apparition of Boys. 51 
 
 " Then we must await the development of 
 events," which apparently took the extraordinary 
 form of an apparition of youths. First a door 
 or a window or a something opened, and there 
 came into the focus of light a tall boy, then 
 another, another, and another, and they stood to- 
 gether peering at us over each other's shoulder. 
 
 " I don't see how this forwards events, and it is 
 rather awful to be stared at in that dumb way. 
 Cannot you say something ? " suggested Edith, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 Affairs were reaching a crisis, the spell of silence 
 must be broken, so, feeling very small, I made the 
 original remark that it was cold. This fortu- 
 nately called forth immediate action ; the iron 
 grating holding hot ashes was lifted close to us, 
 we were invited to warm our feet by it, and in this 
 way the ice was broken. Taking up the lamp the 
 boys showed off the prints of Royal personages 
 on the walls ; somehow they got very mixed 
 among the portraits ; one group, which they claimed 
 as representing members of their own Royal 
 Family, did not prevent us from recognizing it as 
 having done duty in another country for a still 
 more distinguished house ; but what did it matter ? 
 In both cases it denoted distinct loyalty, and we 
 were perfectly certain that neither royal house 
 would have exactly clamoured about owning those 
 portraits as likenesses ! We found that our)oung 
 E 2 
 
52 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 student was turning Charles XII. in French into 
 Greek, and that he had just got to the crucial 
 battle of Pultowa, and this led to a dramatic con- 
 versation on that event. The youths then ranged 
 themselves in a semicircle and began eagerly to 
 give us a specimen of their French reading, in«the 
 midst of which entertainment entered our guide, 
 followed by our hostess carrying a tray, on which 
 were two tiny cups of coffee grounds. 
 
 " Is not the coffee good ? my mother made it," 
 demanded our young student. 
 
 " Beautiful — very good/' we returned, knowing it 
 was the biggest — circumstances had yet called 
 upon us to make. 
 
 " I can't; it is all grounds; it will make me ill. 
 Can't you drink it ? " whispered Edith in an 
 agitated voice. 
 
 " With pleasure, if we can effect a change of cups 
 without being seen ; but I don't see how we are to 
 do it with our guide, mamma, and five boys steadily 
 fixing us with their gaze. Be heroic, think of our 
 reputation, and drink at all hazards." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed our hostess, " will you not 
 finish it all up ? Ah well, there were a few grounds, 
 but they too were excellent." 
 
 At this critical moment our guide fortunately 
 beckoned us into the dark passage, and, escorted 
 by the household, we were shown our quarters. 
 By the aid of a candle we made out a small room, 
 
A Native Dish. 53 
 
 with three windows with deep window-sills ; two of 
 these held our various items of baggage, the third 
 appeared heaped with white and red rags ; an old 
 wooden cupboard stood on one side of the door, a 
 small table was squeezed in between it and the 
 wall ; and that was all : we did not see that this 
 change forwarded us on our way either to supper 
 or to bed. Our guide then suggested eggs, to 
 which we readily assented ; in a minute he came 
 back and proposed lamb. Well, as the Greeks 
 seem to live upon lamb, and to starve when it 
 is not in season, we thought we could not get 
 wrong there, though we fancied, from the many 
 words that went before and came after that lamb, 
 that it would be served in some queer fashion. 
 Presently our hostess ran in with some grains of 
 rice in her hand ; would we have rice ? " Yes, cer- 
 tainly." Out of all this, surely, we thought, there 
 will appear something we can eat. 
 
 The fire was carried in and put down in one 
 corner, the table was dragged into the centre of the 
 room, the chairs appeared, our bread was produced 
 from the horse-bag/and two soup plates, containing 
 a concoction, were brought in. The rice was there, 
 and something else that appertained to the lamb, 
 all stirred about with greasy water and coloured 
 with blacks ; the eggs apparently could not be 
 raised at this late hour. Oh if they would only 
 all absquatulate and let us approach that dish with 
 
54 Two Roving i Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 caution and in solitude ! but it was not to be. We 
 took up our leaden spoons, we laughed, we shut 
 our eyes, we wrestled with that unknown delicacy — 
 but it was too much for us. Of course it was pro- 
 nounced excellent, but we were too tired to enjoy 
 it. Could we go to bed ? 
 
 " Bed ? oh yes. Two beds for two people ! what 
 wilful extravagance." 
 
 It was explained to them that at Olympia we 
 each had a separate room with two beds ; then the 
 children looked at us askance, and heads were 
 shaken over such wicked waste in beds. 
 
 Out went the fire, followed by the chairs, the 
 table was moved back into the corner, the floor 
 swept with a brush of twigs, we in the meantime 
 flattening ourselves against the wall to get out of 
 the way. A mattress and a rug were brought in 
 and divided between us, two pillows and two sheets 
 were developed out of the red and white rags, the 
 quilted coverlets evolved from a miscellaneous 
 heap under the table. By the aid of two women, 
 three children and our guide, we managed to get 
 the door together, so that we could lock it, and we 
 then surveyed our room in peace. Two of our 
 windows looked on the balcony, which had been 
 occupied by the aforesaid youths as a coign of 
 advantage, but, seeing our requirements, they very 
 kindly helped us to close the shutters, and when 
 we had piled up the remains of the domestic linen 
 
You Feel all Boxes. 55 
 
 against the broken panes of glass we felt ourselves 
 pretty secure from without ; from within, however, 
 we thought the great fight would come, and our 
 hearts sank as we noticed that the walls were hung 
 with the wardrobe of the master of the house. 
 There were short and long black coats, and sheep- 
 skins — one very shaggy white one looking decidedly 
 dangerous — and a fustanella at the back of the 
 door. We perfectly longed to try on that fusta- 
 nella and dance a pirouette, but prudence withheld 
 us, and we gave each and all of those various 
 articles as wide a berth as our limited space would 
 allow. 
 
 " I shall never go to sleep until I have seen 
 what is in that cupboard," suddenly declared 
 Edith. 
 
 " I should say you would never go to sleep after 
 looking into it." 
 
 But wilful woman ! and in went a head. She 
 said what she saw were things Greek and that they 
 had no synonyms in the English language. This 
 I do know, she did not sleep, but then there might 
 have been other causes. A ride of twelve hours 
 on a wooden saddle is not a good preparation for 
 a night on the floor : you become unpleasantly 
 acquainted with your own anatomy; turn whichever 
 way you will, you feel all bones ; and throughout 
 the night there was a sense of things crawling. 
 Honestly, I cannot say we were bitten, but whether 
 
56 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 this was due to a liberal shower of " Keating- " or 
 to metal more attractive in our immediate neigh- 
 bourhood remained an open question. Our left 
 was guarded by the long low room that we had 
 first entered, and where the family, its ramifica- 
 tions, and our guide apparently took up their 
 quarters for the night. A large colony of pigs and 
 a goat had it all their own way on another side, 
 whilst those dogs never stopped howling through- 
 out the night ; unlike the dogs of Olympia they 
 were evidently of a painfully domestic turn. It 
 was quite a shock to find that such a noise could 
 be kept up all night in what looked like a peaceful 
 country village. 
 
 Worn out, I had just fallen into a semi-sleep 
 when I was aroused by a stifled cry, — 
 
 " Get up at once, there is something gnawing 
 all our clothes, and what shall we do without 
 them ?" 
 
 I started up and saw Edith recklessly using up 
 our precious match-box. 
 
 " For pity's sake, don't leave us in this benighted 
 place without a match." 
 
 " There, don't you hear it ? Oh, my dear ! there 
 will not be a rag left for us to put on ! " and away 
 blazed the matches again. 
 
 It certainly sounded as if a host of rats were 
 devouring everything in the room, and it was not 
 until we had carefully examined our belongings 
 
What was It? 57 
 
 that the truth flashed upon us. It was that 
 
 goat sharpening his horns against the wall 
 
 close to Edith's head ! Now, had she been 
 dreaming ? 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Give up Phigaleia on account of the rain — Stony road to 
 Bassae — Splendid situation of the temple, and utter 
 desolation of the spot — We go without escort — Grisly 
 experiences — Are received by the priest's wife at 
 Andn'tsaena — Our mistakes in etiquette — Return to 
 Giympia. 
 
 It is wonderful how exceedingly unrefreshed you 
 feel without a wash, so we thought we would make 
 an effort in that direction, and opening our door 
 we boldly called aloud for water, which call was re- 
 sponded to by a small damsel from whose beaming 
 countenance we understood that our demand in 
 this direction had been anxiously looked for. This 
 was more than we expected, and guilty and 
 ashamed I sneaked back to our room, conscious 
 that we had judged all too hastily. We waited and 
 we waited, but no water and no basin made its ap- 
 pearance. Hearing, however, strange noises outside 
 I peeped round the door, and there in the passage 
 stood a stool on which was a tin pie-dish half full of 
 water, and in the background an interested multitude. 
 For one awful moment I contemplated that scene, 
 then seizing up the pie-dish bolted with it into our 
 room, to the intense disappointment of that assem- 
 
A Tin Pie-Dish. 59 
 
 bly. A tin pic-dish seems the regulation washing 
 basin of the uncivilized, and from experience I can 
 say there is not much satisfaction to be got out of 
 it. We thought regretfully of the sparkling rivu- 
 lets and rushing waters we had passed yesterday, 
 and we promised ourselves better things when out 
 in the country. 
 
 The cold of the night had developed into pour- 
 ing rain, blue-black clouds enveloping even the 
 near hills, and our guide said it was impossible to 
 start for Basss in this storm ; we should be blown 
 down, it would not be safe, so all that we could do 
 ivas to stand in our empty room and wait. At 
 first there was nothing to see but blinding rain, 
 but as soon as the storm began to break it was 
 most interesting to watch the clouds, as it were, 
 peeling off the mountains one after the other, until 
 the green hills of the Alpheios were seen in the 
 far distance. Then we were allowed to make a 
 start, but owing to the loss of time we were 
 obliged to give up going to Phigaleia. 
 
 The characteristics of the country on this day's 
 journey were totally different to those of yesterday. 
 Excepting looking down on two small hamlets 
 that seemed to be almost a continuation of 
 Andritsaena, we saw no signs of habitation. A 
 shepherd boy, who offered us some milk, and a 
 patrol of soldiers were all the humans we encoun- 
 tered. Occasional telegraph poles, bent to the 
 
Go Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 wind, were the only symbol of civilization, whilst 
 the very flowers had changed their nature. Yes- 
 terday there were anemones of every shade of red 
 and pink, tall, white stars of Bethlehem, vetches of 
 different size and colour, iris, asphodels, and quan- 
 tities of other flowers ; but to-day small hardy little 
 blue anemones, with an occasional white one, took 
 the place of the gorgeous red tribe, the yellow star 
 of Bethlehem stood against the wind, whilst its white 
 sister barely showed her stars above ground, 
 scentless violets on long stalks lifted their heads 
 above dead leaves, and a little purple pink flower 
 kept close to the earth. Stunted oaks cropped up, 
 but for the most part the hills were bare, with a 
 barrenness seen among the heights of deserted 
 terraces at the back of Mentone. The sides of the 
 hills bristled with large fragments of rock that 
 looked as if they had been torn from above and 
 hurled down at a rebellious nation ; the valleys be- 
 tween them were strewn with jagged blocks, stones, 
 stones everywhere, the very earth seemed only to 
 produce ridges of rock. There was no particular 
 road, it was more like one continuous skate over 
 graveyards ; then the heavens once more opened, 
 down came the rain, and, drawing my hood over 
 my eyes, I tied the rope-bridle to my saddle and 
 the wind sent us slithering down to the bottom of 
 the valley. How Edith managed to keep on her 
 hat and hold up an umbrella I do not know. 
 
Nature's Graveyards. 6i 
 
 Luckily that storm did not last long, and we soon 
 dried up. It was the only storm we had on this 
 or any of our other excursions, and after it was 
 over we were glad of our experience, as not to be 
 caught in a rain-cloud would have marked us for 
 ever as the most veritable tyros in Greek tra- 
 velling. 
 
 Since arriving in Greece, one feature had par- 
 ticularly struck us, and that was the absence of 
 real graveyards. By rail and by road we had 
 looked in vain for a sign of a tombstone. Near 
 one village we at last thought we had run one to 
 earth when we saw a small church standing in a 
 large plot of land surrounded by a very high wall, 
 and guarded by a very thick gate ; between the 
 planks of this gate we peeped, but nothing was 
 to be seen but rank grass and hemlock. We 
 could only draw the conclusion that either the 
 Greeks never die, or that their life is spent so 
 entirely among stones that they are only too 
 thankful to get rid of them in death. The 
 principle on which nature sets up her graveyards 
 is that of the domestic staircase with the step 
 reversed, and this makes the climbing up the 
 precipitous side of a hill adorned in this way so 
 arduous a performance. In one place our guide 
 made us dismount, and, tying my hippos to the 
 tail of the other, he drove them up before him, 
 we toiling after as best we could ; but on our return 
 
62 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 journey we refused to dismount, and our animals 
 skated us down that zig-zag in lovely style. 
 
 On the bleak stony hill above Bassas a glorious 
 view of the southern part of the Peloponnesus 
 opens out, but owing to the stormy weather we 
 could only see it in glimpses as the clouds raced 
 one over the other. Moreover, the wind was 
 so cold it almost blinded you, and its strength 
 was so great that you felt your animal bending 
 to it. Fortunately I had left my hat behind, and 
 it only seemed as if I kept my head on my 
 shoulders by means of the hood of my ulster. 
 Our guide was totally enveloped in his blue coat 
 and peaked hood, and looked more like a dancing 
 monkey than ever. We gazed around, but no 
 temple could we see. " Ah, that is below," and 
 so it was ; standing on a kind of promontory 
 at the side of the hill, in such a position that it 
 cannot be seen from this approach until you are 
 on it. 
 
 Outside Athens the temple at Bassas is in better 
 preservation than any other we saw in Greece. 
 Thirty-five out of the original thirty-eight columns 
 of the peristyle are standing, and on these the 
 architrave is still in position, whilst sufficient of 
 the walls and columns of the interior are left to 
 distinctly mark the peculiarities of the temple. 
 In the first instance it faces from north to south 
 instead of from east to west ; in place of the 
 
Temple of Bass^e. 63 
 
 Attic rule of thirteen columns on a side, it has 
 fifteen (one less, however, than the Herseon at 
 Olympia), and this makes it look to have an 
 enormous length when seen from below. The 
 cella is divided into recesses by cross-walls, in- 
 stead of the usual aisles by columns, and from 
 this a good idea can be got of how the Heraeon 
 must have looked in the old days. Beyond the 
 cross-walls the statue of Apollo stood, not facing 
 down the temple in the ordinary way, but, in 
 order to get the eastward position, looking across 
 to a door in the east wall. From this it is sup- 
 posed that an earlier shrine stood here and was 
 incorporated in the beautiful new temple built by 
 the pious Phigaleians, who employed no less 
 celebrated a man than Iktinos, one of the 
 architects of the Parthenon. When we looked 
 at the broken columns and wreck of the marble 
 roof that lay tossed around mixed up with frag- 
 ments of rock, we felt thankful that the fine 
 marble frieze of the cella was safe in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 Situated high up in the hills the position of this 
 temple is admirable and again wholly unique. 
 From the south end, looking towards Sparta and 
 Kalamata, a wonderful view is obtained of dis- 
 tant mountains and snowy peaks, with the dark- 
 crowned height of the once far-famed monastery 
 of Ithome standing out in the middle distance. 
 
64 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 To the west, across a ravine, can be traced the 
 rough hills behind which the extensive ruins of 
 Phigaleia lie hid, whilst a deep scarp in the 
 mountains showed the sea laughing in bright 
 sunshine and casting gentle curls of white foam 
 on the yellow beach. Strange contrast, inimi- 
 
 ^K 
 
 table glimpse of smil- 
 ing loveliness down 
 there, and up here 
 thrown-down columns, marble fragments, rocks 
 pitched upon rocks, stones upon stones, broken 
 terraces, one or two straggling oaks strug- 
 gling for existence; no water, no vegetation, 
 a veritable garden of desolation, amid which the 
 long line of limestone columns of the temple stood 
 out white against the brooding sky. Certainly 
 
A Sudden Apparition. 65 
 
 no place, before or since, has impressed me with 
 such an intense sense of stupendous solitude. 
 
 This appears to be the general impression, for 
 we were asked later on in our travels, how we had 
 dared to go alone with only a native guide to 
 such a desolate place. " Why, we had an escort 
 of soldiers, although we were all men." 
 
 " And we wandered about by ourselves for two 
 hours, looking at the temple from various points." 
 
 In the first place, though we felt the intense 
 loneliness, it never occurred to us to be frightened, 
 and if such a thought had crossed our brain com- 
 mon-sense would have told us that we were much 
 safer with a native guide who was known to all 
 the country-side, than with an inadequate escort. 
 If anything happened to a party conducted by a 
 native guide, then good-bye to all employment 
 of one of the people who, as it is, find it hard 
 enough work to compete with the thoroughly 
 competent dragomen of Athens. To be strictly 
 truthful, we did, however, get a start before leaving 
 Bassae. It was in this manner. Our guide was 
 away packing the animals ; we had taken a last 
 look at the wild confusion of rocks outside, and 
 were sitting silently in the temple, in imagination 
 building it up as it once had been, when suddenly 
 from behind the broken column on which Edith 
 sat, a white ghost rose. Fixing its piercing black 
 eyes on us, it stretched out its hands for a 
 
 F 
 
66 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 moment, muttered a few unintelligible words, 
 and then majestically stalked away with all the 
 grace and dignity of the sad, silent Greek of the 
 Peloponnesus. These shepherds, when clothed 
 in white shaggy sheepskins, with their pointed 
 hoods drawn over their heads, have a most un- 
 canny appearance, which is greatly increased by 
 the extraordinary way they have of apparently 
 appearing out of or disappearing into the earth. 
 Is this also the outcome of the years the Greek 
 lived as a hunted man ? In the same way, during 
 this journey, looking up the side of a hill, your 
 attention would be arrested by a sudden spot of 
 light, the gleam of the sun on a barrel, and 
 presently the dark blue of a couple of cara- 
 bineers on patrol duty would be seen among 
 the rocks, but they never hailed us or shouted out 
 so much as a kald. 
 
 The most grisly experience, however, was that 
 first afternoon at Olympia, when I had gone down 
 alone to further investigate those "foundations." 
 Intent on making out the different walls, I dodged 
 considerably about, and before long became con- 
 scious whenever I turned of something moving in 
 my immediate neighbourhood. My attention 
 being aroused, I soon caught a vision of a white 
 thing flapping behind a thrown-down capital, and 
 a few set moves showed me that I was being 
 shadowed. There was not a soul to be seen on 
 
Shadowed by a Ghost. 67 
 
 the neighbouring heights, I might have shouted 
 until I was black in the face and no one would 
 have heard, so I sat down on an elevated spot in 
 the hope that the thing would come out and show 
 itself, but all that I gained was a swift glance of a 
 most unprepossessing face, as for a moment it 
 rested its chin on the top of a broken pillar. 
 There was no good trying to escape from the ruins 
 as the thing was between me and the narrow way 
 that led to the bridge over the Kladeos, and if 
 mischief was meant I should only be running my 
 head into it by making a bolt. It was an un- 
 comfortable moment, but I came to the conclusion 
 that if it was written in the book of Fate that I 
 was to be murdered I should be, and that I might 
 just as well pick out an appropriate spot for the 
 sacrifice and leave a sketch of it behind me as a 
 memento for my sorrowing family. Accordingly 
 I settled down among the huge fragments before 
 the Temple of Zeus, and drew for some time in 
 peace ; then I felt that the thing had moved round 
 me and was now actually looking over my 
 shoulder. I did not relish that face being so close 
 to my own, and a nearer view added to its hideous- 
 ness. I opened my mouth ; and the moment I 
 spoke to it it seemed satisfied, and it sat down and 
 stared at me. I then perceived that it wore a large 
 white apron tied to its neck, and which, flapping 
 in the wind, had puzzled me so much, and I thought 
 F 2 
 
68 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 I recognized the thing as a half-witted looking 
 being I had seen vanishing in the direction of the 
 kitchen of the Xenodochion. Presently it arose 
 and disappeared, apparently satisfied, but having 
 never uttered a single word. 
 
 On our way back from Bassas we stopped at a 
 beautiful large stream and had awash. We thought 
 one guide an improvement on half a village, but 
 on his showing a dangerous interest in our tooth 
 brushes, we beguiled him into a hollow trunk of a 
 tree and set him to watch the water boil for tea, a 
 long acquaintance with that spirit lamp assuring 
 us that he would be well employed for the next ten 
 minutes. Of course a Greek appeared at a critical 
 moment, they always do ; let the country look as 
 desolate as you like, someone rises from the earth 
 when least wanted. Being limited by the exi- 
 gencies of our luggage to one dress on and one 
 dress off, this journey was undertaken by one of us 
 in a dressing-gown and a waterproof, and as the 
 latter always had to be on the outside this necessi- 
 tated a kind of change round according as the sun 
 came out or went in. A desolate spot was always 
 chosen for this double-shuffle, but as sure as the 
 dressing-gown came into play a Greek appeared 
 a few feet in advance, staring with great round 
 eyes. 
 
 Andritssena, which lies upwards of two 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea, is prettily 
 
A Picturesque Street. 69 
 
 situated on the side of a basin in the hills. A 
 large stream rushes down the valley, and from its 
 broken banks a variety of trees and many vine- 
 yards climb upwards, whilst behind the town rise 
 the bare peaks pointing to where the majestic 
 temple of Bassae stands. The natives look upon 
 Andritssena as a town, so town, I suppose, it must 
 be, and its industry is the making of shoes which 
 our guide said, " are celebrated all round the 
 country." The principal street of Andritsrena is 
 most picturesque ; it winds upwards towards the 
 church, and it is shut in by houses of black wood, 
 built in Swiss fashion, and which nearly meet over- 
 head. The lowest story of these houses are chiefly 
 turned into open shops, and here behind strings of 
 red shoes and amongst other richly-coloured 
 articles for sale, the fine formed Greeks in fusta- 
 nella lounged, their dark, many-folded leather 
 belts holding all manner of things ; it only wanted 
 a woman or two in costume to make the picture 
 perfect, but they, poor things, apparently were still 
 at work. 
 
 Leaving the strings of tufted shoes, and the 
 lights and shadows of this fascinating street behind 
 us, we wound up to the little church that crowned 
 the top of the hill. As we approached the gate of 
 the wall that enclosed the church, two ladies 
 rushed down the steps of a house opposite, seized 
 our hands, nearly wrung them off, and, after a 
 
70 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 voluminous welcome, dispatched us in the care of 
 a charming, bright-eyed girl, in a short red petti- 
 coat, to see the church, followed by a mixed troup 
 of sightseers after the human. As Greek churches 
 go this would be considered a large one ; there was 
 carving on some of the capitals, but the church had 
 no particular features, unless it was that the pictures 
 were uglier than usual, and that there was a 
 long gallery at the west end set apart for the 
 women. She of the red petticoat insisted on our 
 going up to the gallery, which we found absolutely 
 bare, not so much as a broken bench to be seen ; 
 and when we suggested that we thought all the 
 women could do here was to sit on the floor and 
 go to sleep, from the delight of the girl and the 
 twinkle of her eye we fancied we had hit the truth. 
 Our guide put a copper or two in the plate on his 
 own account, and a drachma each for us, and then 
 we went out to look at the view of the distant hills, 
 and, leaning over the wall, had a most interesting 
 glimpse of the town, climbing down to the mountain 
 torrent. On passing through the gate, we were 
 seized upon by the aforesaid ladies in black, rushed 
 up the steps, told to shake hands with an old lady 
 almost bent double, dragged across a room and 
 plumped down on a wooden sofa adorned with red 
 cushions, and liberally scattered over with crochet 
 antimacassars, the work, I should think, of several 
 generations. 
 
Invited into the Priest's House. ;i 
 
 When we had somewhat regained our senses, 
 and whilst our hostess was regaining her breath, 
 for she was decidedly stout, we took in the chief 
 features of the room. It was low and long, like- 
 wise carpeted, which carpet had every facility of 
 showing off its brilliant colour and elegant pattern, 
 as all the furniture was carefully placed against the 
 walls, the entire length of the one opposite to our 
 sofa being occupied by a row of boxes covered 
 with gay rugs. We were in fact in the best room 
 of the priest's house, and a remarkably well- 
 furnished one it was. His good-natured wife, the 
 Pappadia, had drawn a chair close to us on our 
 left, and still sat gasping. Leaning over the end 
 of the sofa, with a grandchild at her knee, was the 
 grandmother, a charming looking, bright-eyed, in- 
 telligent old lady, the handsomest woman we saw 
 in Greece, and, then in stalked three young men 
 with fly-away cloaks, and sat down on the boxes 
 and stared hard. 
 
 Eyes on every side, it was really very embarras- 
 sing, and for the life of me I could think of no 
 Greek but to ask them their names ; this however 
 seemed to be just what the Pappadia wanted, and 
 gave her an opportunity for that fatal inquiry 
 after our relationship. Now as our guide was 
 sitting on the edge of the last box nearest to the 
 door and I had only some two hours ago owned 
 up to an unknown relationship with my friend, 
 
72 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 and likewise assented to her being married as 
 sounding more respectable to his ears, this ordeal 
 was truly appalling, On the chance of there 
 being a regulation code on this favourite theme, 
 I denied any sisterly connection, also negatived 
 the second proposition, and smilingly clenched 
 the third, only trusting that it was all right and 
 that I had not acknowledged a divorce or anything 
 that was likely to bring discredit on our heads. 
 I have an idea that they put us down as widows, 
 and were much impressed with our cheerful way 
 of bearing up under our sad circumstances. Then 
 there marched into the room a tall youth in a 
 suit of light grey dittos — a prig of the first water 
 — who was introduced to us with much ceremony 
 in the middle of the room as " my son." We rose, 
 made our best bows, shook hands ; we backed to 
 our sofa and he backed to the line of trunks, where 
 he took up a prominent position among the young 
 men. "My son" was supposed to speak French 
 and did so, much in the manner that we spoke 
 Greek, and a conversation, conducted on the 
 principle of seven words of Greek to one of French 
 on his part and ten words of French to one of 
 Greek on our side, took place, the three young 
 men acting as chorus in the background ; in fact 
 one of the latter appeared the sharpest at under- 
 standing of the whole party, but we found we 
 were not expected to notice the chorus, so we 
 
" What ought I to do ? " 73 
 
 dare not seek the information we were burning to 
 acquire, and which, if eyes could speak, that youth 
 was equally eager to impart. Thus even in far 
 Andritsaena our thirst for knowledge was handi- 
 capped by some trivial rule of etiquette. 
 
 The charmer in red petticoats now entered, 
 carrying a tray on which were two kinds of pre- 
 serve in glass jars, tumblers of water, and tiny cups 
 of coffee. To have such a galaxy as this thrust 
 under your nose, whilst under a battery of eighteen 
 eyes and with the consciousness that you are 
 unacquainted with the rules of procedure, is a truly 
 painful moment. 
 
 " What ought I to do ? How am I to begin ?" 
 exclaimed Edith, in a stage whisper. 
 
 Drawing a bow at a venture, I return, hurriedly, 
 "Take a spoonful of jam and a glass of water." 
 
 But in the embarrassment of the moment she 
 was about to plunge that spoonful of jam into the 
 large glass of water, when the Pappadia, jumping 
 up, came to the rescue. Seizing the spoon, she 
 gave it a second dig into the jam, and with an 
 artful twist, conveyed half of the contents of the 
 jar into Edith's mouth, all the young men rushing 
 up and standing round to see the performance. 
 This was the last straw ; though I lost my charac- 
 ter for ever, I could not help it, and hiding my 
 face in the antimacassars, I shook with laughter ; 
 but to my intense relief the next instant I heard 
 
74 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 the room re-echo with the laughter of the young 
 men, who seemed as glad to relieve their feelings 
 as we were, and then the Pappadia joined in. 
 The light-coloured jam that we tasted was some- 
 thing like pear marmalade, and strongly to be 
 recommended ; we said kald to this with a free 
 conscience, and after a sip of cold clear water I 
 found the coffee most acceptable. But, alas ! not 
 so Edith. 
 
 " I cannot touch it, what is to be done ? " 
 murmured she. 
 
 Fortunately, at this moment " my son " insisted 
 upon handing me his Latin grammar ; so, in 
 opening the book, I took the opportunity to tip 
 up Edith's cup. 
 
 She took her loss so sweetly that they all were 
 charmed with her amiability. No doubt they had 
 their own thoughts regarding my clumsiness. 
 
 The Pappadia then presented us with oranges, 
 which we said we should keep for our journey 
 back to Olympia and think of her when we ate 
 them to-morrow, after which glorious effort at 
 politeness in the Greek language we thought we 
 had better make tracks, so we submitted our hands 
 to the shakers, bowed low to the chorus, and 
 backed out of the room. On the doorstep, in 
 defiance of etiquette, we shook hands with the 
 charmer in red petticoats. 
 
 Somehow that native dish last night had com- 
 
"The English never Laugh." 75 
 
 pletely put us off, and we had refused so much as 
 to look at lamb, or anything that appertained to 
 the lamb. " What, no meat ! " cried our guide. 
 " All the English eat so much meat and drink so 
 much wine. Meat and wine, wine and meat, 
 that was the English ! We must be very strange 
 English indeed, but then he knew we were, for 
 we laughed and laughed and ate nothing, and the 
 English never laugh and always eat meat." 
 
 We thought we would try eggs served in their 
 shells ; the latter, any way, must be a protection 
 against extraneous matter, and our obliging 
 hostess brought us four hard-boiled eggs rolling 
 about on one plate, and stood over us to see how we 
 attacked them, making various remarks as to our 
 individual shortcomings in this wise, — 
 
 " What a very little bread you eat, and white 
 bread too ! The other lady eats no bread at all ; 
 such a thing has never been heard of in Andritsoena 
 before. Did she never eat bread ? You are slow ; 
 why, the other lady has finished both her eggs, and 
 you have not eaten one yet. Are you always so 
 slow ? " And then our kind hostess, taking com- 
 passion on my sinful slowness, seized the last egg 
 and was about to peel it, but the very horror of 
 the situation called up a miraculous flow of tongues, 
 and I saved that egg. 
 
 Although better than yesterday's mess of pottage, 
 cold water, dry bread, and hard eggs did not make 
 
76 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 up an appetizing meal. Being what it was, Edith 
 rightly argued the sooner it was despatched the 
 better ; but it defied my best efforts in that 
 direction, and I take the gods to witness that it is 
 the least expeditious food that can be set before a 
 hungry mortal. We had never had a particularly 
 high opinion of the bread of Olympia, and that 
 piece of a long loaf which we had brought with us, 
 and which had been kept in one of the horse-bags 
 for two days, had now taken a criminal hardness. 
 It seemed to stick in our throats, although we 
 thought we could have dined very fairly on it had 
 we had a pot of the Pappadia's excellent jam to 
 help it down. We were told afterwards that we 
 should have fared much better if we had taken to 
 the native brown bread, which does not get dry 
 and has a good deal of nourishment in it ; but we did 
 not buy any, under a false impression that it was 
 sour, and we certainly did not feel inclined to 
 share our guide's loaf, although he courteously 
 offered us a bite. 
 
 It is said that cleanliness is next to godliness, 
 and most assuredly there are no two subjects about 
 which there is a greater diversity of opinion. With 
 the latter, fortunately, this history has not to deal, 
 but the former, whilst on the trot in foreign parts, 
 is necessarily a burning question. Our Greek 
 hostess had her own ideas of cleanliness. She had 
 been very much shocked in the morning to find 
 
Awkward Attentions. 77 
 
 that we had splashed most of the water out of the 
 tin pie-dish on to the floor, and shook her head 
 over such dirty ways, and now she thought it 
 exceedingly disgusting of us to keep on our boots, 
 but as we likewise had our own ideas regarding 
 the floor, we stuck to our boots and persuaded her 
 to lay the beds. This was accomplished before an 
 audience of three children and my sister-in-law, 
 and as when these beds were spread there was only 
 a path left of two feet on two sides of the room, we 
 had either to sit on the table or to stand against 
 the walls, whilst we had the pleasure of seeing one 
 small child, with very dirty feet, careering all over 
 our beds — that, however, was quite according to 
 their rules of cleanliness, and they forgave us our 
 dirty habits for the sake of our crimson dressing- 
 gowns. These garments appeared to afford them 
 the greatest interest ; they all jnsisted, one after the 
 other, upon stroking the plush collar and cuffs of one, 
 whilst a pinked out double box pleat on the other 
 elicited their warmest admiration. I did my best 
 to show them how this ruche was made, and I am 
 sure that a race who can pleat up twelve yards 
 into a fustanella ought to be able to accomplish 
 anything in that line. 
 
 Out of consideration for our wearied state, they 
 had left us in peace the night before, but they 
 evidently intended to take it out of us this evening. 
 Once or twice we thought we were on the point of 
 
yS Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 getting rid of the whole pack, but they always left 
 one child in to report progress, and upon any 
 novelty coming into action she gave the alarm, 
 when the whole party was upon us once more. 
 The long, smooth brown hair of my friend was the 
 rallying cry at one time, our brushes and combs 
 another, and at their earnest request I foolishly 
 let them take my brush into their hands, never 
 thinking of the blank despair that would im- 
 mediately settle on my soul until I saw that brush 
 restored safely to its case. Then they pointed 
 reproachfully at my tousled locks, and said, — 
 
 " Why don't you make your hair smooth like the 
 other lady's, and follow her good example and get 
 into bed ? " 
 
 Nature, however, has not endowed me with a 
 total indifference to performing my toilet in public. 
 On that matter I am not a Gallio, so I shook my 
 head and laughed. But upon their repeating the 
 request, an inspiration came to me. I ran my 
 fingers through my hair, making it stand on end, and 
 brandishing my brush aloft, I advanced towards the 
 children, who took fright and scuttled, and, follow- 
 ing up my retreating foe, I fairly brushed the 
 whole family out. Ye who are plagued with a 
 head of rough hair, take comfort ; remember that 
 there are occasions when it is more useful to 
 produce horror and disgust than to excite love 
 and admiration ; which is a moral. 
 
"Tell him to go." 79 
 
 A third time I endeavoured to turn the key in 
 the door, but that lock was determined to rest on 
 its laurels of yesterday. I could not drag the table 
 to the door without half-murdering my weary 
 friend ; there was nothing for it but to put the 
 rickety stool — our washing-stand — against the 
 door. Our guide had received all his instructions ; 
 the women had been finally turned out ; there 
 really seemed no reason why we should not be 
 left in peace. 
 
 I kicked off my boots, I — rap came at the door. 
 " Good-night," I returned, taking up an advan- 
 tageous position on the table, as I dare not be 
 caught standing on the beds by any member of 
 the family. Slowly the door was pushed open a 
 little way ; over went the stool — luckily, the tin 
 dish was safe in one of the window sills — and the 
 monkey face of our guide beamed benevolently 
 upon us. He positively wanted nothing, it was 
 merely sheer curiosity on his part ; he knew his 
 instructions by heart, but still he stopped and 
 smiled. 
 
 " What does that man want ? " exclaimed Edith. 
 " Why can't you get him out of the room ? Tell 
 him to go, and do put out the light." 
 
 " It is all your hair and that collar and those 
 cuffs," I returned. " I should suggest your tying 
 a towel round your locks and hiding that too 
 fascinating plush, or we shall be having the whole 
 
8o Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 village in by sections. Moreover, I mean to sit 
 them out if they keep me up all night," which 
 latter sentiment our guide seemed to under- 
 stand, and with a hopeless shake of the head in my 
 direction, he finally disappeared. Sleeping on the 
 floor is not a thing that grows upon you ; somehow 
 we found that second night worse than the first. 
 
 As we had no desire for another ride in the dark, 
 and also had a holy fear of being belated on this side 
 of the Alpheios and having to camp out in 
 the damp fields, we had impressed upon our guide 
 the necessity of starting by six a.m. Of course 
 when we issued out at that early hour the next 
 morning we found the animals had not got half-way 
 through their feed ; moreover our guide was making 
 desperate efforts to stow away in the various horse- 
 bags a large consignment of shoes in which he had 
 invested. He tried to beguile us back into the 
 house, but we said we preferred to stand outside 
 and shiver in the early mist. Edith, who had 
 added to her vocabulary of hippos the word 
 kreo (cold), picked up from the people, stood to her 
 guns, and at stated intervals, with a majestic wave 
 of the hand, reiterated, " hippos, kreo ! " till at last 
 our guide could stand it no longer, and so we got 
 off at half-past six. 
 
 This morning we saw the master of the house, 
 and, in his neat black coat and white fustanella, he 
 ooked quite a gentleman in comparison to his 
 
The Little Soldier again. 
 
 draggle-tailed wife. She was a tall woman, and 
 might have had a good figure, but Hera herself 
 could not have passed for divine in a dirty brown 
 bedgown ; " my sister-in-law," who broke up her 
 costume with a white bodice and an apron, looked 
 many degrees better, but spoilt her face by wearing 
 a black band across her forehead. Two of the 
 small children had presented us with weird 
 bouquets, and we had given them chocolate, 
 the tinfoil of which they devoured with much 
 appreciation. So with many kalds we slithered 
 down the steps into the street, and there found the 
 little soldier, whose kit we had taken up on our way 
 to Andritsaena, standing attention. His face beamed 
 with delight when he saw that we recognized him, 
 and he looked proudly round, shuffling off the 
 admiring crowd, but to all our good mornings and 
 adieux he only answered by unceasing salutes, and 
 the last we saw as we sank in the mud before the 
 row of unfinished houses was his hand still raised 
 to his cap. 
 
 Leaving Andritsaena we had a full view of the 
 gullies we had passed over in the dark, and in day- 
 light we declined altogether to journey on the out- 
 side edge. Then, as we mounted the opposite crest, 
 we turned for a last look at picturesque Andritsaena, 
 but the valley was still filled with white vapour, 
 and so we left that quaint town bathed in morn- 
 ing mist. Although it was very cold when we 
 
 G 
 
82 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 started, it soon grew warm, and during the hottest 
 part of the day we halted for one hour. The way 
 was just as beautiful as when we came, but in spite 
 of snowy mountains, fairy glens, white heath and 
 red anemones, never were two mortals more glad 
 than we were when at last we saw below us the 
 broad white waters of the Alpheios. In our small 
 way we cried out with the immortal ten thousand, 
 "The sea ! the sea!" 
 
 How gaily two days ago we had set forth under 
 those olive trees, but three days on wooden saddles 
 and two nights on the floor, with nothing particular 
 in the way of food, had left us with only the 
 skeleton of a laugh. And down there stood our 
 Xenodochion, no longer to be scoffed at as the 
 abode of savagery, but the home of civilization. 
 Beds, towels, wine glasses ; fish, flesh, yea, perhaps 
 fowl ! even lurked beneath that pointed roof; and 
 we belaboured our tired hipposes with the end of 
 the rope in answer to the waving hands that 
 greeted our approach. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Our classic wash— The last of Olympia— From Patras to 
 Athens — Sykon— Old Corinth and its acropolis — Akro- 
 Korinthos— Isthmian Wall and the Canal— Eighteen 
 German professors — Athens— Treasures from Mykenae, 
 and old tombs — Alexander's sarcophagus by Lysippos — 
 Walk up Pentelicus and look down on Marathon. 
 
 Since leaving Olympia two days ago an immense 
 stride in civilization had taken place. The vener- 
 able rags that had done duty for tablecloths were 
 replaced by clean ones, carefully joined together so 
 as to present one expanse of white. Water was 
 brought for the asking, the coffee was no longer 
 served in the jug, chicken and salad actually 
 appeared at table ; and all this had come about by 
 the advent of a youth from Athens, who had 
 taken the place of the grinning Leonidos. This 
 young man was a typical modern Greek in his 
 anxiety to get on in life. He had just finished his 
 time in the army, where he had waited on his 
 colonel, had learnt to speak French, and had earned 
 a first-rate character ; his desire now was to acquire 
 English. Being a better class of youth, he had 
 a holy horror of hotel and restaurant life in 
 London, and he wished to get into a private family 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 as extra man-servant for a few months. He told 
 us wages were no consideration, for he could have 
 a free passage to England in a currant boat, and 
 that he would do anything from blacking boots to 
 teaching modern Greek. He had brought about a 
 great revolution at the Xenodochi'on, but for all 
 that I regretted Leonidos and his primitive ideas 
 regarding cleanliness. 
 
 The idle tourist is often seen leaning over the 
 parapet of a bridge, and smiling cynically at the 
 beating and stoning of clothes that is going on 
 below in the waters, but had that tourist ever 
 been driven to make a wash in a river on his or her 
 own account, that smile would have been all on the 
 side of the beater and stoner. It looks so sweetly 
 pastoral and easy. Nausikaa, with bundle poised 
 on head, lightly tripping down to the classic river, 
 no soap in hand, the rush of the sweet waters 
 alone cleansing diplois and chiton. 
 
 Such is the picture ; now for experience — in 
 point of fact, our troubles began the moment we 
 arrived at the Kladeos. If you cannot find a 
 come-at-able pool in the river, you have to scrape 
 up the pebbles and make one ; then you have to 
 lay a little pier of stones on which to stand ; you 
 fetch a big flat stone, and on that you confidently 
 deposit your soap. Now you congratulate your- 
 self on your forethought, look complacently 
 round on your arrangements, and think you can 
 
Wash Clothes in the Kladeos. 85 
 
 make a start. Taking up a position on the pier, 
 you smear on the soap and commence to rub, 
 which operation disintegrates the pier, but such 
 accidents will happen ; it is not that which dis- 
 turbs the mind, but the extraordinary negative 
 effect that soap has on the clothes. Is it caused by 
 something in the water, your method, or what ? 
 and you turn to take it any way out of that soap, 
 which you just see sliding off the stone into the 
 river ; of course you go after that soap, and by 
 the time it is recaptured " the wash " is making a 
 start down stream. You throw sticks, lumps of 
 sand, anything and all things, to stop that flight, 
 and when at last the things are fished out, they 
 are found in a far worse state than they were at 
 the beginning. In despair, you tie them all to- 
 gether, jump on to a large boulder, and let the 
 river swirl them at its will ; then, when your arms 
 are quite numb with holding them, you hang the 
 things on a thorn bush. As fast as you put one 
 up, the wind blows another down, till at last, in 
 desperation, you drive the thorns through them, 
 but even that does not ensure security, and you 
 cannot pretend indifference to their fate, when a 
 single loss might create a crisis in your wardrobe; 
 so there is nothing for it but to sit down on a 
 sand-heap and "tent" those clothes, and I know 
 of no more dismal an occupation than watching 
 he drying process reveal to you, one by one, the 
 
86 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 total failure of your wash. Edith, however, pro- 
 nounced her wash to be a perfect success, and I 
 fancy it must have been, from the proud way in 
 which she displayed it up and down that river 
 side. 
 
 From the extraordinary interest Monsieur V. 
 evinced in our attempt at " a wash " in the 
 Kladeos, I was perfectly sure that he must once 
 have essayed one on his own account, with re- 
 sults equal to mine. He listened with an air of 
 humiliation and depression to Edith's calm as- 
 surance of the entire success of her operations, 
 and then, turning to me, said, with a tinge of hope 
 in his tone, — 
 
 "And you, mademoiselle ? " 
 
 "It was the first time, and — it will be the 
 last." 
 
 With delight : " Ah, then mademoiselle had not 
 been successful ! It did not appear that made- 
 moiselle liked washing." 
 
 " I do not see what there is to like about it," 
 and then, emboldened by conviction, " Monsieur 
 did not enjoy it either ?" 
 
 Denial hovered on his lips, but for once he 
 spoke the truth. " That'is true, mademoiselle." 
 
 Passing over our failures, it might be useful to 
 mention one of our successes, in case there are 
 those who have not heard of this particular pro- 
 cess. Where threepence is charged for each 
 
Monsieur V. 87 
 
 pocket-handkerchief, as is the case in Athens, it is 
 a great consideration to be able to wash your own, 
 and this is how to do it. Wash the handkerchief 
 well with soap in hot water, wring- it out gently, 
 take it up by two corners, and place it immedi- 
 ately against one of the panes of glass of the 
 window, taking care to smooth out all wrinkles. 
 If the handkerchief is of a decent texture, and 
 sufficiently wet, it will stick at once to the glass, 
 and when dry it falls down, looking quite smooth, 
 and as if it had been ironed. Those who are very 
 particular should fold it carefully and pack it up 
 for a day, which still more improves its appear- 
 ance. Of course it is indispensable to see that 
 the pane of glass is clean, and to put a newspaper 
 or towel for the handkerchief to fall on. In an 
 hotel dust or sand always congregates on the floor 
 near a window. 
 
 We had requested our letters to be directed to 
 us at Olympia, care of Madame Georgios Pliris, 
 but Monsieur V. assured us we should never get 
 them. 
 
 "Letters," he said, "never come to Olympia ! 
 You must rail to Pyrgos and fetch them," and as 
 he apparently lived on the line, he kindly under- 
 took to inquire at the post-office on our behalf. 
 Whether they were insufficiently addressed, or 
 what, I cannot say, but this I do know, those 
 letters have not been seen down to this day. 
 
88 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Likewise, our inquiries after Madame Georgios 
 Pliris, the supposed owner of the Xenodochion 
 were equally futile. We were first told there was 
 not so much as a woman on the premises, but one 
 day we started a very ancient female, and ran her 
 to the little kitchen built out at the side, on the 
 threshold of which we paused, having been warned 
 not to enter whilst we were dependent on that 
 kitchen for food. Monsieur V. would have it 
 that Madame Georgios was no more, and sug- 
 gested that our letters had been sent after her. 
 
 On account of the trains not corresponding, 
 we found we could not run through from Olympia 
 to Athens, but would have to stay at Pyrgos or 
 Patras, so chose the latter. It was quite a wrench 
 to leave peaceful Olympia and to think that, if 
 ever we visited it again, a great hotel would be 
 staring us in the face ; and when we left on the 
 2nd of April, 1892, the railway was expected 
 to be completed in a few weeks, though the per- 
 manent station had yet to be built. 
 
 About two o'clock in the afternoon we saun- 
 tered down to the train ; then, when everybody 
 had settled themselves comfortably, the engine- 
 driver thought he might as well start, and Monsieur 
 V., who never got into a train until it had begun 
 to move, jumped into our carriage and came with 
 us part of the way, but before dropping down on 
 the line, he handed us over to a Greek gentlema 
 
The Inevitable Knock. 89 
 
 whose "boy" was to look after our things at 
 Pyrgos and see us into the train for Patras, and 
 so we were passed on. 
 
 Jumping down from the carriage at Pyrgos, we 
 alighted at the feet of the smiling station-master, 
 who insisted on shaking hands, on the strength of 
 his English, I suppose, and wanted to know where 
 we had been and what we had seen. The people 
 appear to love to shake hands, and always did if 
 they could raise a shadow of excuse for so 
 doing. 
 
 Again we had the beautiful sea-view all the 
 way to Patras, with occasional glimpses, inland, of 
 the Erymanthos spurs of snow ; only this time we 
 watched all this beauty fade from daylight into 
 night, whereas before, we had seen it come out 
 from its morning mists into sunshine. Our train 
 stopped on the same piece of waste land at Patras, 
 and we had no difficulty in getting a carriage and 
 driving to the Hotel d'Angleterre. We chose this 
 hotel in the pride of our independence, and met 
 with that reward which the good little story-books 
 — with that singular perversity for ignoring the 
 good in the natural man— say that pride deserves. 
 Having spent the whole morning in a last look 
 at the museum, and a despairing scramble all over 
 the ruins of Olympia, we were quite fagged out by 
 the time we reached Patras, and had but one 
 desire, bed ; when, of course, the inevitable knock 
 
90 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 came to the door. It was Gaze's agent to know 
 if there was anything he could do for us. 
 
 We returned thanks, intimated that we had 
 Cook's tickets to Athens, and that we considered 
 ourselves mentally and physically capable of con- 
 tinuing our journey without the kind assistance of 
 anyone. We had hardly begun to plume our- 
 selves on this victory than another rap came, and 
 we saw before us Cook's agent who had landed us 
 from the steamer. He congratulated us on our 
 safe return, regretted he had not been at the 
 train to meet us, and announced he should 
 come to-morrow morning and take us to the 
 station and see us off for Athens. We had no 
 tickets of Gaze to play off upon him, so meekly 
 we assented ; it was in this wise we fell from 
 our high estate, and it is here that the story-book 
 moral comes in. Although we had been defeated 
 in our object of coming to this hotel, we found it 
 most comfortable and inexpensive, and so sought 
 for consolation in our pockets. 
 
 Our train left Patras at 7.40 a.m., and we started 
 on the most lovely railway journey I have ever 
 been in my life. The Peloponnesus coast was 
 much in the style of the Italian Riviera, but what 
 causes that to take such a decided second place in 
 comparison to this is, that here the magnificent out- 
 line of Northern Greece, with its rugged mountains 
 and peaks of snow, is always within view across 
 
Beautiful Coast-line. 91 
 
 the bright waters of the Corinthian Gulf. If such 
 is the view from the railway, it can easily be 
 imagined what it must be from the steamer when 
 the snows of Erymanthos (73CO feet), Kyllene 
 (7790 feet), and all the lofty ranges of Arcadia 
 and Achaia are also in sight. 
 
 Soon after leaving Patras we looked back on 
 the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, which, al- 
 though one mile and a quarter wide, appeared 
 much narrower ; the two Venetian forts guarding 
 
 the entrance stood picturesquely out, but in spirit 
 we sighed after the temples of Poseidon which 
 once reared their columns here. These fortresses 
 and those of Corfu were the first indications we 
 saw of that wonderful Venetian supremacy which 
 afterwards we were to find cropping up all over 
 Greece, most notably, perhaps, at Nauplia and at 
 Khalkis. Of course, as admirers of Motley's 
 Dutch Republic, we strained our eyes in search of 
 Lepanto where Don John of Austria won his 
 fame, and the spot was pointed out to us on the 
 
92 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 opposite coast, where the gulf again narrowed, so 
 that it was in these circumscribed waters that that 
 great naval battle took place. After this point 
 the gulf gradually widened, and the long white 
 range of Parnassos (8070 feet) and Helikon (5738 
 feet) came in sight. The snow added greatly to 
 the beauty of the scene, whilst, owing to the 
 deeply-cut and ragged coast-line, the views we 
 caught were most varied and at times quite 
 puzzling. As we now gazed in admiration, little 
 did we think that Parnassos was to stand out in 
 far "reater Grandeur when seen from the sea above 
 Thermopylae. 
 
 Leaving the fascinating snows behind, we curved 
 into the beautiful Bay of Corinth, and here upon a 
 terrace some three miles inland lie the ruins of 
 Sikyon, so sacred to the artist as the seat of the 
 Sikyonian or Dorian School, justly celebrated for 
 the severity of its academic course. Apelles, the 
 greatest of all the classic painters, studied here, 
 and he and the exquisite sculptor Lysippos are 
 said to have been the shining lights of this 
 School. But perhaps the traveller who has been 
 gazing in admiration at the red poppies in the 
 currant-fields will be more interested to remember 
 that the very ancient name of Sikyon was Mekone, 
 the poppy-town. Kithseron (4620 feet), with 
 whose peak we were to become so familiar during 
 our stay at Athens, was now in front of us, and 
 
Akropolis of Old Corinth. 
 
 93 
 
 Akro-Korinthos, on its dark crag, soon came in 
 view ahead on the right. The railway line passes 
 Lechaeon, the old northern port of Corinth, as 
 Kenchreae on the Saronic Gulf was the southern ; 
 and looking up to Akro-Korinthos, we thought we 
 made out the position of the ancient town which 
 stood at the foot of the citadel. It was some- 
 where up there that Diogenes established his 
 
 JHn 
 
 famous tub, and where that short but pithy inter- 
 change of sentiment took place between him 
 and Alexander the Great. That, too, was the site 
 of the commercial Corinth, re-established by Caesar, 
 that St. Paul visited, and it was to these Corinthians, 
 the debased representatives of an always luxurious 
 trading community, that St. Paul wrote his epistles. 
 With the beautiful bay on one side and these 
 interesting peeps at Akro-Korinthos on the other, 
 the view was most distracting, and kept us on the 
 
94 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 trot from one window to the other, until all the 
 landscape was suddenly blocked out by a row of 
 empty carriages and the uninteresting buildings 
 of the station of new Corinth, which place lies 
 close to the shore, and appeared to be of little 
 interest. 
 
 Soon after leaving the station we passed over 
 the site of the famous Isthmian Wall, which, by 
 the way, can be traced above ground in many 
 places, and turning our back on the new town of 
 Poseidonia, which is rising up at the mouth of the 
 canal, we crossed the latter by an iron bridge. 
 The Canal is some ioo feet in breadth ; it is a beau- 
 tiful clean cut from the Bay of Corinth to the 
 Saronic Gulf, and glancing up it, about a mile to 
 the north and two miles and a half to the south, 
 a quaint glimpse of the sea is caught at both ends. 
 Looking down from the bridge, the bottom of the 
 canal appeared to be a tremendous depth below, 
 and men were hard at work all along the cut. 
 It seems odd that the ancient Greeks never made a 
 canal through the isthmus, but the Romans did 
 make several attempts, and traces of Nero's works 
 have been found. At the Saronic end of the 
 canal another small town, Isthmia, is springing up. 
 
 We had now crossed the Isthmus of Corinth 
 and had the view and the sea to our right, although, 
 looking back, charming peeps of the Corinthian 
 Gulf could still be seen at times. After leaving the 
 
Retributive Justice. 95 
 
 little station of Kalamaki, the line makes several 
 sharp curves, and we looked across the water to 
 Kenchreae, with Akro-Korinthos standing out on 
 its dark hill behind. This Kenchreae, which, as I 
 have said, was the eastern port of old Corinth, 
 was the harbour whence St. Paul, accompanied by 
 Priscilla and Aquila, set sail for Syria. 
 
 From Kenchreae southwards we traced the coast- 
 line of the Peloponnesus, which, however, soon 
 became mixed up with the numerous little islands 
 of the Saronic Gulf, with fair yEgina in the far 
 distance. Long curving Salamis then came in 
 view, whilst inland we were passing beneath the 
 perpendicular Skironian rocks. Those "accursed 
 cliffs," where in mythic times dwelt that old thief 
 Skiron, who, with a sense of humour wholly 
 egotistical, compelled unwary travellers to wash 
 his feet, and then, whilst so doing, kicked them 
 over the precipice into the sea ; but retributive 
 justice at last overtook him in the person of 
 Theseus, who, being something of a scamp him- 
 self, managed to turn the tables on the old villain, 
 and there is a lovely illustration of this incident 
 on a vase in the British Museum, which shows 
 Theseus gracefully tipping the old sinner over 
 the rock and hurling his washing-cylix after him. 
 Running inland, about a mile from the sea, the 
 train stops at Megara, with its houses climbing up 
 to the top of the hill ; it is now famous for its 
 
96 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 dances on Easter Tuesday and the beauty of its 
 women ! In ancient days, when it was lord of 
 lovely Salamis just opposite, it was a great com- 
 mercial centre, vying with Corinth, and having 
 colonies on the Bosphorus and in Sicily, but its 
 glory has departed ; somehow Megara was the one 
 place in Greece that caused us a sense of disap- 
 pointment. The charming Bay of Eleusis now 
 opened out before us ; but for loveliness we must 
 give the preference to the view looking back, where 
 the long reach of water is bordered by soft coloured 
 hills, shut in by the snow range of Kyllene. Once 
 past Eleusis, we struck into the country for Athens. 
 This description of the latter part of our journey 
 was not, however, what we saw on this occasion, 
 but at a future time, for, in point of fact, the 
 view that was now presented to our eyes from 
 Corinth to Athens was wholly human, and quite 
 unexpected. It fell about in this wise. The whole 
 way from Patras to Corinth the Greeks had been 
 most considerate in allowing us to have one of the 
 compartments to ourselves, so that we could have 
 an uninterrupted view out of both windows. But, 
 as in ancient times, the Dorians had here poured 
 in and overrun the early Achaeans, so now at 
 Corinth did a Teuton horde o'erwhelm us, and our 
 anxiously-looked-for first view of the lovely ap- 
 proach to Athens resolved itself into the contem- 
 plation of one long vista of heads and shoulders, 
 
An Unexpected View. 97 
 
 beginning at the windows of what had been our 
 own special preserve and running down to the 
 end of the carriage. Altogether there were twelve 
 windows and eleven German professors, all with 
 their heads and shoulders out of those windows, 
 whilst the lucky owner of two windows thrust a 
 broad arm through one and his head out of the 
 other, and so made the most of the situation. 
 There was nothing for it but to stand on the seats 
 and peep over their heads, which made the Greeks 
 open their eyes. From our own feelings we could 
 easily understand the excitement of the Germans, 
 and their wish to see everything, and they appeared 
 to be exceedingly interesting men to talk to. 
 They told us they were a party of eighteen pro- 
 fessors, who were sent on a tour through Greece at 
 at the expense of their Government ; they had 
 just tramped through the Peloponnesus, and had 
 had many strange experiences as to food and 
 lodging, so we asked if they had been at Andrit- 
 saena. At the mention of this place they began 
 to laugh, which laugh ran down the vista to the 
 last man in the last compartment ; then out it came — 
 
 " Andritsaena, we shall never forget it. We had 
 all, eighteen of us, to sleep in a row on the floor in 
 one room ! " 
 
 If the remaining seven professors were of the 
 same calibre as the eleven, it must have been an 
 uncommonly tight fit to get them into any one 
 
 H 
 
98 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 room in Andritsaena. We told them that we had 
 likewise slept on the floor, and that we spent two 
 nights there. 
 
 " Then you stayed two nights in the worst place 
 in the Peloponnesus ; we never experienced any- 
 thing so bad anywhere else." At which statement 
 we felt proud, and began to cease to regret that we 
 had not gone through the Peloponnesus, picking up 
 a native guide from place to place. 
 
 The professors said they were travelling light, 
 and as far as we saw their kit consisted of a 
 Baedeker and a pair of opera-glasses. They 
 seemed like a lot of boys let loose from school, 
 and they went perfectly wild when Athens came 
 in view. Lucky men to belong to a nation whose 
 Government has the courage to foster a love of 
 archaeology, and a knowledge of true art. We 
 thought regretfully of a certain Chamber of Repre- 
 sentatives, in the richest city of the world, and of 
 the howl that would be raised in that august 
 assembly were a vote proposed for such an object. 
 
 After our "vie sauvage" it was quite strange to 
 find a looking-glass in your room, and it was not 
 until we had revelled in unlimited hot water at 
 Athens that we fully realized the impurities of 
 that which had been served up to us at Olympia. 
 We had been at many good hotels in many 
 countries, but we found the Hotel d'Angleterre at 
 Athens the most comfortable one in which we had 
 
A GkKhK FUNEKAL. 99 
 
 ever stayed. Downstairs there were four pretty 
 sitting-rooms — one with a cooling fountain — 
 opening into each other, and on every floor a 
 delightful large cool corridor, where you could 
 read or write with ease and in peace ; whilst all 
 the officials, from the manager downwards, were 
 most kind and attentive. As we did not wish to 
 enter into competition with the Greek Government 
 in matters of finance, we chose the highest flight 
 and from the rooms at the top of the house there 
 was a perfect view of the Acropolis. On the night 
 of the Fete of the Independence we had a splendid 
 view of the Parthenon illuminated without the 
 trouble of going out of doors, and, although so 
 high up, we could see any procession in the streets. 
 The Greeks, like many other southern nations, 
 have the- custom of carrying the dead arrayed in 
 brave attire through the streets, accompanied, if 
 possible, by a military band. We came across 
 three of these processions, but in each case the 
 deceased was a man. First came the band, and, if 
 any, the banners of the Societies to which the 
 departed belonged ; then was borne along a reclin- 
 ing bier, on which was the deceased, dressed in 
 evening clothes, with a large bouquet of violets at 
 his breast or about his head ; the hearse followed 
 immediately after, and the mourners behind ; 
 when it was an officer the deceased wore his regi- 
 mentals, and the hearse was drawn by military 
 II 2 
 
ioo Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 horses ridden by soldiers. Of course, to us this 
 custom presented rather a ghastly effect, especially 
 as in one case the face had to be veiled ; the 
 advantage, I suppose, of this exposure is that in 
 countries where they are obliged to bury so 
 quickly, it allows the deceased (if I may use such 
 an Irishism) a last chance of coming to life again 
 if not really dead. 
 
 I do not propose to give any account of Athens, 
 as the Athens of to-day can be found in Murray 
 and Baepeker, whilst for the Athens of old I 
 would refer the student to the Attica of Pausanias, 
 or the excellent translation of a part of it by Mrs. 
 Verrall and Miss Jane Harrison. With regard to 
 the three great museums in Athens, the Acropolis 
 Museum, the Polytechnic Institute, and the 
 National Museum, their attraction, of course, 
 entirely depends on the interest the individual 
 takes in the art they contain ; in their particular 
 line each museum appeared to me to be unique. 
 
 As I am about to take my readers to visit 
 Mykenae, it would be as well to give a glance at 
 the collection of Mykensean antiquities at the fine 
 Polytechnic Institute, a modern building of 
 Pentelic marble, and where are collected all the 
 treasures found at Tiryns and Mykenae. The 
 contents of the five pit-graves excavated by 
 Schliemann are deposited in long glass cases, 
 v\ hi 1st that of the sixth grave, which was discovered 
 
Myken.*;an Treasures. ioi 
 
 by the Greek Archaeological Society, has been 
 arranged, exactly as they were found, in a high 
 glass tomb in the centre of the room. Here are 
 to be seen the two skeletons with all their weapons 
 by their side, drinking-cups at their heads, and 
 large earthenware vessels at their feet ; but no 
 copper kettles were found in this grave and only 
 one gold cup. Although this sixth grave was not 
 so rich a find as the others, it is doubly interesting 
 to the visitor as showing the exact mode of burial 
 in these shaft or pit- graves, and anyone who is 
 really interested in these things should carry away 
 in his mind a clear memory of this case, and fit it 
 into the grave as he looks down into it from the 
 Circle of Slabs at Mykenae. The gold ornaments 
 and vessels' discovered in these graves are all of 
 most beautiful design, and there was one alabaster 
 vase with three curling handles — a pattern with 
 which we are all familiar — which was particularly 
 fascinating. Here, too, is to be seen that gold 
 ring on which is represented three ladies dressed in 
 divided skirts and nothing else ; at least, that is the 
 impression conveyed by the peculiar drawing of 
 the single garment they wear. Scraps of wall- 
 painting are also to be seen, some of them appear- 
 ing to be an echo of a more advanced period of 
 art, and many slabs with spiral ornament. 
 
 Just beyond the handsome Polytechnic Insti- 
 tute is the National Museum, likewise owing its 
 
102 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 existence to individual generosity. In a museum 
 like this, where a fragment of a few feet of drapery 
 will arrest the eye for half an hour, it would be 
 too invidious to mention a single statue, but a 
 word must be said concerning the large and 
 beautiful collection of sepulchral stones, vases, and 
 sarcophagi, from about the fifth century B.C. into 
 the present era ; indeed, there was one small room 
 devoted to so-called Christian art. When we 
 were in Athens these funeral reliefs were not all 
 in position, and our zeal constantly landed us in 
 the midst of a puddle of mortar ; also the contents 
 of these rooms were not as yet included in the 
 catalogue ; but the men about were very kind in 
 pointing out objects they thought we should par- 
 ticularly like to see, and we were much interested 
 in watching the skill with which the modern 
 craftsman brought back into life the old vases 
 from a heap of jagged, painted fragments. On the 
 table before him would be arranged separate heaps 
 of fragments and several plain terra-cotta vases 
 made in the exact shape of the originals, and on 
 these, with wonderful accuracy, he stuck the bits in 
 their correct positions, so that the student could 
 easily fill in the plain spaces and get a perfect idea 
 of the subject of the vase. 
 
 The ancient Greeks apparently had three 
 favourite ways of commemorating the dead — by 
 stelai, which in shape are very like our old-fashioned 
 
Sepulchral Slabs. 103 
 
 upright tombstones, by funeral vases, jug-form, and 
 some of them of enormous height, and by sar- 
 cophagi of the usual shape. The very ancient 
 stelai, such as were found at Mykenae, were deco> 
 rated with spirals, archaic figures, chariots with one 
 wheel, a horse, a lion chasing an ibex, &c. ; those 
 we saw in the National Museum were all of well- 
 modelled figures, varying from a single one to 
 quite a large group. They generally represented 
 the banquet of the dead, or the deceased taking 
 farewell of his or her family, and were chiefly dis- 
 tinguished by a dignified but perfectly resigned 
 sorrow. In some cases, as in the manner of our 
 modern epitaph, the character of the deceased 
 appeared to be indicated — thus a young man was 
 depicted as departing accompanied by his dog ; a 
 young lady was shown busy over her toilet. 
 Many of the vases were decorated with beautiful 
 reliefs ; and the sarcophagi were almost overloaded 
 with figures. 
 
 When we talk of sarcophagi, it is always painful 
 to think that the two most beautiful Greek 
 sarcophagi in the world are not to be seen in 
 Greece, but in the museum at Constantinople. 
 These two are in totally different styles, that of 
 sublime simplicity, and the perfect elaboration of 
 technical knowledge, each one being a faultless 
 specimen of its kind. To begin with "sublime 
 simplicity/' the four panels of this tomb show 
 
104 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 single figures of the same woman in every attitude 
 of grief ; the figures are most chaste, and seem to 
 carry in them an epitome of all that is highest 
 and most lovely in the character of women. The 
 other is the famous tomb of Alexander the Great, 
 made of Pentelic marble, and supposed to be the 
 work of Lysippos. It is a work in high relief, the 
 four panels show stirring scenes, and the figures 
 are said to be Greeks and Persians. One of the 
 end panels represents Alexander killing his faithful 
 friend, Clytus ; the two long panels appeared to 
 depict hunting scenes, and in the best preserved 
 of these Alexander, his general, Permenes, and 
 Perdicus, whom Alexander appointed as his 
 successor, were pointed out to us ; besides the 
 men and horses, there were lions, stags, and dogs, 
 all beautifully carved and exquisite in form. 
 Although the figures were quite small, the different 
 expression on the men's faces was something 
 wonderful. The figures stood out in such strong 
 relief that they looked as if they could be plucked 
 from the background, and their drapery was 
 delicately tinted with colour, of which a pale 
 violet and very light red were especially pleasing 
 to the eye. I had never seen any work like this 
 before, and it was difficult to realize that it was 
 actually carved in marble and not in ivory. It is 
 work such as this that gives us a far better idea 
 than the daubs of Pompeii of the art of the old 
 
Alexander's Tomb. 105 
 
 Greek painters ; a people who had before them the 
 works of Praxiteles and Lysippos could not have 
 written enthusiastically of Apelles and Zeuxis, had 
 those painters come far short of the sculptors. 
 But to return to Alexander, this beautiful sar- 
 cophagus, with many others, was discovered in a 
 large hall buried upwards of sixty feet beneath the 
 sand near Sidon, in Palestine ; then follows the 
 sad part of the story. Although in very good 
 preservation, it might have come back to the 
 world in its original perfection had it been buried 
 in a country that cared a twopenny button for Art. 
 We were told the mutilations were of recent date, 
 the natives making money by selling broken heads 
 to foreigners, and getting nothing for revealing the 
 whereabouts of these invaluable treasures to their 
 Government. It is miserable to think that the 
 works of the great Greek artists may now be going 
 through daily mutilation at the hands of nineteenth- 
 century savages, and it does not appear that 
 Alexander's tomb is particularly safe in a city 
 which can be entered by a conquering army any 
 day of the week. 
 
 The situation of Athens is certainly worthy of 
 all that has been said in its praise, the hill of Lyka- 
 bettos and the Acropolis should be seen from 
 every side ; the point of view which pleased me 
 most, perhaps as the least familiar, was that of the 
 monumental mound at Kolonos, the home of 
 
106 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Sophocles, and situated on the fringe of the olive 
 woods. The excursion to Mount Pentelicus (3640) 
 should not be missed, as from the summit you get 
 a splendid idea of the country and lay of the 
 mountains ; also it is a rest to the eyes after days 
 of museums and ruins, and the lover of flowers will 
 feast on a floral banquet. Such a non-botanical 
 creature as myself noticed masses of arbutus, 
 crowds of purple anemones, bushes of white and 
 pink cistus and the small yellow one ; higher up 
 we gathered a sort of yellow daisy and a lot of 
 white heath ; then growing amongst the rocks were 
 quantities of orchises, large mauve, dark purple, 
 the bee, and a delicate and very pretty light yellow 
 specimen, also creamy-yellow irises, some of which 
 had lovely dark purple spots. We were about 
 two hours driving from Athens to the convent of 
 Mendeli, where we lunched under the shade of a 
 splendid grove of trees ; we then walked up Pen- 
 telicus. It took us one hour and a quarter to the 
 Stalactite Grotto, and nearly two hours thence to 
 the top ; the latter half, though entirely over rock, 
 was not bad walking ; the really nasty bit was the 
 slippery zig-zag over chips of marble from the flat 
 to the grotto. If the sun had not been coming 
 down exactly on our heads, it would have been 
 enjoyable enough, but on a hot day it is too much 
 of a fag and far better to ride. The view from the 
 top was very fine, a perfect panorama of peaks, 
 
View From Pentelicus. 107 
 
 many of which were covered with snow ; but 
 Athens was entirely hid behind Lykabettos, and it 
 was hazy in the direction of the sea. Some stray 
 muleteers begged for a look through my glasses, 
 and in return picked out Kithaeron, Kyllene, 
 Helikon, and Parnassos from amongst the chaos 
 of peaks to the west ; then amidst the haze they 
 said Poros and Hydrea could be seen on the south- 
 west, and pointed south to where Melos, upwards 
 of ninety miles away, is just visible on a clear day. 
 Turning round to the east, beyond Sunion, were 
 many islands, and Andros leading up to Eubcea, 
 which looked quite near, and whose pointed peak 
 of Delph (5725 feet), clothed entirely in snow, 
 raised its graceful head immediately before us on 
 the north. Between the near hills and Delph we 
 knew the channel of the Euripos lay, that difficult 
 passage which we hoped to sample on our way to 
 Thessaly, if only the brigands would keep decently 
 quiet. Immediately below us, close to the sea, 
 were some red-looking fields ; this was the cele- 
 brated field of Marathon. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Huckleberries on the Parthenon — Mykense — The shaft- 
 graves and bee-hive tombs — Argos — Nauplia — Drive to 
 the Hieron of Epidauros ; the perfect theatre — Askle- 
 pios as physician and humorist — Tiryns : its wonderf 
 walls and galleries. 
 
 It had been our desire to take up our quarters 
 at Nauplia, and from thence visit on our own 
 account Epidauros, Tiryns, Mykense, Argos, 
 taking Akro-Korinthos on our way ; but as we 
 wished to be in Athens for the Good Friday pro- 
 cessions and Easter ceremonies, there was no 
 time to see these places in this leisurely manner. 
 Under these circumstances we consulted Gaze, 
 with the result that we became two units in a 
 party of six. We had often thought that we 
 should like to experience what it was to be 
 " personally conducted," and we fancied we could 
 stand two days and a half of it without wanting 
 to run away. Well, we heard and saw many 
 strange things, and were most agreeably enter- 
 tained by the wit and humour of our companions 
 and the diplomatic answers of our dragoman, 
 who, by the way, arranged everything capitally, 
 
It is but a Step. 109 
 
 and was most good in giving us as much time 
 as he possibly could at the various places. It 
 was not his fault that there was one in that six 
 who could only have found perfect satisfaction 
 in sitting down in each sacred spot for a day, 
 building up palace and wall, seeing the old heroes 
 stalking in at the gates, and again fighting o'er 
 their single combats around the hearth of the 
 M^garon. 
 
 Of course the lover of art or of archseology 
 should flee such miscellaneous alliances, and if he 
 cannot fall in with those zu/10 know, let him take 
 a guide and worry it out by himself ; otherwise he 
 will receive shocks such as greeted the ears of a 
 party of enthusiasts, who, steeped in classic lore, 
 ascended to the Parthenon one moonlight night 
 when column and architrave, rock and ruin, alike 
 seemed wrapped in silvery silence. Here, burn- 
 ing with religious ecstasy, pulse beating to throb- 
 bing thought, the deep stillness of the hour was 
 cut by the shriek of Athene's owl ; but the words 
 it said were strange : " I guess, there is a smell up 
 here that puts me in mind of a bucket full of 
 huckleberries ! " 
 
 Although in Athens it had rained every day 
 for the last week, and the natives said it would 
 continue, it was a lovely morning when we 
 started at 7 a.m. for Mykenae, via Corinth. We 
 had found that we had to give up the expe- 
 
no Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 dition to Akro-Korinthos for the want of an 
 extra day. Owing to the human obstruction as 
 we travelled to x<\thens, we were very glad to take 
 this part of the journey again, and certainly the 
 view looking up to the Isthmus of Corinth is one 
 that cannot be seen too often. This morning the 
 colouring was more beautiful than ever, and I 
 could not tear my eyes from where Kyllene's 
 jagged peaks of snow set off a range of pale 
 cobalt hills that faded into a sea of rich French 
 blue. The prettiest views certainly are caught 
 as you travel westwards, and the first glimpses 
 of the Gulf of Corinth on the right, whilst the 
 exquisite Saronic Gulf is still on the left, are ever 
 enchanting. Then Helikon and Parnassos once 
 more came in view, and all this beauty not marred 
 by a single hard jarring line. At Corinth the 
 Tripolitza and Argos line, with its branch to 
 Nauplia, comes in, and here we had to change 
 trains. 
 
 Leaving the vine and currant fields, we ran round 
 the east of Akro-Korinthos, and saw the ruins of 
 a temple at its base ; then we entered hilly 
 country, that appeared quite plain for Greece, and 
 put me in mind of some parts of the dales in 
 the East Riding of Yorkshire, and we stopped 
 at Nemea. Somehow a railway-station called 
 Nemea sounded much more strange to our ears 
 than the wildest adventures of Herakles, and we 
 
The Argolic Plain. iii 
 
 looked at the hills to the west which once no 
 doubt had been trodden by the ever-famous 
 Nemean lion, and which hid the vale where the 
 Nemean games were held. Escaping from this 
 barren, hilly country, the line enters the Argolic 
 plain which reaches down to the Bay of Nauplia, 
 shut off from the sea on the south-east by Itsh 
 Kaleh, the old acropolis, and which in shape and 
 situation is so like the rock of Monaco. 
 
 
 
 : 
 
 Perhaps it would make the following account 
 clearer if a word here is said as to the relative 
 position of the three great cities of the Argolic 
 plain, and as the majority of people enter it from 
 the south, we will suppose ourselves standing on 
 the north shore, the landing-place of the rock of 
 Xauplia, and looking across the bay to the 
 Nemean hills. From these hills the plain is shut 
 in on either side by mountains, those on the left 
 eventually running down to the high ranges of 
 
ii2 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Lakonia, whilst on the right the hills, taking in 
 the twin points of Mount Elias and Zara, strike 
 out to the east to lofty Arachnaeon, and Mount 
 Titthion and Kynortion, between which lie the 
 ruins of the Hieron of Epidauros. Low hills 
 circle round to meet Palamidi, the fortress of 
 Nauplia, and on the right curve of the bay, one 
 and a quarter of a mile from the sea, an isolated 
 rock, surrounded by massive walls, stands up. 
 This is the wonderful citadel of Tiryns. Exactly 
 to the north of the bay, projecting into the plain, 
 rises a dark-pointed hill, Larisa, 1 the acropolis of 
 Argos, with the town at its foot stretching down 
 to the sea. The advantage of this situation at 
 once strikes the eye, and seems to offer a solution 
 as to how it was that Argos remained the domi- 
 nant power of the plain, in spite of an occasional 
 flash in the pan on the part of Tiryns and My- 
 kenae. Across the plain to the north-east, nine 
 and a half miles from the sea, Mykense is hidden 
 away between the two pointed mountains of the 
 " Prophet Elias " and Zara, which easily mark 
 the position of the place, although not a stone 
 of Agamemnon's city can be seen from here. 
 Guarded above by the strong fort on Mount 
 Elias, and on all sides by its own massive walls, 
 Mykenae, in its quiet nook in the hills, offered a 
 
 Larisa, the Palasgic for citadel, as is Argos for plain. 
 
A Centre of Art. in 
 
 safe asylum to the Phoenician goldsmiths of those 
 days, and to artists of all kinds. No doubt its 
 revenues were greatly increased by levying toll 
 on all passers-by, as late discoveries go to show 
 that Mykenae commanded all the cyclopean high- 
 ways to the north. Besides on the south, it was 
 farther protected by Tiryns, as these two cities 
 on the east of the plain were closely allied. It is 
 difficult to understand how an impregnable for- 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 tress like Tiryns could remain subject to My- 
 kena?, unless it was a self-preservation league 
 against their common enemy in the threatening 
 fortress of Larisa, across the plain. Still more 
 puzzling, looking at the walls of Tiryns and 
 Mykenae, is it to comprehend how both these 
 places fell before the conquering arms of the 
 Argives. It all goes to show that in those 
 days Argos must have been a wonderfully strong 
 place, but as there appears in all ages to have 
 been a large settlement there, the acropolis and 
 
 r 
 
ii4 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 town have naturally been much built upon and 
 knocked about, whereas Tiryns — with the excep- 
 tion of first a Doric temple and then a Byzantine 
 church built on the Upper Castle — seems to have 
 been practically deserted, and Mykenae never 
 raised her head to power again. Glancing up the 
 plain and thinking of the traditions of the heroes 
 who lived there, you cannot help being struck by 
 the close connection that at one time must have 
 existed between Argolis and Thessaly. Apart 
 from the interest attached to the cities of the 
 Argolic plain, the view from every point is ex- 
 quisite, with ever-varying peaks, even down to 
 the snows of Taygetos below Sparta. Prose, how- 
 ever, is quite inadequate to describe Grecian 
 scenery, and, as far as I have read, Byron alone 
 has done it in poetry. 
 
 At the wayside station of Phikhtia we left the 
 train, and found carriages waiting to drive us up to 
 the little village of Kharvati, which stands at the 
 foot of the steep slope of the Lower City of Mykenae. 
 Our driver wore the fustanella, which looked very 
 queer on the box-seat. Our carriage had three 
 horses abreast and one trotting behind in case of 
 accidents, and in this fashion we ploughed through 
 mud and sand in the direction of the two pointed 
 hills in whose embrace Mykenae has slumbered 
 these thousand odd years and more. Kharvati 
 was all stones; it put me in mind of a Riviera 
 
The Lower City. 115 
 
 village, only without its dark arches. Here the 
 carriages stopped, and we had luncheon on a bal- 
 cony which commanded a beautiful view of the 
 plain and surrounding mountains ; below the bal- 
 cony there was a room with a collection of frag- 
 ments that had been found in the immediate 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 From Kharvati to the Acropolis of Mykense 
 the track winds up the whole length of the Lower 
 City, and leaving the others to wait for donkeys, 
 we started with two very small boys, who were 
 delighted to act as guides. It is in this Lower City 
 that the Tholos or Bee-hive tombs and those cut 
 out in the rock have been found ; indeed, remains 
 of walls appeared to be tossed up in all directions. 
 The whole scene presented such a dreary con- 
 fusion of scattered debris, fallen rock, mangled 
 foundations of all periods, that Edith seemed to 
 think that I had dragged her to the very gates of 
 Hades, and left her lamenting in the graveyard of 
 the 
 
 Pointing down to the right, the two little guides 
 said there was "a bridge down there," the re- 
 mains of the large cyclopean bridge that once 
 carried the sacred way to the Heraeon, that holy 
 sanctuary, older than Mykenae, where the leaders of 
 the Trojan expedition swore allegiance to Aga- 
 memnon. Farther on there were the foundations 
 of a gateway down to the right, but we hastened 
 I 2 
 
u6 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 on to the so-called Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of 
 Agamemnon, which is situated about half-way up 
 the Lower City. This tomb is in wonderful pre- 
 servation, and but for the few stone slabs that have 
 been knocked in at the top would have remained 
 perfect so far as the building was concerned ; the 
 decorations, both outside and in, had been plun- 
 dered ages before Dr. Schliemann began his exca- 
 vations. The tomb is approached by a long, broad 
 passage, 1 between high walls of large regular- 
 looking stones in lines, which leads to the faqade, 
 originally highly ornamented with coloured mar- 
 bles and bronze, the marks where the marble 
 half columns once stood on each side of the door- 
 way being just visible. Two fragments of these 
 columns, together with two slabs of spiral orna- 
 ment and three reliefs, are now in the British 
 Museum. The doorway is close upon 18ft. high, 
 and slightly narrows upwards, the difference in the 
 width of the top and the bottom being given as 
 eight inches, and it certainly looks it ; the lintel 
 on the outside is made out of one large stone and 
 is of ordinary shape, but inside it is composed of 
 one huge block, 29 ft. 6 in. long, 16 ft. 6 in. deep, 
 3 ft. high, and weighing about 120 tons. This 
 stone projects beyond the door on both sides, and 
 appeared to be concave, curving to suit the shape 
 
 1 20 feet broad and 115 feet long (Schuchhardt). 
 
Bee-Hive Tomb. 117 
 
 of the tomb, and this makes the inside of the door 
 so much more interesting than the outside. Above 
 the doorway is a triangular space which was once 
 filled with red marble slabs. The accompanying 
 sketch shows the left hand half of the doorway as 
 it is, the right hand with the addition of the frag- 
 ments that have been found. The top slab of 
 green limestone is a copy of the piece of the archi- 
 trave in the British Museum, the lower angle with 
 three lines of spiral ornament, the middle one in 
 high relief with centre hole for jewel, is adapted 
 from the large bit of red marble in the British 
 Museum, but in order to show the pattern on these 
 slabs I found it impossible to put them in in their 
 right proportions. Entering the tomb, which is 
 about 50 ft. high and the same in diameter, we 
 were almost deafened by the bees, which appeared to 
 be swarming by the million, happily far above our 
 heads, and our little guides, who on the way had 
 been picking up dead grass or anything that would 
 burn, now made a bonfire which showed us the 
 beautiful form of the tomb as it curved up from 
 the floor to the single slab at the top. It is well 
 called beehive, for in shape it is very like one, 
 and as the dried twigs flared up the bees were to 
 be seen hanging in black clouds above. Instead 
 of being built in the usual manner, the tholos is 
 corbelled, the walls and vault being formed by 
 large slabs laid horizontally — on the step principle 
 
1 1 8 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 .•'- 
 
 **ft 
 
 
 
The Upper City. 
 
 119 
 
 — from the base to the top. This maybe a primi- 
 tive mode of forming a vault ; all the same it pro- 
 duces a charming effect. On the right an inner 
 door, built in the same manner as the other, led 
 into a square-shaped chamber, the tomb proper, 
 which originally was lined most probably with 
 alabaster slabs ; it now looked as if cut out in the 
 rock, and we were shown the position of three 
 
 / 
 
 
 V 
 
 % j&m 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 
 ■ 
 
 ■-.. 
 
 '7^*, 
 
 '*- ^,5 
 
 ■ 
 
 graves which did not somehow seem to agree with 
 what I had read. 
 
 We now continued our way up the slope, and 
 so hidden away is the wonderful Upper City that 
 it was not until we were close upon it that the 
 Acropolis came in view. Across a little dip a 
 confused mass rose up ; at first it seemed all 
 part of the rocky hill, but as you gazed the walls 
 disentangled themselves, and you saw that you 
 were looking straight at the curved wall behind 
 
i2o Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 which the shaft-graves were found, with the 
 acropolis rising up behind and the great citadel 
 walls and gate tower on the left. A few paces 
 more and a turn at right angles brought us to the 
 
 
 bottom of the ramp, and we looked straight up to 
 the celebrated Lions' Gate. The small guides with 
 unusual animation cried out, " The lions, the 
 lions ! " and in my joy I howled with them in 
 chorus. Enormous blocks of stone, dressed and 
 
The Gate of the Lions. 121 
 
 undressed, were strewn about ; on the left the wall 
 of the citadel reared itself aloft ; on the right close 
 up to the gate were the ruins of a strong tower. 
 The gateway looks very nearly square, and it was 
 not as lofty as I expected, being only 10ft. 4 inches 
 high. It is formed of three great stones, the two 
 uprights slightly sloping to the top, and crossed 
 by a delightful lintel made of one big stone, i6h(t. 
 long, 8ft. broad, a good three feet thick in the 
 middle, and narrowing into hammer form at the 
 ends. The triangular hole above this unique 
 doorway is filled by the slab of hard grey limestone 
 (anhydrite) on which is sculptured the world- 
 renowned lions, who stand rampant, their forepaws 
 resting on the pedestal of a column, their faces 
 turned to all those entering the gate. (Lions like 
 these have been found by Professor Ramsay in 
 Phrygia.) Of course the relief has been a good deal 
 knocked about, and the faces, which were made 
 of separate pieces, have disappeared, but the de- 
 sign is perfectly clear ; the photographs you buy 
 generally help the lions out a little. 
 
 Passing under the Lions the vast retaining wall 
 of the Acropolis is still on the left ; but to the right 
 on the same level as the gate is the Circle of Slabs, 
 within which Dr. Schliemann discovered five graves 
 and the Archaeological Society the sixth, the con- 
 tents of which we had seen in the Polytechnic Insti- 
 tute at Athens. From the Circle of Slabs we looked 
 
122 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 down at the graves hewn in the rock below ; they 
 appeared to be on different levels and of varied 
 height and size, but the sides of all of those that 
 we could see were wonderfully smooth. It is said 
 that the curious Circle of Slabs was not built until 
 the graves were finally closed and the ground 
 levelled up, and from the way in which two of the 
 graves are shaved it looks as if this had been the 
 case, but what was the meaning of the circle no 
 one seems to know. The circle, which is about 
 87ft. in diameter, consists of two rows of vertical 
 slabs 3ft. apart, and originally roofed by horizontal 
 slabs, but the vertical slabs are not the same height 
 all the way round ; I walked between them as far 
 as I could, and found the highest to be my height, 
 which I regret to say is half-an-inch under five foot. 
 To the south-east, close to the circle, there were 
 some old walls of a dwelling-house, and I fondly 
 thought I made out the cellar where the chest was 
 found containing the golden vessels and ring with 
 the ladies in divided skirts. Looking at these 
 sacred graves within the Upper City, I liked to 
 think that in this royal ring the much afflicted 
 Kassandra had been laid to rest. If Klytemnestra 
 as unworthy was buried without the walls, I am 
 sure Agamemnon ought also to have had his tomb 
 outside the sacred precinct, for never was a more 
 flagrant case of the kettle calling the pot 
 black. No doubt Aeramemnon based his ethics on 
 
Tomb of Klytemnestra. 123 
 
 a mmtitude of sins covering virtue ; and if this is 
 not a correct view to take, then /Eschylus should 
 not have made Kiytemnestra so desperately 
 interesting. 
 
 The acropolis rises up green above the Circle 
 of Slabs, but the foundations of Agamemnon's 
 palace were so incomplete that I was advised " not 
 to waste time here trying to make them out, when 
 the same plan could be seen so much plainer at 
 Tiryns." I had not time even to settle in my 
 mind which was the point where the watchman 
 looked for the beacon fires which would announce 
 the fall of Troy ; but was morally certain, from 
 the situation of Mykenae, that any way those fires 
 must have been signalled down to the palace 
 from the fort above on Mount Elias ; allowing 
 that the incident did take place here. 
 
 Again passing under the Gate of Lions, we went 
 down the ramp and soon reached the so-called 
 Tomb of Klytemnestra, or as it is sometimes 
 named Mrs. Schliemann's Treasury, from its having 
 been excavated by that patriotic lady. This is a 
 beehive tomb with "dromos and tholos," but no 
 separate chamber for the burial of the dead ; and it 
 appeared to be a replica on a smaller scale of the 
 passage and round chamber of the Treasury of 
 Atreus. Unfortunately the upper portion has all 
 fallen in, but pieces of marble work are still left 
 which give it a fresh interest; here the triangular 
 
124 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 space above the lintel of leek-green marble ib still 
 walled up on the inside, showing that it was never 
 used to let in the light. Whilst on the subject of 
 beehive tombs, it might be interesting to remember 
 that one was found near Volo, in Thessaly ; and 
 that, according to Pausanias, the most striking of 
 all was the Treasury of the rich king Minyas of 
 
 
 mow f \ltb at Tll-v L^cAc 5 
 lufU/lzc 
 
 'v Myinuie, / 2? A? 
 
 Orchomcnos in Boeotia, which he declared, together 
 with the walls of Tiryns, to be worthy of as much 
 admiration as the Pyramids of Egypt. In Athens 
 also a small beehive is to be seen in the round 
 chamber of the Prison of Socrates in the side of the 
 hill of Philopappos. 
 
 Our dragoman had told me there were some 
 curious pre-historic tombs cut out in the rock the 
 other side of the ridge ; so leaving the rest of the 
 
Rock Tombs. 12 •■ 
 
 party to return to Kharvati, I went to see these. 
 The man who was told off to show the way started 
 straight up the hill at a jog-trot. There was nothing 
 for it but to turn over my impedimenta to my two 
 small guides, who stuck to my heels, and away we 
 all tore, over debris, foundations, and rocks. We 
 visited two tombs cut in the red sandy-looking rock, 
 which were the most extraordinary imitations of 
 the beehive tombs, — passage, doorway and all ; 
 but without a sign of a piece of masonry, or so 
 much as a block of stone anywhere, the contrast 
 was very strange and particularly striking. In one 
 of the tombs there were two caves cut into the side. 
 These, the native said, were the graves, but by the 
 aid of a match it was impossible to get an accu- 
 rate idea of the interior of these tombs, and we 
 had no straw to make a blaze. The native kept 
 exhorting us to "come on, we should be late/' 
 and finally took to his heels ; but I did not see that 
 I was bound to " trot in the avenue," and of course 
 we arrived before the donkey account was settled 
 up. Having no coppers, I applied for change to 
 our dragoman, who presented me with three pence, 
 saying it was quite enough to divide between my 
 two small boys, and to my intense surprise they 
 were perfectly satisfied with it. 
 
 We then drove across the plain to Argos, which 
 we found to be quite a large town, and which 
 possesses a " museum " of one room, in which are 
 
i26 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 
 many interesting figures, reliefs, vases, terra-cottas, 
 and fragments of all sorts. The loafers in the 
 neighbourhood flocked in, evidently under the 
 impression that objects of interest at any rate were 
 in the museum at that precise moment. Driving 
 on to a conspicuous Roman ruin, we came upon 
 the partly excavated theatre behind it, but in its 
 present state it gives a very poor impression of 
 its size, for it was capable of holding 20,000 
 spectators; 10,000 less, however, than the Theatre 
 of Dionysos at Athens. We looked up at Larisa, 
 the Acropolis of Argos, from whose summit there 
 must be an exceedingly interesting view of the Bay 
 of Nauplia and the whole of the Argolic plain, but 
 it was too late in the day to attempt the ascent, 
 and as the shades of evening were falling fast, we 
 turned out horses' heads southwards, leaving the 
 dark rock of Larisa standing out above fair Argos 
 bathed in beauteous mist. As we passed on our 
 left Tiryns, of whose walls no one can tell the date, 
 a puff of smoke was seen on our right, and a 
 railway engine came shrieking by. Incongruous, 
 but no doubt a very convenient train for bringing 
 back sightseers to Nauplia. 
 
 The fortifications of Nauplia are a jumble of 
 Venetian and Turkish work. We entered the town 
 by a gateway which nature had converted into a 
 hanging garden of campanulas, and passing through 
 very clean streets with high houses and closed 
 
Arrive at Nauplia. 127 
 
 balconies, we soon reached the square and stopped 
 at the Hotel des Etrangers (Xenodochion ton 
 Xenon). This hotel was built on the same 
 principle as the one which later on we stayed in at 
 Larissa, in Thessaly. A staircase led up to a broad 
 corridor, into which opened bedrooms on either 
 hand ; breakfast was served on tables in the 
 corridor, but we went across the square to the 
 Restaurant Mykenne for dinner. We found this 
 hotel perfectly clean and comfortable, and there 
 was a boy who spoke French, and, I believe, a little 
 English ; but unfortunately, having a dragoman, 
 there was no opportunity of testing the resources 
 of the establishment in that direction. We had 
 friends who stayed at the Hotel Mykenae, where 
 all meals were served under the roof, and found it 
 satisfactory, so at Nauplia the stranger now has at 
 least two decent hotels to choose between. Signs 
 of the Venetian supremacy are very visible in 
 Nauplia ; besides the Lion of St. Mark scratched on 
 many a wall, the fortifications are mostly of their 
 building, although patched up and strengthened by 
 the Turks. Indeed, for many years the fortress of 
 Palamidi seems to have been tossed like a shuttle- 
 cock from one conqueror to the other, until on 
 the stormy night of the 30th of November, 1822, 
 it was captured by the Greeks, and, in despite of 
 the greatest extremities, held by them when the 
 rest of the Peloponnesus had succumbed to Ibrahim 
 
128 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Pasha of execrated memory. Eleven years later, 
 Otho, first king of united Greece, set up his seat of 
 government here, which however was moved to 
 Athens in the following year. 
 
 Knowing the length of time that could be spent 
 at Tiryns entirely depended on the hour we de- 
 parted in the morning for Epidauros, I had a few 
 words with the dragoman. The result was that my 
 three came up to the scratch. But his two ! Well, 
 I was very sorry for them, because it was not want 
 of wish ; the spirit I believe was willing, but the 
 other thing was not there. 
 
 Epidauros, the town of Asklepios, is situated on 
 the east coast of Argolis, below the hills looking 
 down on the Bay of Methana, but the sacred pre- 
 cinct, or Hieron of Epidauros, which we were 
 about to visit, lies some two and a half hours in- 
 land to the west, which is all the better for visitors 
 coming from Nauplia. The road, which winds 
 round low barren-looking hills, is against the collar 
 the whole way. It took us four hours to drive there, 
 and about three to return ; and once out of Nauplia 
 it is not a particularly interesting route. Four 
 hours of this with your back to the horses was not 
 exactly an agreeable prospect, so I gladly acceded 
 to the driver's invitation to come up on the box 
 and drive the third horse ; and from this position 
 I had leisure to study the method of harnessing 
 the additional animal. This little mare's harness 
 
Primitive Harness. 129 
 
 consisted of a halter and a collar ; from the latter a 
 strong rope in lieu of trace was fastened to a notched 
 bar of wood, which, in its turn, was roped on to 
 the iron bar of the carriage ; the halter had two 
 cords, a long one, the guiding line which I now 
 held, and a short one, which was tied anywhere 
 about the head of the near pole-horse ; but this 
 last cord constantly came unknotted, and then 
 the little mare trotted round and made friends 
 with the occupants of the carriage. As roads 
 go in Greece, this was a very good one the whole 
 way to Epidauros, with continuous heaps of 
 stones for mending purposes, and as the road was 
 not laid out for three horses abreast, the mare had 
 to trot over every heap, a most uncomfortable 
 mode of progression, likewise she had to pull 
 all on one side. This team was the best we 
 had during the whole time we were in Greece ; 
 it would not be untrue to say the only respect- 
 able one. The driver, a true son of Greece, had 
 an immense appreciation for all things Greek, 
 and pointed out with great pride every patch of 
 cultivation we came across. 
 
 " Look ! " exclaimed he, indicating a triangle 
 of earth in a sea of stones, and kindly adapting 
 his language to suit my limited understanding. 
 " Beautiful soil, grow beautiful bread. All very 
 good land here." He also pointed out, on the 
 left, the site of two " castles " on the hills, and 
 
 K 
 
130 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 showed us bits of the old sacred way to Epidauros. 
 After about three hours and a half of this, we 
 entered upon a kind of valley in the hills, with 
 Mt. Kynortion on the right centre and Titthion 
 on the left, this latter being the " Goat Mountain," 
 where Asklepios is supposed to have been born ; 
 and, no doubt, in spirit he still looks down on the 
 ruins of this the greatest of all his sanctuaries. 
 The sacred grove is now represented by a few 
 trees and a wilderness of brushwood, amid which, 
 like a little Olympia, lie broken columns and walls, 
 and heaps of sparkling marble glittering in the 
 sun. 
 
 Leaving the ruins of the sacred precinct on our 
 left, we drove on to the dark spur of Mt. Kynor- 
 tion, where white and perfect in form shines out 
 this most beautiful of all Greek theatres, the crea- 
 tion of Polykleitos. The fifty-five rows of seats 
 are still intact, divided by flights of steps into 
 wedge-shaped blocks, three rows of seats of honour 
 breaking the line. Of these one row, like marble 
 sofas, ran round the edge of the orchestra circle, 
 whilst the two others were more than half way up, 
 forming between them a delightful promenade, 
 where the swells of the period could walk up and 
 down and talk to their friends in the marble arm- 
 chairs which, by-the-way, I was surprised to find 
 were not at all uncomfortable seats. In this 
 theatre is to be seen, perfect in form, the circular 
 
Theatre at Epidauros. 131 
 
 orchestra with the altar in the centre, the original 
 arena for the chorus ; whilst the walls of the stage 
 are behind. At the entrances are some beautiful 
 blocks of white marble ; and a lovely little white 
 shining everlasting creeps about the auditorium. 
 Some of the armchairs that had fallen forward 
 have been put back in their places, so that the 
 theatre now appears more perfect than the photo- 
 graphs give it. Altogether the dazzling beauty of 
 this marble theatre,, its fine preservation, and 
 commanding situation, serves to impress even the 
 most casual visitor. Its acoustic properties are 
 such that a whispered word above is heard below. 
 Close to the theatre there is a house with a large 
 room where visitors lunch ; of course food must 
 be brought. 
 
 From the theatre we walked through the brush- 
 wood to the ruins situated on the other side of the 
 brook, the old Greek foundations being rather 
 difficult to disentangle out of the many later 
 editions scattered about ; but whilst seated in a 
 miniature theatre, a native came up and said he 
 had been sent to show us the place. Passing over 
 the site of the Propylaeum, we first came to the 
 foundations of the little Temple of Artemis ; then 
 down to the left to the Tholos of Polykleitos, 
 which ; as I have already said, reminded me of the 
 Philippeion at Olympia. In the old days on a 
 circular platform, there stood two concentric 
 K 2 
 
132 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 series of columns, the outer being Doric, the inner 
 a combination of Ionic and Corinthian, whilst the 
 walls were decorated with paintings by Pausias, 
 and votive tablets dedicated by grateful patients 
 who had been cured by the god. All that remains 
 of this exquisite building are fragments of columns, 
 broken capitals, ring upon ring of deep founda- 
 tions in the centre of which is a hole like a well. 
 Across these foundations our guide strode, ex- 
 horting us to follow and look down the hole ; then 
 he grew alarmed when he saw me jumping the 
 spaces, and nearly caused the accident he feared 
 by trying to stop me in the middle of my flight. 
 What was the point of this hole I could not make 
 out, but he was very anxious that " the other lady " 
 should come and look down it; but Edith was 
 deaf to all his blandishments, and said she was 
 " not going to risk her limbs for all the foundations 
 in the world." Pointing out a broad staircase 
 near the Colonnades, we turned to our right to the 
 Temple of Asklepios, and here the native showed 
 us a well, dropping stones into it to give us an 
 idea of its depth ; this he evidently considered the 
 most interesting object in the place. There were 
 some very beautiful pieces among the great mass 
 of fragments about this temple, but what interested 
 me most were the many large half-moon marble 
 seats. In fancy I could see the patients seated on 
 these, talking over their ailments, whispering of 
 
Asklepios, Patron of Spooks. 133 
 
 the mysterious visitations of the god, laughing 
 over the practical jokes that Asklepios was not 
 above practising on his worshippers. The cult of 
 Asklepios appears to have been a curious mixture 
 of science and spiritualism ; in fact the occult 
 sciences, mesmerism, thought-reading, suggestion, 
 telepathy, and no doubt hypnotism and spirit- 
 rapping were all resorted to. In a word, in the 
 Sanctuary of Asklepios spooks, human and snake- 
 like, but all of them divine, did come at the priest's 
 command. The treatment was something in this 
 fashion. First the patient was washed, no doubt 
 a great shock to his system, and which helped 
 considerably to let him fall a ready prey to the 
 artful priests who pumped him dry as they walked 
 him about after the bath ; thus primed, it could 
 not be a very difficult matter to raise the special 
 apparition suitable to each patient as he slept in 
 the temple. Not that I mean to insinuate that 
 cures were never effected on more wholesome lines 
 than these, for Epidauros was the most renowned 
 of all the sacred Schools of Medicine. 
 
 We rattled down (rem Epidauros at a smart 
 pace, and below the village of Ligourio — which 
 rises up a hill to the right, where there are some 
 old walls — we stopped to water the horses at a 
 Khan, before which were some immense old 
 washing troughs, and a huge cauldron with a fire 
 under it ; here all the women of the village had 
 
134 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 come down to wash clothes, whilst the babies 
 whimpered and rolled in the sand, watched by- 
 babies a few years older. These women were 
 clothed in garments that it would be an insult 
 to compare to a bed-gown, and they tucked them 
 up. according to fancy ; one ancient dame, with an 
 utter disregard of everything but utility, having 
 turned herself into a very respectable-looking old 
 Turk. It was quite depressing to see such a 
 company of women and girls, seemingly so 
 gloomy, and working so hard in silence and sad- 
 ness ; so I thought I would see if a laugh could 
 not be raised out of them. Suddenly a girl, who 
 had been watching me very closely, caught my eye, 
 and began to laugh, then another and another, until 
 the whole company took it up, with the exception 
 of that ancient dame. I was in despair ; how could 
 she be reached from the box-seat of the carriage ? 
 When, all at once, she looked up, gave me a nod 
 and a smile, and returned to her clothes, rubbing 
 them with greater vigour than before. And so, 
 amid ripples of laughter, shouts of good evening, 
 and waving of hands we departed ; all surely going 
 to prove that the Greek woman only wants a little 
 encouragement and sympathy to be as bright and 
 merry as her Italian sister. 
 
 As we neared Nauplia we turned off sharp to 
 the right for Tiryns, and got into a wide, but so 
 bad a road, that, at one place, we were advised to 
 
Traditions of Tiryns. 135 
 
 turn back and try another way. Three hours 
 after we had left Epidauros we stopped before the 
 limestone rock of Tiryns, and looked up at the 
 giant walls that still circle it. The solitary hill on 
 which Tiryns stands is some 980 feet long, and 
 nearly 330 feet broad, and it has been well com- 
 pared to the shape of the human foot. The sole 
 corresponds with the Upper Castle, containing 
 the king's palace and the galleries, the instep with 
 the Middle Castle where are the remains of some 
 dilapidated habitations, and the heel, which is the 
 Lower Castle, has not yet been excavated, as it is 
 only supposed to have been covered with stables 
 and houses for the retainers. Unfortunately, 
 Tiryns flourished in the wholly prehistoric age, 
 and there are no interesting tragedies of the great 
 kings who once must have lived there. Tradition 
 has it that Proetos, twin brother of King Akrisios 
 of Argos (whom he hated) invited the Cyclopes to 
 come from Lycia and build for him the walls of 
 Tiryns, and that his son, Megapenthes, exchanged 
 Tiryns for Argos, as Perseus, the lawful king of 
 the latter place, shrank from reigning there, owing 
 to his having had the misfortune to accidentally 
 kill his grandfather, Akrisios, whilst throwing a 
 quoit at some games in Thessaly. Afterwards 
 Perseus founded the new city of Mykense in the 
 hills, and it was in this way that Tiryns became 
 subject to Mykenae. It was owing to this sub- 
 
136 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greege. 
 
 jection that later on Herakles, as a Tirynthian, had 
 to serve Eurystheus, King of Mykenae, who re- 
 quired of him the performance of his celebrated 
 twelve labours ; and in the nervous king hiding in 
 his inner fastness, and the bold hero of the plain, 
 a type perhaps might be found of the charac- 
 teristics of the city they each represented. We 
 have already seen how Tiryns and Mykenae, 
 intimately connected in their palmy days, fell 
 together before the dominant power of Argos. 
 
 Going round to the east of the rock we entered by 
 the ramp, and a gap in the walls, which led by " a 
 nice easy bend " to the back of the Upper Castle ; 
 but this was coming into Tiryns the wrong way, 
 and utterly destructive to the understanding of the 
 place. Luckily, I knew Dr. Dorpfeld's map off 
 by heart, so, leaving the others, I scrambled over 
 a mass of debris, slid down some large stones, 
 and finally landed in the long passage leading up 
 to the first gate. Here, on the left, was the huge 
 outer wall ; on the right towered up the strong 
 wall of the Upper Castle ; the way was strewn with 
 enormous blocks of stone, amid which rose up the 
 stone posts of the outer gateway, which, in construc- 
 tion and dimensions, originally corresponded with 
 the Gate of Lions at Mykenae. Although there was 
 a large concourse of Germans, and our own party 
 — who were not exactly vowed to silence — on the 
 Upper Citadel, not a sound reached me down 
 
Its Mighty Walls. 137 
 
 here ; it seemed as if by one mad leap I had 
 plunged out of the known world, and, for a 
 moment, panic seized me ; then it struck me how 
 very incongruous man must look in such surround- 
 ings ; Herakles, with lion skin and club, would be 
 much more in character with the spirit of this 
 place ! and I began to look about. 
 
 After the muddle of cyclopean, rectangular, and 
 polygonal masonry at Mykenae, Tiryns, although 
 so much older, appeared quite civilized with its 
 walls all of one pattern ; they certainly go to 
 show that they had been completed by one 
 contractor, be he a Cyclops or no. These 
 walls, instead of being a mass of irregularly 
 piled stones, are formed by uneven lines of large 
 roughly-worked stones with little stones jammed 
 into the corners, and all bound together by clay 
 mortar, which, however, did not appear visible to 
 the eye ; some of the stones are " six to ten feet 
 long, by more than a yard both in height and in 
 thickness/' From this passage a wonderful im- 
 pression of the strength of the place is obtained, 
 and looking at the massive towers and walls, 
 nothing would ever make me believe that Tiryns 
 fell in fair fight — love or treachery must have 
 done it. But Kronos, who I had positively learnt 
 to loathe, stays his hand for no one, and I had to 
 push up the slope to the outer courtyard with the 
 East Gallery below in the thickness of the walls 
 
138 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 to the left. Crossing the foundations of the 
 greater gateway to the right, the inner courtyard 
 is reached where to the south the other great 
 gallery lies. The lesser gateway leads into a 
 rectangular court (Aule) before the chief rooms of 
 the palace, which consists of the men's apartments. 
 
 In the Aule the Sacrificial Pit or altar is very 
 plainly to be seen, and from this court two steps 
 lead up to the vestibule, ante-chamber, and 
 Megaron, the men's hall , with a round hearth in 
 the centre, which had four pillars supporting the 
 roof, leaving the space above the fire open, a 
 feature which is still seen in some very old 
 kitchens. Owing to a stupid wall of later date 
 this interesting portion of the palace is not so 
 clear as it might be. On the west, parallel to the 
 ante- room, are the foundations of the square bath- 
 room, with its floor composed of one large block 
 of limestone thirteen feet one inch by ten feet, 
 with a channel for the water to run off. This 
 room was originally lined with wood, and here the 
 ancient Greeks are supposed to have splashed 
 about in a tub ; somehow it does not give the idea 
 that they were very keen on water, on that point 
 the Romans may be allowed to carry off the 
 wreath. The women's megaron looked like a 
 replica of the men's, only on a smaller scale. 
 
 We now proceeded to visit the celebrated 
 galleries. Crossing the courts, close to the site 
 
The Vaulted Galleries. 139 
 
 of the Byzantine church, is the stairway of the 
 South Gallery, which turns at right angles and 
 leads down into the centre of the corridor, out of 
 which open five chambers. Staircase, corridor 
 and chambers all being in the thickness of the 
 walls which are here some fifty-seven feet. The 
 corridor is about five feet broad, the west end 
 blocked, but the east must have been very dimly 
 lighted by a window narrowing to a mere slit in 
 the wall ; now this is broken down and lets in a 
 flood of light ; the ceiling is formed by the stones 
 of the side walls converging to a point. In the 
 same manner the doorways and vaulted chambers 
 were built, so that these galleries have a very 
 peculiar pointed architecture all their own. 
 Similar chambers, only with rounded ends, have 
 been found in the walls at Carthage, but this 
 fc rm of building cannot be claimed solely for the 
 Phoenicians, as it was adopted by many nations in 
 those days. We then made our way through the 
 gap to the East Gallery, the staircase and south- 
 east wall of which have been completely 
 destroyed. This corridor is longer, and it had 
 six chambers opening out of it ; being much 
 lighter here, I noticed in one place that six stones 
 sufficed to compose the side wall and vault. In 
 many parts the stones looked simply like pieces 
 of rock, and the projections of these were pierced 
 with round holes, through which it is supposed 
 
140 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 that chains were passed to bind slaves by the 
 elbows to the walls. This almost seemed im- 
 possible, looking at the position of the holes, but 
 our dragoman kindly illustrated how it could be 
 done and how exceedingly uncomfortable it must 
 have been. For a certain height the stones 
 appeared as if they had been polished, and we 
 were told it was caused by the flocks of sheep 
 that for upwards of a thousand years had sought 
 helter here and rubbed themselves against those 
 
 walls. Coming straight from these wonderful 
 galleries, the foundations of the palace looked as 
 if built by a different race. From up here there 
 was a lovely view of the bay of Nauplia, shut in 
 by the little fort of Bourzi and the rock of Itsh- 
 Kaleh, with the coast line of Lakonia sweeping 
 round until hidden behind the fortress of Palamidi. 
 We left Tiryns by the great stairway, half built, 
 half cut in the rock, which winds down on the 
 western side, and was defended by a semicircular 
 wall of great thickness, ending in a high square 
 
Great Stairway at Tiryns. 141 
 
 tower. This extraordinary ascent and the 
 galleries are perhaps the most attractive objects 
 in Tiryns, but to any one with the slightest taste 
 for archaeology, every stone in the Upper Castle is 
 of the Greatest interest. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Nauplia to Athens by sea — The sacrifice of lambs — Anni- 
 versary of Greek Independence — The royal family — 
 Good Friday and Easter Eve ceremonies— Dancing at 
 Megara — Disturbed state of the country — Brigands and 
 soldiers fighting in Thessaly — Everyone advises us not 
 to go there — Finally we escape from Athens. 
 
 By the light of the moon we dropped into a boat 
 and glided over the bay towards our steamer, 
 which was to leave Nauplia at 2 a.m. The next 
 morning we awoke in the sheltered little harbour 
 of Port Kheli, and coming on deck at 5.30 a.m. 
 found the moon on one hand, and Helios on the 
 other staring poor Selene out of countenance. I 
 never witnessed more curious effects than this duel 
 between the god and the goddess, and it caused a 
 succession of wonderfully tinted greys, amid which 
 the snows of the lower Peloponnesus shot up. At 
 six we stopped at Spetsa, being now between that 
 island and the most southern point of Argolis, 
 and rounding Cape Aimilianos our course was 
 henceforth northwards. Hydrea we found to be 
 the quaintest of little towns, swarming on the 
 heights around a tiny cove which sheltered quite a 
 fleet of miniature vessels ; town, boats, and cove 
 
Hydrea — Poros— JEgina. 143 
 
 being packed away so that we only caught a 
 glimpse of them as we stopped to pick up a 
 passenger in a boat. The view looking down the 
 bay of Hydrea to Hermione on the coast of 
 Argolis was very pretty, but the gem of the 
 whole voyage was Poros (Kalauria). This island 
 lies very close to the mainland, and we steamed 
 between the most lovely coast lines, with dark 
 cypresses setting off the bright lemon groves, 
 whilst the town itself, white and green, stood out 
 on a spit of land. Poros, however, carries with it 
 sad memories, as it was here, up in the temple of 
 Poseidon, whither he had fled from the emissaries 
 of Antipater, that Demosthenes met his fate, B.C. 
 322. ^Egina with its distinctive peak then came 
 into view, and passing many small islands and 
 rounding a somewhat dreary point, at last we saw 
 perched on high the far-famed Temple of Athene. 
 We now steered direct for the Piraeus, with the 
 Acropolis standing out straight before us, backed 
 by Pentelicus, with the Parnes on the left and 
 Hymettos to the right, and just before entering 
 the harbour we caught a very interesting peep 
 down the narrow ways of purple Salami's. It 
 was barely half-past one when we landed, having 
 made the passage in less than twelve hours. 
 
 As we drove to Athens we passed flocks upon 
 flocks of lambs coming in for the Easter sacrifice. 
 Every family in Athens is said to have some sort 
 
144 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 of a lamb on Easter Sunday, and for two days 
 before lambs are all over the place ; one was 
 offered to a friend of ours for ten drachmas, the 
 owner rapidly coming down to six ; he thought he 
 could have struck a bargain for five, about three 
 shillings and sixpence. At the door of a house 
 you would see a lamb lying, too exhausted to 
 make remonstrance, with the master proudly 
 smiling down on it ; and when joined by friends 
 they would take it up, one after the other, and 
 swing it gently by one leg to test its weight, giving 
 it a friendly poke in the ribs for further satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Seeing these lambs purchased alive we were 
 greatly exercised to know how they came by their 
 death. Edith would have it that they were 
 publicly sacrificed by the chief priest, on an altar 
 erected for that purpose in the square before the 
 cathedral, and caused great scandal by asking, 
 " When the sacrifice took place, as it was a 
 ceremony she particularly did not wish to miss ? " 
 
 "The lamb is killed in the purchaser's back- 
 yard/' was the answer returned, with the addenda, 
 "You shocking girl, whatever could put such a 
 horrid idea into your head ? " 
 
 So she returned, that hearing something about 
 a temporary platform before the cathedral, and 
 knowing that the Greeks were a very religious 
 people, and that lamb was the outward and visible 
 
Edith Yearns after Ceremonies. 145 
 
 sign of Easter, she had put two and two together, 
 as she had often been reproached for not doing, 
 with the result that appeared so shocking to our 
 mentor. Others comforted her by saying, " that 
 the wonder was that she could keep anything 
 clear in her mind after being dragged over founda- 
 tions for a month." 
 
 I thought it a practical sign that she had 
 entered far more into the spirit of the times of 
 those foundations than she was willing to confess. 
 Certainly, from the way Iambs, roasted whole, 
 were carried about Athens on Easter Sunday, it 
 might give rise to the idea that they were cooked 
 before a public fire. 
 
 During our stay at Athens we came in for the 
 two chief festivals of the Greeks, Easter and the 
 Anniversary of the Independence of Greece. The 
 latter took place on the 6th of April, and the 
 ceremony appeared to consist in the royal family 
 driving in state to the cathedral, where a short 
 service was held. All the principal streets were 
 draped with the charming national flag, a light 
 blue cross and three stripes of the same colour on 
 a white ground ; and the route was lined with 
 troops, who talked affably together and pulled 
 themselves up as the royal carriages came in sight. 
 It was raining very heavily, so we did not go to 
 the cathedral, but remained at our hotel, as from 
 the windows on one side we could see the 
 
 L 
 
146 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 carriages leave the palace, and on the other pass 
 down the street of Hermes. The procession 
 consisted of a few closed carriages, the only one 
 with a hammercloth being the king's, and behind 
 his carriage came the cavalry escort, riding pell- 
 mell into it, their white and blue plumes tossing 
 like a troubled sea. It was quite a pleasure to 
 see so many good horses, and the more they 
 reared and plunged the prouder grew the faces of 
 the populace. From the palace to the cathedral 
 and back the carriages passed in a silence so 
 awful that it gives the foreigner an utterly false 
 idea of the loyalty of the people ; but if we take 
 shouting as the monopoly of " the politician/' then 
 no doubt silence is the highest tribute that can 
 be paid to royalty. 
 
 The Greek, when asked, " Why don't you 
 cheer ? " will reply, " It is not our custom," and if 
 pressed further, " We are so democratic." Yet all 
 the time they arc perfectly aware that they have 
 drawn a prize in the monarchy lottery, and 
 seem to have an absolute conviction that " their 
 king " is wise enough to get them out of any hole 
 " the politicians " may talk them into. But what 
 particularly interested me was that when you 
 mentioned the name of the Duke of Sparta, the 
 invariable answer was, with a flash of the eye, 
 "He's a Greek ! ; ' which apparently summed up 
 all that was best in heaven and on earth. Perhaps 
 
Greek Loyalty. 147 
 
 the greatest proof of the practical, loyalty of the 
 people is to be found in the way the king walks 
 about Athens perfectly unattended ; in this manner 
 he came to the English church several times when 
 we were there, and if there is a spark of art left in 
 the modern Greek they ought to be proud of 
 having such a profile on their coins. The foreigner 
 likewise is very much struck by the steam tram- 
 way to Phaleron, starting opposite the palace, and 
 we were told that it was greatly patronized by the 
 royal family ; in fact, one Sunday, when we were 
 returning from a delightful afternoon at New 
 Phaleron, we saw the royal party come down in 
 the tram for a walk by the sea shore. 
 
 Whilst on the subject of lines, perhaps I ought 
 to mention that a Metropolitan railway is being 
 made by a go-ahead Greek ! It seems truly ap- 
 palling to think of Athens with an underground 
 railway, but so far, we understood, it had done no 
 damage to any of the old remains ; how it will 
 ever pay is a mystery. 
 
 Easter Sunday itself did not appear to be kept 
 by any special religious service, the great cere- 
 mony was on Easter Eve. First, on Good Friday 
 the processions of the churches, with banners, 
 bands, and carrying " painted cloths " marched 
 about the city at night, and in the Place de la 
 Constitution the scene we looked clown on was 
 very effective. Many sight-seers were in carriages, 
 L 2 
 
148 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 but all those on foot held lighted tapers, and 
 formed themselves into a double line, between 
 which the processions marched round the square, 
 to the sound of music, and beneath waving lights 
 and streaming banners. The Easter Eve cere- 
 monial is one of great beauty and subtle mean- 
 ing, although, like all the ceremony of the Greek 
 Church, difficult for the uninitiated to follow. In 
 the square before the cathedral a platform (Edith's 
 sacrificial altar) was erected, this was wreathed 
 with evergreens, and artistically illuminated with 
 a cross and stars in the national colours, whilst 
 most of the houses showed lights, and fireworks 
 were going off continually. From this platform 
 we were told the king proclaims to the Greek 
 world that " Christ has risen." The facade of the 
 cathedral was likewise decorated with wreaths, 
 and a very impressive service was being held 
 within ; then, on the stroke of twelve, the Metro- 
 politan — in gorgeous robes, and with a mitre 
 adorned with beautiful medallions and glittering 
 with diamonds — appeared at the centre door of 
 the ikonostasis, with a large lighted taper in his 
 hand, as a symbol that light had once more come 
 upon the earth, and as he made his way down the 
 church to the platform, the people pressed forward 
 to light their tapers from his. The boys, with 
 tapers flaring, and shouting " Kristos aneste" 
 made a rush, but were speedily reduced to order 
 
Easter Eve. 149 
 
 by the men in the crowd, and in a moment the 
 square was a blaze of light, whilst a volley of 
 artillery announced far and near that " Christ had 
 risen." With the bells clashing above, guns 
 booming, squibs fizzing, the noise was deafening ; 
 suddenly all ceased, a low chant was heard, a 
 breathless silence fell on the crowd, but in a 
 moment the din broke out as before. Tapers 
 were waved on high, grease spurted all over the 
 place, and squibs shot up in every direction. To 
 the casual Britisher Easter appeared to be a 
 curious cross between Christmas Day and the Fifth 
 of November. 
 
 On Easter Tuesday the famous dances at 
 Megara take place, and there strangers do flock 
 to see the dancing and the beauties of Greece. 
 In the days when the visitor went by boat, passing 
 through the narrow ways of lovely Salamis, the 
 poetic requirements of the setting of the scene 
 were fulfilled, but the glamour is gone when ex- 
 cursion trains run every hall hour for " the dances 
 at Megara." We went for the morning dancing 
 " in the hills," which takes place at the back of the 
 town ; unfortunately there was a strong cold wind 
 which raised the dust even there, and we heard 
 that in the square of Megara, where they dance in 
 the afternoon, nothing but clouds of dust could 
 be seen. The most interesting feature of the 
 gathering appeared to be the opportunity it gave 
 
150 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 for the display of the national dress, and here at 
 last we saw the women in their brave attire — 
 petticoat turned back with red, full white chemi- 
 sette, embroidered jacket and apron, with a lovely 
 soft gauzy veil that floated in the wind, and strings 
 of silver ornaments round brow and breast; the 
 men of course were all in the whitest of fustanella. 
 The men and women dance separately; the former, 
 holding handkerchiefs, gradually warmed to their 
 work, and when they grew energetic and kicked 
 out, they looked very like Highlanders dancing 
 the fling. The dancing of the women was most 
 decorous, apparently not overstepping the Eastern 
 orthodox roll. Joining hands in lines, they swayed 
 gracefully to and fro, and this monotonous action 
 they seemed to be able to keep up for an indefinite 
 time. The modern Greek indignantly repudiates 
 the idea of there being any classic element in 
 these dances ; all the same the people appeared to 
 look upon them as a solemn function, and it is 
 well known that the ills that may happen to a 
 household are always laid at the door of the 
 women who are said to have been lazy at the 
 dance. We were told that quite as interesting 
 dancing could have been seen in Athens, where 
 the men and women met on the large open space 
 before the Hephaisteion (Thestion) and after 
 dancing for some time all the women joined hands 
 and, led by a young man playing a pipe, wound 
 
To Thessaly We Would Go. 151 
 
 their way up to the Acropolis in most picturesque 
 fashion. 
 
 To my chagrin we had arrived in Athens too 
 late to join the steamer for the tour of the Isles, 
 which must have been one of the greatest archae- 
 ological and artistic interest. This trip, we under- 
 stood, was to be repeated yearly. Whilst we were 
 in Athens an attempt to get up a second was 
 made, but failed for want of numbers. We found 
 it was quite impossible to see every place we 
 wished, and we thought it wisest to go farther 
 afield when we were two together of the same 
 mind. We had a passing idea of going from 
 Corinth to Delphi, over the Parnassos range to 
 Thermopylae, and working our way down by 
 Orchomenos and Thebes, but this was a tour 
 that had often been taken, and, with the exception 
 of crossing the Parnassos, two ladies with great 
 pluck had already accomplished this trip alone a 
 year or two ago. Edith was anxious for fresh 
 adventures, I had cherished a life-long wish to go 
 through the Euripos, and as we both had an in- 
 tense desire to see the monasteries of Meteora and 
 Mount Olympos, we made up our minds that to 
 Thessaly we would go. Now Thessaly is quite 
 an unknown region ; the tourist does not visit it. 
 Gentlemen who went there appeared to be com- 
 bining pleasure with business, and nobody had 
 ever heard of ladies thinking of going there alone! 
 
152 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 " It was impossible." But since coming to Greece 
 we had heard that remark so often that its appli- 
 cation failed now to impress. In fact, as soon as 
 we gave out our intention, it was met by a storm 
 of remonstrance j and certainly in this case there 
 was some foundation for fear. 
 
 When we visited Greece in the spring of 1892, it 
 was very soon after the king had been obliged to 
 dismiss M. Delyannis, the prime minister, and to 
 call together a temporary ministry pending the 
 general election, which was shortly to take place. 
 The country was experiencing a terrible financial 
 crisis, and, as all Greeks are " politicians," naturally 
 Greece was more or less in a state of ferment. 
 The credit of the country had been brought so 
 low that we got from thirty-eight to thirty-five 
 drachmas for 1/., exceedingly nice for the foreigner 
 but ruination to the poor Greeks ; and owing to 
 this depreciation you had always to be careful 
 when buying or arranging terms to understand 
 whether you were required to pay in drachmas or 
 in francs. At the hotel at Athens it was all 
 francs, but elsewhere we paid in drachmas. To 
 return to the " politicians." With a temporary 
 government doing the work, the two parties were left 
 free to abuse each other, a liberty which apparently 
 they availed themselves of to the fullest advantage. 
 Every untoward event was laid to the door of the 
 opposition party ; thus Thessaly— like Scotland 
 
Fighting in Thessaly. 153 
 
 in a greater degree — was being overrun by a 
 plague of mice, which plague was greatly exag- 
 gerated and laid to the door of M. Tricoupis or M. 
 Delyannis, according to the side the speaker took, 
 though I never could make out how they brought 
 these mice home to either one or the other. Then 
 a Greek gentleman told us that we should get to 
 Thessaly all right, because " if the Greek Govern- 
 ment stopped you, it would at once be used for 
 political purposes." This, no doubt, was an ex- 
 aggeration, but he seemed to argue, if the humble 
 mouse was brought in why not the ubiquitous 
 foreigner ? and he would maintain that if we would 
 only go and be captured by brigands, it would be 
 the making of his party ! To add to the diffi- 
 culties of the situation, the brigands had crossed 
 the frontier into Thessaly and had had one or two 
 sharp tussles with the troops. The most alarming 
 telegrams about their doings were coming in every 
 day, whilst to put the finishing top to it all, twenty- 
 three prisoners — described as murderers ! — had 
 taken advantage of the absorbing Good Friday 
 religious ceremonies to break out of the prison at 
 Larissa, and were now on the loose. Some of these 
 men were said to be trying to effect a junction 
 with the brigands, others were supposed to be 
 hiding in the Vale of Tempe, the very place, of 
 course, where we wanted to go. 
 
 Such was the official situation : we were now to 
 
154 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 hear of the domestic state from a young English- 
 man and a Greek who had come through Albania 
 to Kalabaka, and thence to Athens by the route 
 we intended to take. At first they thought we 
 did not really mean to go, but when they found 
 we were in earnest the Englishman tried to dis- 
 suade us from the attempt. 
 
 " You don't know what it is ; you cannot imagine 
 what you will have to go through ; it is not fit. 
 Let me persuade you to give up all thought ot 
 it." 
 
 " But we are quite ready to rough it." 
 
 " You could never survive the horrors of a Greek 
 boat, there are no proper ladies' cabins. In the 
 boat we came by the ladies' cabins were partitioned 
 off at each end of the saloon ; there were eight 
 Greek women and children in each, and they were 
 ill all clay and all night, for everything could be 
 heard throughout the length and breadth of the 
 boat. The whole place swarmed with cockroaches ; 
 in our own cabin we killed twenty-eight, we were 
 up all night massacring them, and the people on 
 board thought us mad. Can you stand cock- 
 roaches ? " 
 
 We confessed to a deadly fear of them, but, for 
 the sake of Thessaly's beaux ycnx, thought we 
 might get through one night even in mortal com- 
 bat with cockroaches. 
 
 "One night ! That is just it, we were two. You 
 
<; YOU MUST NOT GO." 155 
 
 never know how long you may be on the journey, 
 owing to the uncertainty of the tides of the Euripos. 
 We were kept a day at Khalkis waiting to get 
 through, with everybody bad all over the place, 
 and there was nothing to eat, even the bread was 
 mouldy ! " 
 
 " Then it would be best for us to take some food 
 from this hotel ; and when you get to Thessaly 
 what are the Khans like ? " 
 
 Apparently the horrors of a Khan were in- 
 describable in a mixed assembly. There was one 
 at Karditsa — a comparatively modern town, where 
 things might have been expected to be more civi- 
 lized — which in filthiness was said only to rival 
 one in Albania, where they had spent the night 
 under the protection of an ex-brigand chief. 
 Whatever we did Karditsa must be avoided, but at 
 Trikkala, the town before Kalabaka, there was an 
 hotel to which we could go, also at Volo. They 
 had not been to Larissa, but, as it was the capital 
 of Thessaly, perhaps things might be cleaner there. 
 The Greek, however, with true patriotism put in a 
 word for his country, and handed over to us his 
 Thessalian time-table, on which wc made several 
 notes that afterwards proved of the greatest service 
 to us ; which being accomplished, the end of the 
 disquisition finished up thus, — 
 
 " I wish you would let me dissuade you from 
 attempting it. It was all very well for us, but you 
 
156 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 cannot rough it in that way ; or, if you will go, 
 take a dragoman who will have things arranged 
 and look after your food. You do not know what 
 it is." 
 
 Then another : 
 
 " Why should you leave peaceful England to 
 court danger in Thessaly. Of course, if you were 
 going to write a book or it was for any object, I 
 could understand ; but simply to encounter all this 
 discomfort for what ? — pleasure ! " 
 
 ''We are going because we want to go," re- 
 turned Edith, which men have affirmed to be an 
 excellent feminine reason. 
 
 Several times on our journey Edith was asked 
 if she was writing our travels, one gushing lady 
 waxing so eloquent over her " wise looks " that I 
 was afraid quite early in the journey of being 
 bereft of my friend ; whilst later on an Austrian 
 confided to me that she could not take her eyes of 
 " your friend, she embroiders so beautifully, and is 
 exactly like my sister who died," but in this last 
 case the attraction was not reciprocal, so I had no 
 occasion for fear. 
 
 The hotel manager, when he heard of our inten- 
 tion, threw up his hands and exclaimed, — 
 
 " Are you not afraid of the bry-gans ! " 
 
 So we made our last will and testament, which 
 in this case meant depositing with the manager 
 our money and any valuables we happened to have, 
 
An Encouraging Interview. 157 
 
 and received from him a receipt written in English, 
 in which, among other items of curious nomen 
 clature, figured conspicuously " two gold brass- 
 lets, and one silver chien" 
 
 Having been told that we ought to notify our 
 intention of visiting Thessaly to the English 
 Embassy, we went there, and were ushered into 
 the presence of a gentleman who appeared to feel 
 life a burden. To him we explained our inten- 
 tions, the gloom on his face deepening as he 
 listened. " Yes, it was quite right to notify the 
 Embassy of our intention, we could not go with- 
 out doing so. Would we pardon him for one 
 moment ? " 
 
 " They are not going to make an objection," we 
 whispered in cold anxiety, but in a minute he 
 reappeared, — 
 
 " The Ambassador will write about you to the 
 authorities ; when do you intend to go ? " 
 
 " To-morrow." 
 
 "To-morrow," he echoed, but not with surprise ; 
 he evidently thought us capable of any folly and 
 expected no consideration from us ; " then we shall 
 have to telegraph. Do you intend to go first to 
 Larissa or to Kalabaka ? " 
 
 Now as we wished to avoid Sunday at the 
 monasteries, and had been assured we might be 
 a couple of nights on the boat, we could not settle 
 this point until we arrived at Volo, but not think- 
 
158 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 ing these details would interest our interlocutor, 
 we looked stupid and said, " We did not know." 
 
 " It does not matter," returned he, in a still more 
 hopeless tone of voice, " we can telegraph to both 
 places," and he did not add aloud : It is jubt these 
 futile sort of people who get England into all the 
 rows, why cannot they stop at home and be quiet ? 
 
 " Shall we let you know when we come back ? " 
 
 " Oh no, we shall hear only too soon if anything 
 happens to you," with which cheering remark we 
 took our leave. 
 
 We found it exceedingly difficult to get any 
 information about our intended trip, and had it 
 not been for falling in with those two who had 
 just come through from Albania, we should have 
 started in a woful state of ignorance. One who 
 lived in Greece advised us very strongly not to try 
 the hotels, but to depend on the hospitality of pri- 
 vate individuals, and he most kindly gave us a 
 pile of letters of introduction. Although we had 
 declined to take a dragoman, Gaze's manager at 
 Athens was most obliging in telling us all that he 
 could ; we understood that one of their dragomen 
 had once taken people to Thessaly, and that they 
 were quite ready to undertake a party any day, 
 only nobody would go even when personally con- 
 ducted. It seems a pity that visitors should fight 
 shy of so interesting a tour ; of course, going by 
 ourselves we had to rough it, but anyone who 
 
-ccCA f°a*jt~& 
 
 [Page 159. 
 
Just Off in Time. 159 
 
 wanted to do it in comparative comfort could do 
 so by placing themselves in the hands of Messrs. 
 Gaze. 
 
 Totting up every scrap of information we had 
 scraped together, we tried in vain to reconcile 
 those separate items, but the amusing part was 
 that it turned out that although unreconcilable, all 
 those facts, except one, were true. At the last 
 moment we were joined by another lady, Miss C, 
 who had been wintering in Egypt and Palestine, 
 and so a charming addition was made to our sober 
 duet. We might almost say that in the end we 
 escaped from Athens, for on our return we were 
 told, " You were only just off in time, for three 
 hours after you had started most alarming tele- 
 grams came in and I should have stopped your 
 going, but it was too late." 
 
 We were very sorry if we had occasioned our 
 kind mentor any uneasiness ; and I felt it was 
 an ill return for all his courtesy and thoughtful 
 counsel. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Start for Thessaly — Experience Greek hospitality at Volo — 
 Leave for Larissa — First view of Olympos and Ossa — 
 The town of Larissa — A Gypsv Wedding — The poor 
 Bride. 
 
 With only drachmas and lepta in our pockets we 
 drove to the Piraeus, and embarked about six p.m. 
 on a Greek steamer bound for Volo, the port of 
 Thessaly. Our intention was to sleep a night at 
 Volo, rail to Larissa, visit the Vale of Tempe, 
 situated between Mount Olympos and Mount 
 Ossa, rail to Kalabaka, see what we could of the 
 monasteries of Meteora, sleep the night at the 
 monastery of St. Stephen (Hagios Stephanos), re- 
 turn by rail to Volo, and from that port bysteamer 
 to Athens. Our first idea, and the one we should 
 have liked to have carried out, was to have gone 
 on from Volo by steamer to Salonika and thence 
 to Constantinople, and so have caught a glimpse 
 of Mount Athos, with its marble peak and many 
 monasteries clustering around its base. We gave 
 this up, however, owing to our inability to find any 
 trustworthy information as to the dates when the 
 steamers ran, and everyone in authority assured 
 
On the Boat. 161 
 
 us that most probably we should be stuck at 
 Salonika for a week waiting for a boat, so that it 
 would be much quicker to return to Athens and 
 take a direct steamer to Constantinople. As un- 
 fortunately we were limited to time we did this, 
 and no doubt missed an exceedingly interesting 
 coasting trip. 
 
 Our start was fortunate. We found the ladies' 
 cabin was a long, narrow room running across the 
 boat, and, with the exception of one Greek lady who 
 paid us fitful visits, we had the whole place to our- 
 selves. The next morning we discovered that we 
 had passed Khalkis and left the difficult channel of 
 the Euripos behind before we were up. It proved 
 cold and wet, and upon coming on deck the whole 
 vessel appeared to be one mass of sleeping forms 
 rolled up in sheep-skins or bright striped blankets, 
 and it was most difficult to pick your way among 
 them to the foot of the ladder leading to the bridge. 
 Of course every scrap of shelter had been eagerly 
 utilized, but there were far too many passengers 
 for all to obtain cover, and they lay heaped up to- 
 gether to keep themselves warm. Last evening, 
 when boarding the boat in semi-darkness, we had 
 stumbled over an extraordinary uneven surface, and 
 it was only after we had got across that, by a head 
 peering out, we saw that we had just walked over 
 the sleeping crew. I felt horrified, but they took no 
 more notice of it than of a fly crawling over them. 
 
 If 
 
1 62 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 I had not been very long on the bridge before 
 I heard coming up from the forepart of the vessel, 
 what sounded as the tones of merriment. Now as 
 laughter seemed so totally at variance with what 
 we had seen of the Greek, I stood on my chair to 
 peep over the sail-cloth that had been stretched 
 across as a protection from the wind, and found 
 myself looking down on a party of men, who had 
 formed themselves into a kind of circle with their 
 feet in the centre, and had heaped their united 
 sheepskins above them, a gorgeous red one at the 
 top of all the others. Nothing but their heads 
 were to be seen ; to my surprise four of these heads 
 were rolling with laughter, and from the strange 
 convulsions of the sheepskins, they appeared to be 
 having a tickling match ; later on in the day they 
 took to playing cards, but apparently only for 
 amusement, and not for money. 
 
 In the drizzling rain Eubcea frowned down 
 coldly on our right ; that eloquent sentinel watching 
 over the island, the graceful snowpeak of Delph 
 which we had seen from Pentelicus, was now 
 entirely wrapped in clouds. On our left the main- 
 land seemed broken up into never-ending and ever- 
 varying capes and bays, and dark rocky promon- 
 tories, rising up from the sea, behind one of which 
 Thermopylae lay hid to sight. As we steamed 
 northwards the character of the country began to 
 change, the bare rocks became clothed with trees, 
 
Hunt the Slipper. 163 
 
 olive woods were seen in Euboea, and that wild 
 island sent out spits of land clothed in long grass, 
 and decked with young trees in all the beauty of 
 their fresh spring tints. Rounding Cape Stavro 
 we left Euboea behind us, passed the point of 
 Trikeri, the most southern place on the strip of 
 Thessalian land, that hooks down and shuts off the 
 /Egean Sea from the large Gulf of Volo, and then 
 the peaks of the Pelion range shaped them- 
 selves before us. Here the wind went down 
 and the rain almost ceased, and some of the Greek 
 gentlemen on board came above, among them the 
 Professor of the new Seminary at Larissa, who 
 spoke a little French, and who eventually accom- 
 panied us to the Vale of Tempe. The professor 
 who had been spending Easter at Athens, had left 
 his wife there, and from what we heard we fancied 
 that she must have been one of the unfortunate 
 ladies on that crowded boat which had been held 
 up before us as a warning. 
 
 The party in the bows had at last grown tired of 
 playing cards, and as it was comparatively fine 
 they got up and shook themselves ; no doubt their 
 first toilet of the day. They now arranged the 
 sheepskins — with the exception of the red one — in 
 a circle and five men plumped down on them, the 
 red skin was then thrown over their knees, and in 
 the centre of this the sixth man sat on his heels ; 
 the next moment one of the five caught him a 
 M 2 
 
164 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 sounding whack on the back with a piece of rope, 
 and threw it over the centre man's head as he 
 turned to look for it, the opposite man catching 
 it and shooting it under the sheepskin, the man in 
 the middle making frantic dives after it in every 
 direction. It dawned upon us all at once that 
 these six hulking men were playing hunt-the- 
 slipper, the slipper being represented by a foot 
 and a half of old rope, knotted at each end, 
 and instead of hitting it on the floor to draw 
 the searcher's attention, they always whacked it 
 on his back, to the intense delight of the lookers 
 on. The shouts and laughter of these men attracted 
 those who had been loafing dismally about finger- 
 ing their useless beads without any apparent 
 method, and there gathered around the players 
 quite a large audience, who stood silent but with 
 an ever-increasing grin on their faces. The only 
 subject that makes an ordinary Greek open his 
 mouth is politics, and politics he will talk all day 
 and shout out all night. As they warmed to the 
 game, these men sent up shrieks of laughter, and 
 in this way we caught our first glimpse of the 
 gay Thessalian who was to afford us so much amuse- 
 ment in our coming tour. 
 
 As we approached Volo in the shades of evening, 
 the most curious sight met our view, the whole side 
 of the hills being apparently covered with patches 
 of blazing brilliants ; this wonderful effect was 
 
No Room in the Hotel. 165 
 
 caused by the reflection of the setting sun upon 
 the panes of glass in some of the four and twenty 
 villages which here cling to the rock like a 
 swarm of flies. Looking up through the grey 
 of evening, it seemed almost impossible that 
 houses could find footing on those steep rocks, but 
 in daylight it was easily seen how neatly those 
 houses fitted into the hill side. The sun going 
 down, the glistening villages died out, the hills drew 
 about them their purple-black robes of night, and 
 one by one the lights shone out on the shore ; 
 it had struck seven when we dropped into a boat 
 to take us to the landing stage of Volo. 
 
 There was only one small room to be had at 
 the Hotel de France, so Miss C. had it, and Edith 
 and I agreed to try the hospitality of one of the 
 residents to whom we had a letter of introduction. 
 In the old days travellers never thought of going 
 to the Khans, but always put up at the houses of 
 private individuals, but where hotels have been 
 established we found that this system had quite 
 gone out, and that it was not at all a usual thing 
 to be suddenly saddled with visitors in this unex- 
 pected manner. We had, however, on very good 
 authority, been told quite differently, and in happy 
 ignorance we followed our boy-guide out into the 
 inky night. Diving under a dark archway, a door 
 was pushed open, we groped our way up some 
 stairs, and were brought to a sudden halt by a 
 
1 66 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 girl with the voice of a screech-owl flying out at us 
 as if we were breaking into thehouse. Guiltily we 
 advanced, and were met by a young woman with 
 a screaming child in her arms. A few hurried 
 words and our boy disappeared, leaving us in a 
 dimly lighted chamber and to uncertainty ; we 
 understood that Monsieur was at the Cafe. Ten 
 minutes later the boy rushes in—" Monsieur has 
 gone to spend the evening with friends." 
 
 We looked at each other. Was there no 
 Madame ? Should we have to sit up half the night 
 on a straight-backed chair, gazing at an empty 
 table and a destitute side-board, and lulled by the 
 screams of that infant ? " Despair took possession 
 of our hearts. 
 
 It was thirty-two hours since we had partaken 
 of luncheon at Athens, and to all appearance there 
 was little prospect of supper or of bed. We re- 
 gretted we had not beaten up the other hotels in 
 the place, although we had been distinctly warned 
 against doing so, but then, so far, had not all 
 the warnings we had received proved needless ? 
 Through the medium of chocolate we made over- 
 tures with that child, and in semi-wakefulness we 
 waited with a strange conviction growing in our 
 mind that our soul would be dear in exchange for 
 a bed. At last a foot was heard on the stair ; oh 
 blessed sound ! and there entered an exceedingly 
 gentlemanly-looking man who read the letters, 
 
Charming Hospitality. 167 
 
 murmured that his French was very little and that 
 he would fetch his wife. Our spirits rose, and he 
 disappeared. Meantime there entered a young 
 man who introduced himself as somebody's rela- 
 tion, seized the child and vanished ; again we 
 were left in semi-darkness and in doubt. 
 
 " When will this pantomime rehearsal cease and 
 the heavenly vision of beds appear ? " sighed we ; 
 but a truly heavenly vision of another kind ap- 
 peared when there glided into the room our elegant 
 hostess and her charming young sister. We felt 
 quite abashed at the kindness of their reception ; 
 we were taken upstairs to the drawing-room which 
 was brilliant in red velvet, and there entertained 
 by Madame, and her cousin a young naval 
 officer, who also spoke French. All of a sudden 
 the most frightful noise was heard in the streets, it 
 sounded at least like the outbreak of a terrible 
 riot, but it was only the populace parading the 
 streets and shouting out the name of their favour- 
 ite candidate, as is their custom. Of course we 
 asked our entertainers their politics, and found 
 they all looked to M. Tricoupis to drag Greece out 
 of her financial difficulties. For all the people's 
 shouting, they said, M. Tricoupis would have a 
 majority at the coming elections, and so the event 
 proved. 
 
 In an incredibly short time we descended to 
 the room that had been the scene of our anxious 
 
1 68 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 waiting, and never was supper more welcome. Of 
 course the inevitable Easter eggs were there, and 
 they insisted on our cracking them for good luck, 
 and trying our fortunes in the same way as in 
 England the merry-thought is broken ; but as 
 there are two ways of interpreting the merry- 
 thought, so there seemed to be in the crack- 
 ing of these eggs, and we never could make 
 out whether it was the egg that was cracked 
 or the egg that cracked that came out the 
 winner. During supper a room had been evacu- 
 ated for our use, and about eleven o'clock we were 
 ushered to it. Whilst with our entertainers their 
 charm had electrified us into life, but I never did 
 know how we tumbled into bed that night. 
 
 The next morning the delightful independence 
 of hotel life was forcibly brought home to us as 
 we glanced round the room and saw that Aquarius 
 was only represented by two glasses of water on a 
 tray. We were afraid of infringing etiquette by 
 calling aloud for water, and likewise did not 
 wish to disturb our courteous hostess at so early 
 an hour, so as nothing could be made out of those 
 tumblers of water, we simply gave it up. Last 
 evening when we had asked to wash our hands 
 before supper, a function of great ceremony had 
 taken place. The maid had entered with a tripod 
 which she put down in the middle of the floor, 
 brought in a basin which she fitted into it, then 
 
We are Perplexed. 169 
 
 with a towel over her shoulder, a candle in one 
 hand and a jug in the other, she solemnly poured 
 water over our hands, and the moment the per- 
 formance was over the whole arrangement was 
 whipped out of the room like a shot, as if its very 
 presence was an offence. All this ceremony had 
 alarmed us and so we gave it up without a struggle. 
 No doubt they thought us disgusting slovens, for 
 on opening our door we were greeted by the 
 charming young sister and ushered into a room 
 opposite, where stood in solitary glory a marble 
 washing-stand with one basin, soap, sponge, towels, 
 and cold water ! First a little water was put 
 into the basin, then the soap was handed, and 
 water poured slowly over your hands. This room 
 apparently was only used for washing, yet I saw 
 no sign of a bath anywhere, and this doling out 
 the water in driblets was, to say the least, trying 
 when you were longing for a good duck. After 
 some excellent coffee and little rings of bread, we 
 bid adieu to our courteous and charming enter- 
 tainers, and, escorted by someone unknown, went 
 to pick up Miss C. at the hotel. 
 
 We left Volo by the 7*30 train, and as we found 
 the trains in Thessaly had been running in 1891 at 
 the same hours, it appeared as if the time-table 
 here was permanent, a very useful arrangement for 
 the languageless visitor. The distance from Volo 
 to Larissa is about thirty-seven miles and a half, 
 
 •*- 
 
170 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 and the tram accomplishes this in three hours less 
 eight minutes, so as you pass along there is ample 
 time to study the features of the country. Nearly 
 one hour is taken in covering the eleven miles 
 between Volo and Velestino, the junction where 
 the long line of ninety miles branches off to 
 the north-west to Kalabaka, the short branch of 
 twenty-six and a half miles running up north-east 
 to Larissa. We were very much indebted to the 
 manager of Gaze's office at Athens for having 
 told us that return tickets lasted over the day, and 
 that we should save a good deal on our fare by 
 taking return tickets in this way. First we booked 
 single to Velestino, there took return tickets to 
 Larissa, which brought us back to the junction the 
 next day, where we got return tickets to Kalabaka, 
 and of course single tickets again from Velestino 
 to Volo on our way back from the Monasteries. 
 We thought afterwards that we ought to have 
 seen whether we could have got return tickets 
 from Volo to the junction, but perhaps for so short 
 a distance there was some restriction on them. 
 
 We were all on the qui vive for our first glimpse 
 of Mount Olympos, and as the train curved round 
 for Velestino we looked up the long Thessalian 
 plain to where in the far distance great rolling 
 waves of cloud gathered round a huge isolated 
 mass of mountains that blocked the view to the 
 north. This was Olympos, 9754 ft, covered deep 
 
First View of Olymfos. 171 
 
 in snow, wreathed in awful majesty, its dead white 
 crowns glistening through the breaks in the clouds ; 
 and as these gleams of glowing snow appeared and 
 disappeared in the sky in quick succession, they 
 gave the beholder an extraordinarily exaggerated 
 idea of the height of the mountain. To the north- 
 east the graceful peak of Ossa, 6398 ft., rose capped 
 with virgin snow, and then the chain of mountains 
 continued down and down to where the range of 
 Pelion, 5308 ft., stood out on the east. Up the 
 
 ■ - ■ ,- 
 
 plain the long lake of Karla (Boibeis) wormed its 
 way at the foot of the eastern hills, many ruins 
 being clearly seen in its immediate neighbourhood. 
 This first view of Olympos and Ossa, together 
 with the knowledge that between those two ranges 
 of mountains lay crushed the world-renowned 
 Vale of Tempe, brought a sensation that can never 
 be forgotten. It was so easy to understand what 
 a religious people like the ancient Greeks must 
 
172 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 have felt as they traversed that long stretch of 
 fertile plain, with those wedded mountains beckon- 
 ing them on with snowy hands. The grace of 
 Ossa appealing to their keen sense of beauty, the 
 mystical cloud-enveloped Olympos precipitating 
 sacred yearning into religious frenzy. Where in 
 all Greece could have been found a more fitting 
 home for the Immortal Gods ? 
 
 Thessaly struck us as having very different 
 characteristics to the other parts of Greece which 
 we had seen, not only in its physical features, but 
 in its people and in its cattle. Nature had planned 
 out this province on a larger scale, and man had 
 fostered the multiplication of cattle. In the 
 Peloponnesus we saw oxen, but a cow was a vara 
 avis, and although there were sheep scattered 
 about they had not the happy look of the flocks of 
 Thessaly ; whilst regarded in the light of mutton 
 there was no comparison. We were informed, 
 however, that Athens drew its supply of meat from 
 Thessaly ; if so, all that we could think was, that the 
 agonies of that sea voyage in a Greek boat must 
 have very deteriorating effects on those sheep. 
 Droves of horses careered about the plains, herds 
 of cattle wandered over them, but unfortunately 
 we never were near enough any of these to 
 see their points. The Greeks call Thessaly their 
 rich province, and certainly when the population 
 increases so as to brin^ it all under cultivation it 
 
Nothing but their Minarets. 173 
 
 will be so. The soil looked splendid and everyone 
 said it was well worth turning up. Owing to the 
 cession of the country to Greece in 1881 a great 
 migration of Turks has taken place, the inha- 
 bitants of whole villages moving across the frontier 
 and leaving their empty houses for the Greeks to 
 come in. We were told that the province had 
 made an immense stride within the last ten years, 
 more especially since the opening of the rail- 
 way. Something perhaps should be allowed for 
 so intensely patriotic a people, but no doubt there 
 was a good deal of truth in the following indignant 
 reply — 
 
 " You talk about Turkey as a civilizing power, 
 you should judge it by its works! Thessaly was a 
 wilderness when it was handed over to us. The 
 Turks leave nothing behind them, no manufactories, 
 no cultivation, no education, nothing but their 
 minarets." 
 
 Now, with regard to the minarets I am sorry to 
 say that these are fast crumbling into ruins, and it 
 is a mistake for the Greek to allow this, as it is 
 these same despised minarets that in the majority 
 of cases will attract the tourist whom the Greek is 
 so anxious to entice to his country. Once let the 
 trading instinct of the Greek come to regard the 
 minaret as a commercial decoy instead of a 
 symbol of a detested servitude, and those graceful 
 pinnacles are safe. By carefully husbanding all 
 
174 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 standing objects of interest the land of Athene 
 ought to be able to compete with the land of 
 vEneas for the surplus coin of the 
 globe-trotter. Of course what re- 
 tards the influx of visitors is that, as 
 a rule, the treasures which Greece 
 has to show require an effort of mind 
 to appreciate, whereas Italy offers a 
 
 IlIAiS" ') cri oice of every kind ; but the 
 
 minarets and monasteries of Thessaly 
 make no exactions on the tired 
 brain, and so should be looked upon 
 as a welcome addition to the sights 
 of Greece. 
 
 Larissa, the capital of Thessaly, is 
 a city stretched out on the plain, and 
 it owes its extremely picturesque 
 aspect to the many minarets that 
 still are left standing ; for some 
 reason not apparent to the casual 
 visitor the station is nearly a mile 
 from the town. We had been told 
 in Athens and also by some of the 
 Greeks on board that upon arriving 
 at Larissa at 10.22 a.m., we should 
 have plenty of time to go to the Vale of Tempe 
 that day, but an interview with the Demarch or 
 Prefect soon dispelled that idea. In the first place 
 it was an expedition that took twelve hours at the 
 
 &^TO>/ 
 
The Capital of Thessaly. 175 
 
 least, in the second the escort could not be got 
 together all in a moment — they did not do things 
 at that rate in Greece. So it was arranged that on 
 the morrow we were to start at 6 a.m., and as it 
 would be Sunday and a holiday at the Seminary 
 the Demarch requested M. le Professeur to accom- 
 pany us. As it turned out, had our carriage been 
 capable of expansion, we could have made up a 
 very agreeable party. 
 
 Here in Thessaly we found the capital taking 
 its name from its acropolis " Larisa/' so that town 
 and citadel were included under the same title. 
 With regard to the spelling of the name, the 
 doubles appeared to be the most general way, 
 though there was a pleasing freedom on that point ; 
 thus in our small time-table it was spelt Larissa 
 within and Larisa on the map outside ; I forgot to 
 see how it was printed on the station, no doubt 
 there was some variation, for the time-table version 
 rarely agreed with that on the stations. The 
 Pelasgi of course are said to be responsible for the 
 name of Larisa, in the same way as the fort at 
 Argos still goes by that title. In the earliest ages 
 the capital of Thessaly seems to have been an 
 important place ; from its position it must always 
 have commanded the highway through the Vale 
 of Tempe to the sea and to Macedonia, and for 
 this reason it generally appears to have fallen 
 into the hands of the most dominant of the kings 
 
176 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 of Thessaly. In an indirect way Larissa may be 
 held to be the cause of the foundation of Mykenae, 
 insomuch as it was here, during the great funeral 
 games arranged by King Teutamais, that Perseus, 
 whilst displaying his skill at quoits, accidentally 
 killed his grandfather, Akrisios, king of Argos, and 
 so fulfilled the oracle. Many other names familiar 
 in mythical and authentic history are associated 
 with Larissa. 
 
 The Peneios, which rises in the north of the 
 Pindos chain and which we were afterwards to see 
 a small stream at Kalabaka, is here quite a noble 
 river, and Larissa is situated on its southern bank, 
 behind the rise on which we thought the old acro- 
 polis must have stood, but building operations and 
 old fortifications prevented our making a close in- 
 vestigation of this part. Since the annexation the 
 aspect of the town has greatly changed, broad 
 streets have been driven through it, white airy- 
 looking schools with many windows have been 
 erected, fine barracks stand out, and the large open 
 square looks as if it had been entirely rebuilt. 
 Notwithstanding these clearances a considerable 
 number of Turks remain, and the Turkish quarter, 
 with its silent narrow streets and blank dreary 
 walls, seemed like a city of the dead jammed into 
 the moving Jewish district, the bright Gipsy 
 colony, whilst the enterprising Greek overflowed 
 on all sides. The mixture of nationalities, the 
 
Intensely Picturesque. 177 
 
 diversity of costume, the fashion of displaying in 
 the streets all the goods the shopkeeper had 
 to sell, gave the place the most animated and 
 bright appearance ; the whole tone being much 
 more closely allied to the East than to the West. 
 
 A fine bridge crosses the Peneios, and leaning 
 over the parapet we saw the women busy washing 
 clothes on one bank, the men rod in hand catching 
 the fish, celebrated in song, on the other. The 
 water looked decidedly yellow, very much the 
 colour of the Danube, but we were told it is the 
 best and the purest in Greece ; and across the 
 bridge are the public gardens running by the side 
 of the river. All about this neighbourhood the 
 most perfect and diversified of pictures are to 
 be seen. Looking up the river, you get the bridge 
 dominated by the blue-green cupolas and minarets 
 of the tomb of the conqueror of Thessaly. In the 
 opposite direction the river is broken by salmon- 
 coloured sandbanks and grey-green silver stemmed 
 poplars, with Ossa's snowy peak at the back. 
 Passing through the so-called gardens, you come 
 upon a great waste, and there rises up a wonder- 
 ful view of Mount Olympos. In the foreground 
 stood a shepherd-boy clad in white, and bronze- 
 purple skins, at his waist hung a kind of tiny drum, 
 and this he beat with a stick when he wished to 
 call up his sheep. The lambs were the prettiest 
 I had ever seen, they were quite black with white 
 
 N 
 
178 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 crests on their heads, their tails tipped with white, 
 and they were most wonderfully cheeky for the race 
 ovis : amongst the sheep there were a few white, 
 the rest were dirty brown, and at a distance these 
 took the most exquisite madder tints and violet 
 shadows, almost the colouring of the French artist 
 Damoye. The distant foliage was all of a soft 
 grey-green, then rose up two dark pointed little 
 mountains, and beyond the great white mass of 
 Olympos with its circling wreath of clouds. How 
 I watched those clouds, and how I longed for one 
 free view»of the mountain. It was most tantalizing ; 
 for a moment Zeus would lift his mantle from a 
 peak, and as you watched the breaking through of 
 another gleaming point the first would be swept 
 up in the ever-circling clouds. The gods were in 
 conclave the whole time we were at Larissa, and it 
 was only just before sunset that for an instant my 
 patience was rewarded by a momentary view of 
 the entire outline of the mountain. Looking 
 away from Olympos, down the plain, on all sides 
 stretched lines upon lines of mountains tipped 
 with snow, and yet- these hills and snows of 
 Thessaly never appeared to be the least like those 
 of Switzerland. 
 
 In accord with the courtesy and kindness that 
 had strewed our path from the moment we had 
 set out on our travels, the Demarch requested M. 
 Ambelicopoulos, the clever government specialist 
 
The Plague of Mice. 179 
 
 who had been sent to Thessaly to stop the plague 
 of mice, to place himself at our disposal for the after- 
 noon, and under his able and agreeable guidance 
 we saw and heard many things. As far as we 
 could make out, the plague of mice, about which 
 we had heard so much, only covered a small area, 
 and was insignificant in comparison to the devasta- 
 tion that at the same time was being wrought by 
 voles in Scotland. M. Ambelicopoulos was poison- 
 ing the mice with, I believe, bi-sulphide of carbon, 
 the instrument used was a rod something like a 
 long syringe, and this was put down the hole and 
 ejected the poison each way, killing the mice 
 under ground. 1 We saw two specimens of these 
 voles preserved in spirits, they were grey and 
 looked like a cross between a mouse and a rat> 
 their correct title is, I think, Arvicola Guntheri? 
 
 On a piece of waste land touching the public 
 gardens the gipsies had an enormous encamp- 
 ment, their tents being pitched on a sandy plateau 
 in the centre, whilst their miserable ponies and 
 donkeys fed on the scrub around, with an oc- 
 
 1 In the Report of the Board of Agriculture on the vole 
 plague in Scotland, it is said that Professor Loefner, a 
 German bacteriologist, claims to have destroyed the voles 
 in Thessaly. — The Standard. 
 
 2 Latest reports tend to show that, in spite of all remedies, 
 the lively mouse has again appeared ; and that the people, 
 tired of the scientists, are calling upon the Apollo of their 
 particular faith to stay the plague. It can only be hoped 
 that the " Mouse-destroyer," in his Orthodox or Mussulman 
 form will be as successful as in the classic days of old. — I. J. A. 
 
 N 2 
 
i So Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 casional bear with a good temper in their midst. 
 The tents appeared to be set up very irregularly, 
 but in a measure they guarded the plateau, and no 
 doubt if necessary all the animals could be tethered 
 there ; when we visited the camp, only the sulky 
 bears were chained within. 
 
 A wedding was taking place, so the encamp- 
 ment was en fete, and we presume that we saw it 
 to the best advantage. The expectant bridegroom's 
 tent, which was much rent at the back, was dis- 
 tinguished by a pole surmounted by a very small 
 red flag tied with evergreens and ornamented with 
 flowers and oranges. Before the tent a great 
 concourse of men stood in a ring, four or five deep. 
 The bridegroom, a slender youth with good 
 features, was pointed out to us by his red buttons, 
 which were considered very chic. He stood in 
 rather a dejected attitude, as if he was listening 
 to his execution being read out, and he gave us 
 the idea that he had had almost enough of it. 
 Children ran in and about this conclave, old 
 women hung on its skirts ; but of young women 
 there seemed a dearth. In vain we looked about 
 for the bride in this ring gathered before the 
 bridegroom's tent, and an old woman divining our 
 thoughts, with great glee asked us to follow her 
 and she would show us the bride ! Dodging tents, 
 sand heaps, and bears, she led us down to where» 
 sheltered from the wind, three quite respectable 
 
The Gipsy Bride. t8i 
 
 tents were pitched on the sloping side of the 
 platform ; and there, before the largest and most 
 water-tight tent in the encampment, we found 
 seated cross-legged on the ground, two old women, 
 and between them a young one ; this latter was 
 the bride. She already appeared older than her 
 husband, and she was a stoutish maiden with no 
 doubt good looks ; but when we saw her these 
 were entirely clouded by the sullen, dissatisfied 
 expression of her face — indeed, she looked as if 
 she would willingly have strangled those two old 
 women. I felt sorry for that young man ; in the 
 distant future there would be rows in his tent. I 
 fancy she had had a dull time of it ; the men to 
 the accompaniment of music had been to a casino 
 hard by, but we had seen nothing of the bride. 
 No doubt she felt it hard lines to be stuck down 
 between two old women in a hidden away part of 
 the encampment, when all the fun was going on 
 above ; moreover, if this was the tent she was 
 leaving, it was in far better condition than the one 
 to which she was going. We were afraid that, 
 perhaps, she resented our presence, but it was 
 not so ; with her yellow scarf round her head and 
 clean white bodice, she thought herself quite an 
 object for our admiration, and was in no wise 
 abashed at a very large hole in the sole of her 
 stocking, which, from her position, was the most 
 prominent feature in her toilet. Poor bride ! you 
 
1 82 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 felt a thrill of sadness as it flashed across you that 
 there must be someone outside the tribe who alone 
 could bring light into that dark face, and cause 
 that sullen mouth to smile, those fierce black eyes 
 to melt to softness. The only person who really 
 looked pleased was the oldest of the two women, 
 who was possessed of rather fine features and had 
 her hands covered with curious silver rings which 
 looked like coins ; but to our " good morning " she 
 made no response, so, fearful of infringing the 
 etiquette of the occasion, we moved on. 
 
 We then visited the brown bears, who all seemed 
 exceedingly cross-tempered, and joined the groups 
 that were always gathered around the performing 
 monkeys, but what interested me most, after the 
 humans, were the tents which they inhabited. 
 The principle of these tents was four diagonal 
 poles and one horizontal one crossing them. 
 Across this latter the tent cloth — such as it was — 
 was hung and pegged down, the three-cornered 
 space at the back being closed by the largest rag 
 belonging to the establishment, and against this 
 was heaped a pile of rolled-up rags representing 
 the household effects of the owner of the tent ; 
 the other end was open, and before it was the 
 domestic hearth, which consisted of a fiat stone, 
 or one or two broken bricks ; lucky, indeed, was 
 the possessor of four whole bricks. These 
 miserable tents could afford very little protection 
 
Soft Music. 183 
 
 from the heavy showers which are so frequent in 
 Greece, and not one of them was high enough to 
 allow a man to stand upright. As the whole camp 
 appeared to be absorbed around the bridegroom 
 and the monkeys, the tents had been taken posses- 
 sion of by the cocks and hens and the dogs ; no 
 doubt in cold weather the bears and all went in. 
 On a scrubby sort of a hedge " the wash " was 
 drying, but it was in vain we tried to identify 
 those rags with any known clothing. As usual 
 the men were much better dressed than the 
 women. But amid the squalor, the dirt, the rags, 
 there was one redeeming feature, and that was 
 the music, which was the sweetest we heard in 
 Greece, and sounded like a most musical combina- 
 tion of tambourine and flute. We should have 
 liked to have lingered in that fascinating scene, 
 but with a record of two sleepless nights and a 
 knowledge of a six o'clock start on the morrow, 
 we were obliged to turn our steps towards the 
 bridge ; leaving behind the sweet cadence of that 
 soft music, the dull murmur of voices, the dark 
 crowd gathered in front of the bridegroom's tent, 
 whilst the wind slowly but insidiously widened 
 those too conspicuous rents, and the poor, dis- 
 satisfied, lonely bride. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Vale of Tempe — A brigand scare — Caesar's inscription 
 and the Professor's fionlet — Spring of Kryologon — The 
 three-and-twenty murderers develop into cattle-lifters 
 — A go-as-you-please — Green tortoises. 
 
 At 6 a.m. we clattered out of Larissa in fine 
 style, the Professor making the fourth in our 
 carriage. On the box was a sergeant of the gen- 
 darmes with a neat assortment of arms ; a 
 corporal and two privates riding behind, sword by 
 the side, gun at rest on the knee, ready to en- 
 counter all the brigands of all Thessaly. Of the 
 twenty-three " murderers " who had escaped from 
 the prison at Larissa, three had been recaptured, 
 and one brigand had also been taken. In my 
 mind I had always placed a live brigand in the 
 same category as a dead donkey, and having seen 
 the latter I should like to have looked upon the 
 former, but out of idle curiosity to go and gaze 
 at a poor man who was down on his luck would 
 have been too great a dip into barbarism ; if it had 
 come in the way of a tussle with our escort, that 
 would have been quite another thing. We had 
 
Start for Tempe. 185 
 
 always thought " twenty-three murderers " rather 
 a large order, and had been much amused by 
 being reassured on the boat that they were not 
 " murderers " at all, " only highwaymen," a solu- 
 tion which we thought aggravated it in our 
 case. 
 
 For a little way we followed the Peneios, with 
 its prettily wooded banks, then we turned off to 
 the right, on the open prairie which stretched 
 out to the low spurs of Ossa, and soon came up 
 with a carriage containing two gentlemen who had 
 been advised to wait for our escort : we now pre- 
 sented quite a formidable party of twelve. Al- 
 though we drove for three hours across the plain, 
 the time could not seem long with Olympos and 
 Ossa before the eye. The relation these moun- 
 tains bore to each other was most varied ; from 
 one point they would appear quite close, as if 
 clasping hands across the Peneios, and at another 
 they looked miles apart, so giving cause for the 
 opposite accounts we had heard. Neither 
 Olympos nor Ossa proper rise straight up from 
 the Vale of Tempe, as we had been led by glowing 
 descriptions to believe, it is rather the great ragged 
 spurs of those mountains through which the 
 Peneios has forced a passage, and formed this 
 lovely highway. 
 
 The soil of the plain was very rich, and our 
 
1 86 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Greek companions greatly bewailed the want of 
 population to cultivate it. Although several of 
 the deserted Turkish villages were now inhabited 
 by Greeks, there was room for more, and one 
 village we passed, prettily terraced in the side of 
 a hill, was still unoccupied ; we also saw two or 
 three deserted Turkish cemeteries. Breeding cattle 
 is the chief occupation of these dwellers on the 
 plains, and some of these Thessalian shepherds 
 own enormous flocks and herds. One very long- 
 drawn-out Greek village straggling at the foot of 
 some low hills, and called by the appropriate name 
 of Makrychori, was entirely occupied by shep- 
 herds, so at least we were told. Occasionally we 
 came across large patches of upturned soil, and at 
 one time we drove by the side of what looked like 
 a cross between giant barley and a tall flowering 
 rush. The Professor, our sergeant, and our driver 
 apparently could not agree as to its correct name, 
 but the two latter — who seemed the best autho- 
 rities on this subject — told me quietly that there 
 were two kinds of this maize, one which was 
 made into bread for human beings, the other which 
 was made into bread for horses, and I thought 
 they said that this was the species for horses. 
 The stems were strong and hollow, and the Greek 
 boys delight in cutting them into whistles, in the 
 same way as an English child manufactures a 
 whistle out of an elder shoot. It must not be 
 
Across the Plain. 187 
 
 thought that the stones of Greece were wholly 
 wanting in this fertile plain ; masses of broken 
 rock were constantly cropping up, and as these in 
 every case were embedded in a rich setting of 
 flowers, bits of exquisite foreground were always 
 at hand. The blue flowers which we had noticed 
 so much in other parts of Greece were here hard 
 run by pink ones, especially a sort of very pretty 
 little everlasting, whilst the ubiquitous poppy 
 lifted up its head on high. 
 
 Three hours and three quarters after leaving 
 Larissa we again joined the Peneios as it curved 
 back to the east, and I could not help wondering 
 if it was here that Pompey, flying from the fatal 
 field of Pharsalos, exhausted and thirsty, had 
 thrown himself on his face and drunk from the 
 river. 
 
 Shortly after we stopped at a large Khan, 
 which although in this out-of-the-world spot had a 
 very fine outside appearance, what its accommo- 
 dation might be I cannot tell. Here the thirsty 
 of creation liquored up generally, the sergeant 
 and corporal being invited inside, but seeing the 
 two privates were quite left out, we insisted on 
 some wine being sent to them, with which atten- 
 tion they appeared greatly pleased, notwithstand- 
 ing they hardly touched it. If we could only have 
 given them sparkling water they would have ex- 
 claimed kald ! and drunk it in quarts — the Greek 
 
1 88 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 has the greatest veneration for, and love of fresh 
 clear water. 
 
 It was now ten o'clock, and the mounted 
 soldiers began to look uncomfortably warm, the 
 Professor likewise complained of the heat, but to 
 us it only felt comfortable. Just beyond the 
 Khan to the right was a little old monastery, 
 with two black wood appendages like Swiss 
 chalets, standing out among the trees ; we were 
 now following the river, and the character of the 
 scenery was quite altered. The large open plain 
 was left behind, the last Turkish village was 
 passed, we were amongst low hills, high shrubs, 
 and young trees — the valley was narrowing 
 rapidly, and the Peneios was rushing with a roar 
 into Tempe. 
 
 In order to get a decent view of all this, I stood 
 up on the back seat of the carriage, and the 
 driver grew quite excited and waxed exceedingly 
 eloquent over the coming beauties. Ah, that I could 
 only have understood it all ! Before us a huge rock 
 seemed to block the narrow entrance to the gorge ; 
 this was pointed out as the Gate of the Vale of 
 Tempe, and round the foot of it there was just 
 room for the road to pass. Hidden by a beautiful 
 screen of the dark green splay leaves of the fig, 
 and the pale blue green pointed leaves and feathery 
 white flowers of the scented willow, the Peneios 
 roared close to our elbow, bare rocks reared them- 
 
An Alarm of Brigands. 189 
 
 selves on high, a strip of blue sky was seen above, 
 and we had entered the sacred vale. Our escort 
 pulled themselves together, and kept a sharp 
 look-out. On the Olympos side, the grey rock rose 
 up perpendicular, hollowed back here and there, to 
 allow of tall plane trees to stretch their limbs 
 across the river to those on the opposite bank ; 
 the huge broken-up sides of Ossa, clothed in 
 dense brushwood (fit hiding-place for highway- 
 men), almost overhung the road, which here was 
 very narrow and heaped with loose stones. 
 
 The Professor thought it was just the place for 
 brigands, the sergeant drew up his gun and laid 
 it across his knees, the corporal kept an eye on 
 the frowning heights, the driver began to tell how, 
 further on, " there had once been an old castle, the 
 ruined gate of which we should see on our right; 
 that there a queen had been murdered, and that 
 her spirit as a pale sad ghost might still be seen 
 hovering above the crags ; that at times horrid cries 
 were heard, and — ! " 
 
 Cries were suddenly heard coming from the 
 first carriage, we pushed on, rounded a rock, our 
 horses swerved, plunged, the sergeant raised his 
 gun, screamed to me " go down, go down," and 
 we all four ducked so that the expectant shots 
 might pass over our heads. We had laughed and 
 jeered at those who had warned us at Athens, and 
 now we were in for it. It was a cold breathless 
 
190 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 moment as we waited for that first shot ; what 
 Edith and Miss C. thought I do not know, but I 
 felt that I should be able to warm to it if only they 
 would begin firing ; instead the men were calling 
 to each other, a scrimmage was going on over- 
 head, and glancing upwards, we saw our escort in 
 deadly struggle with the telegraph wires. One of 
 the poles had been blown down, and the wire was 
 hanging across the road. If it was not the real 
 thing, anyway it was a very good scare. After 
 this, we were silent for a time, and the driver 
 talked no more of spirits and ghosts. 
 
 We found the road considerably better than we 
 expected, but owing to the depth of loose stones 
 it was very heavy in places, and we had to turn 
 out and walk whenever we came to a rise, the 
 horses even refusing the slope occasioned by a 
 bridge. I was not surprised at their faint-hearted- 
 ness, for, although in better condition than the 
 Athenian horses, they certainly were not descend- 
 ants of the mares of Diomedes, and if natives 
 they were a poor advertisement of the Thessalian 
 breed ; the soldiers' horses were far better, and 
 the gendarme's animal, which was ridden by the 
 corporal, was a decidedly fine beast. About three 
 miles down the Vale we came to the spring of 
 Kryologon, which at one time must have gushed 
 out of the rock, but which now rushes from under 
 the road to join the Peneios, forming between 
 
The Fountain of Tempe. 191 
 
 them a little delta, a most romantic spot. It was 
 here that the King- of Greece took luncheon, and 
 from the number of Greek names carved on the 
 rock and on the trunk of one of the trees, it is 
 evidently a favourite spot for that meal. I suppose 
 this is the celebrated water of the Vale of Tempe, 
 which was said to inspire the poet and etherealize 
 mankind. I wondered if it might have a chalybeate 
 or some other flavour, but it was simply beautiful 
 cool sparkling water, and certainly the best I 
 tasted in Greece. I could quite understand its 
 praises being loudly sung by a water-loving nation. 
 Our men drank copiously of it, but they seemed 
 to regard it more from a medicinal than an 
 ethical point of view, and to all my questions I could 
 only get as an answer — " Drink, drink ; you must 
 drink ; it will do you good," but they would not 
 add li and make you wise." Unfortunately we 
 had a preconceived opinion upon the merits 
 of drinking glasses of cold water when on the 
 march. 
 
 We were not going to lunch until we were 
 through the defile, so we all formed up again but 
 soon had to turn out and walk, and as we were 
 toiling up a long slope, the Professor spied before 
 us to the right the celebrated Ciesar inscription 
 cut in the rock. I scrambled up to it, but as soon 
 as I drew out my pencil to copy it, I slid down to 
 the road again, so I left it to the Professor to do 
 
192 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 and this is what he made of it. At the top of this 
 
 ECAJTIVS ION U I 
 IV 
 ITTMPE MVNIVIf 
 
 miniature pass we were a considerable height 
 above the plane trees that shut in the Peneios, but 
 still the great bare peaks towered above us, and 
 from a flat ridge of rock on our left we were 
 supposed to see the sea, but it was all supposition. 
 Perhaps when the trees are without foliage the sea 
 can be seen ; it was easy to imagine that you saw it, 
 but it was not visible to the eye, and it was a 
 beautifully clear bright day. 
 
 Soon after we trotted down into a wide glade, 
 shaded by magnificent trees, which opened out 
 into a broad valley, with long lush grass. Here, 
 before a hut built in the arm of a tree, we halted, 
 and the nine hot horses made for that grass. The 
 river at this point was much wider and broken up 
 by little rapids, then it narrowed, and there the 
 Greeks had built their bridge and on the Olympos 
 bank established their guard house. Owing to the 
 brigand scare the guard had been doubled, and 
 they were keeping a sharp look out for doubtful 
 characters attempting to cross the frontier. Walk- 
 ing towards the bridge, we passed a party of 
 
A Dream of Beauty. 193 
 
 soldiers bivouacking in the long grass under the 
 shade of a group of light green trees, and with 
 their short blue coats, white leggings, turned-up 
 shoes with large blue tufts, and red fezzes, they 
 looked most picturesque. On the other side of 
 the bridge, hanging over the river, there was a 
 beautiful specimen of the sweet-scented flowering 
 willow, and with a little difficulty some lovely 
 bunches were gathered, but not one of all those 
 Greeks knew the name of it. The scenery here 
 was quite different to what we had been through. 
 We appeared to have got out beyond the moun- 
 tains, and to be in a broad vale studded with 
 shrubs and young trees. It was exceedingly pretty, 
 and looked as if a brisk walk must bring us to 
 where a glimpse of the sea could be caught, but, 
 alas ! an " inward gnawing " seemed to be con- 
 suming the vitals of the party, and perforce we 
 had to retrace our steps. 
 
 The man at the shanty possessed a couple of 
 wooden tables and a bench or two, so we sat down 
 in grand style to the luncheon we had brought 
 with us, consisting of cold lamb, hard-boiled eggs, 
 native Gruyere cheese, and excellent wine. Per- 
 haps not a Thessalian banquet in the old sense, 
 but quite enough for modern requirements. The 
 leafy canopy of the glade entirely sheltered us 
 from the sun ; on the Ossa side a small gurgling 
 stream burrowed its way among ferns and grasses, 
 
 O 
 
194 Tw0 Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 making mossy grottoes — fit resting-place for 
 languid goddess; whilst on the Olympos side 
 the Peneios rushed over its rocky bed, to break 
 into a thousand little cascades that sparkled and 
 danced beneath a dazzling sky of blue, and as the 
 plane boughs slowly swayed to the gentle breeze, 
 the open spaces were filled in with the pink, white, 
 yellow, and pale green splodges of the opposite 
 bank which rose up from the river, rich in young 
 spring colour. It was a perfect day, and as if the 
 senses were not satiated through the eye alone, on 
 the ear there fell the soft musical tones of the 
 Greek tongue, the fascinating murmur of the 
 rippling water, and the sweet long notes of the 
 nightingale. Zeus sat in his lofty eyrie, Hera 
 looked out from her neighbouring grotto, Daphne 
 rose from her fountain to play in the waters of 
 her royal sire, the gods again had come upon 
 earth — and then the Professor spoilt it all by 
 waving his hand in the direction of the nightin- 
 gales, and saying, in his best French, — 
 " Ecoutez, c'est le poulet qui chante ! " 
 Spirit of departed " murghi," to be thus trans- 
 lated to the Vale of Tempe ! 
 
 And the sea ? Alas ! we never saw it, for after 
 luncheon the drivers said, " The way was long, the 
 road was bad ; it would never do to be belated on 
 the plain, and that we must be starting unless we 
 stopped the night at the Khan." No doubt there 
 
A Throw for Luck. 195 
 
 we should have had " experiences," but being 
 satisfied with those provided for us at our hotel at 
 Larissa, we said " Pass." 
 
 Although our escort, according to orders, never 
 let us out of sight, they apparently considered us 
 as a party safe from attack, and we took an assort- 
 ment of arms into the hood of the carriage, but 
 the two privates were ordered to stick to their 
 guns. In a very short time after our start home- 
 wards, the leading horses refused a bridge, and we 
 all had to turn out and walk up the little pass. 
 When we came to where the gorge opened out on 
 the Ossa side into a small rocky sweep, filled with 
 flowering trees and shrubs, our escort jumped up 
 on to the low rocks that were now to our right, 
 and each threw a small stone over the intervening 
 space in the direction of the river, listening to 
 hear if it finally splashed into the water. They 
 said that to throw a stone into the Peneios at this 
 point brings the thrower good luck. One of the 
 men was a splendid shot, throwing his stones in an 
 arc, and nearly every one fell into the water in the 
 open space between the shadowing trees. We grew 
 quite excited listening to the course of the stones ; 
 sometimes they ricochetted through the trees, 
 falling into the water at last ; other stones that 
 appeared to be rattling down in the right direction, 
 would at the last be turned by a branch and fall 
 dead ; but it was in vain that I tried to get a stone 
 O 2 
 
196 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 into the water, and it was no consolation that one of 
 the privates was no better a shot. Unfortunately, 
 he took his ill-luck very seriously, and we left him 
 on the rock trying to revoke untoward fate. 
 
 Of course there are stretches in the Vale of 
 Tempe that will remind the visitor of other views 
 he has seen, and of course it is open to any 
 individual to prefer places with which he has 
 patriotic or personal associations ; but, if com- 
 parisons must be made, in the name of the gods ! 
 let them be drawn between nature and the old 
 Greek ideal. The associations of the Vale of 
 Tempe are absolutely unique and so interwoven 
 with the natural features that it is impossible to 
 disassociate the two. What struck me so forcibly 
 was the length of the gorge, the absolute beauty 
 of every inch of that four to five miles, and that 
 throughout the Vale the river was shaded by tall 
 forest trees, whose great branches often seemed 
 to form a canopy over the rushing river as it 
 sparkled and glittered between overhanging fig 
 and budding vine trail. Sometimes the huge 
 walls of rock on either side crushed in on those 
 guardian trees; in other places they opened in 
 curves, and the road leaving the level of the 
 lovely river climbed the steep ascent and looked 
 down on the tops of the forest trees. On the 
 Ossa side the cliffs were broken up and clothed 
 with a jungle of evergreens and brushwood, but 
 
The Gods' own Vale. 197 
 
 always above all the grey rock towered ; on the 
 other side the spurs of Olympos shut in the 
 river with a precipitous wall of bare rock, scarred 
 in places with many caves. These weird eyries 
 were pointed out to us as the grotto of Zeus, 
 the grotto of Hera, and of many other gods and 
 goddesses ; indeed the divinities of Olympos 
 appear to have had their summer residences 
 overlooking this classic vale. Beyond scattered 
 anemones here and there we noticed few flowers; 
 the colouring was all supplied by the light green 
 of the plane trees, the dark green of the wild fig, 
 the pure white of the may, the deep rose of the 
 Judas-tree, the lemon- white feathery blossom of 
 the willow, to which would shortly be added the 
 bursting vine bud and masses of trailing clematis. 
 Could fairer garden than this be found for the 
 immortal gods ? It was easy to understand what 
 must have been the sensations of those two 
 great idealistic artists, Apelles the painter and 
 Lysippos the sculptor, as they passed through 
 the Vale on their way to the court of Macedon. 
 
 Here have the gods turned down many a tragic 
 page in the history of mortals and of nations. At 
 the foot of the little pass can still be read that 
 inscription bearing record to Caesar's conquering 
 arms. Here the whilom darling of the Romans, 
 Pompey the Great, dejected and footsore, hurried 
 on his way to Egypt, where he was to meet with a 
 
198 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 sudden and treacherous death. Here the knightly- 
 Philip V. of Macedon marched to his defeat at 
 Kynoskephalae (near Velestino), at the hands of 
 the Roman, Titus Quinctius Flamininus. Cen- 
 turies before and centuries after, army after army 
 passed through this vale, all for the conquest of 
 that poor Greece which only so late as 1830 
 became an independent nation. 
 
 The private who had been so unsuccessful in 
 courting Good Fortune, did his best to counter- 
 act the evil by swallowing glass after glass from 
 the spring of Kryologon, and, not content with 
 drinking as much of the water as they possibly 
 could, the men proceeded to fill every available 
 bottle to take home to their families. Although 
 they ostensibly repudiated its supernatural qualities, 
 I fancy they believed in them. 
 
 One of the gentlemen in the first carriage had 
 a mania for collecting, and his fancy had gone 
 out to-day in the direction of green tortoises. As 
 we drove across the prairie in the morning these 
 beautiful coloured creatures were out basking in 
 the sun, and every ten minutes a halt was cried, 
 whilst the driver, grinning from ear to ear at the 
 extraordinary craze of this foreigner, was sent 
 back to pick up another specimen, and by the 
 time the Vale of Tempe was reached he had the 
 carriage full of them. Now as we drove home 
 there fell on our ear at irregular intervals a strange 
 
Green Tortoises. 199 
 
 kind of sound which puzzled me very much, until 
 I understood that " the gentleman in front was 
 sorting out his collection," and that the thud on 
 the ground was caused by the rejected being 
 dropped over the side of the carriage ; in this 
 way he left a trail for miles behind him. The 
 remarkable point was that he merely wanted the 
 shell to make a footstool, and to obtain this he 
 would have to get the tortoise boiled like a lobster. 
 He thought he could have this done in the gypsies' 
 encampment, as no Greek would let one of these 
 poor beasts come near their cooking utensils. 
 
 As we approached Makrychori the whole plain 
 seemed alive with animals, all converging to that 
 village. There was the shepherd-boy guiding his 
 flock by the sound of his tin drum, men driving 
 long dark lines of advancing cattle, and droves of 
 horses rearing, kicking, galloping in circles in 
 most graceful form j altogether it was a novel 
 and exceedingly interesting sight. Looking at 
 these lines of cattle moving up the plain, we 
 thought of those unfortunate three-and-twenty 
 men who had escaped from the prison at Larissa, 
 and who at Athens had been represented as 
 murderers, at Volo had been declared to be high- 
 waymen, and in the Vale of Tempe had developed 
 into cattle-lifters. This appeared to us a very 
 minor offence, but here it was not so regarded ; 
 we were told that on account of the defenceless 
 
2oo Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 state of the vast herds of Thessaly the law had 
 to take stringent measures against those who were 
 caught, or otherwise the shepherd would have no 
 protection. 
 
 I had been hoping all day to get a clear view of 
 Olympos on our way back, but when at last we 
 were sufficiently free of the low hills to see the 
 great mountain, there it was wreathed about with 
 clouds in the old manner, a peak here and there 
 appearing above them ; and, the same as yester- 
 day, it was only for a brief moment at sunset that 
 the entire outline of the great white isolated mass 
 with its many peaks of snow was seen. Even as 
 you held your breath and gazed, the curtain of 
 night was let down and the mountain was blotted 
 out before your eyes. 
 
 Our gendarme, who had confided to the 
 Professor that he had never sat on the box seat of 
 a carriage for so many hours in his life, and had 
 apparently been on pins and needles for the 
 greater part of the time, coming home, swopped 
 places with the corporal, who had suffered from 
 the sun all day. The handsome bay went mad 
 with delight when he felt the touch of his master's 
 hand ; he plunged into the standing maize, he 
 backed into the troopers' horses ; they all three got 
 mixed up together and disentangled themselves 
 by charging into us ; then they spread out on the 
 prairie to find a short cut for the carriage ; our 
 
" GO AS YOU PLEASE." 201 
 
 tired horses were whipped up, and we degenerated 
 into a regular "go as you please." Galloping 
 across broken country is pleasant enough on 
 horseback, but to those in a carriage it is a verU 
 table rough and tumble, and by the time a halt was 
 called to dress up for the town, guns, swords, wine 
 bottles, and flowers were all mixed up in wild 
 disorder. As we stopped on the edge of the plain 
 the lights of Larissa loomed through the evening 
 mists, and then to our delight some of the minarets 
 lit up and greatly added to the effect. This illu- 
 mination was in honour of the last days of 
 Ramadan, but our Greeks persisted in pretending 
 perfect ignorance as to the cause. Guns were now 
 swung across shoulder, swords buckled on, an un- 
 recognizable mass, which had once been a specimen 
 bouquet, was pitched out of the carriage, the 
 horses settled down to the regulation trot, and 
 amid the yells of our drivers and the clatter of our 
 escort we entered Larissa in noble style ; the 
 wonder was how so small a party could make so 
 much noise. The principal streets and large 
 square, with its numerous cafes, were brilliantly 
 lighted and crowded with men — all talking politics, 
 I suppose ; indeed, it looked as if every male in- 
 habitant of the place must have been out of doors, 
 and certainly the capital of this, the latest jewel 
 added to the crown of Greece, presented a most 
 busy and animated appearance at night. 
 
202 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 To come down from Olympos to things 
 domestic, our hotel at Larissa was on the same 
 system as that at Nauplia ; it had bedrooms only, 
 and the architect had designed it for the accom- 
 modation of civilized people. Unfortunately, it 
 was not conducted on the same principle as the 
 
 Hotel de France at Volo. Our rooms were not 
 nearly as good as those we had at Volo, and our 
 floor hardly came up to the shoe-standard. 
 Savage life is interesting enough in its own place, 
 but when introduced under a pretentious roof it 
 ceases to amuse, and Edith was not attracted by 
 the proceedings in the pay department. At the 
 meeting of the passages at the top of the stairs, all 
 business was transacted through the medium of 
 
Food and Lodging at Larissa. 203 
 
 two boys and a pot of ink that had got mixed up 
 with the drying sand ; and here, after our thirteen 
 hours' trip to the Vale of Tempe, my heroic friend 
 sat for one hour, before that bill, which only took 
 a moment to make out, was produced. The re- 
 deeming point, however, was the view of Olympos 
 and Ossa from our windows. Of the food at 
 Larissa we can speak with unqualified praise — it 
 was good and it was cheap. There seemed a 
 choice of restaurants ■ those in the square looked 
 clean, but the Professor kindly piloted us to the 
 one he considered the best, which was hidden away 
 in a little back garden behind a picturesque house 
 belonging to a Turk. Here we had excellent 
 macaroni, well-cooked lamb, bread, and half a 
 bottle of good wine for one drachma and fifteen, at 
 the time about equal to ninepence. It was said 
 that a gentleman staying in Larissa had been 
 trying to spend six francs a day on his food, but 
 had not been able to accomplish it. Halcyon 
 place for small incomes, but, alas ! the capital 
 would be absorbed in reaching it ! 
 
 To anyone who takes a real interest in the Vale 
 of Tempe, I would say most strongly — Do not 
 start later than five in the morning ; do not be per- 
 suaded into stopping to lunch at the spring of 
 Kryologon, but drive on to the shanty near the 
 bridge as we did, and on arriving there settle at 
 once about walking on to see the sea. Should the 
 
204 Tw0 Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 escort look fagged, no doubt a guard could be 
 supplemented from the troops at the bridge — a few 
 drachmas go a long way in Greece. Do not be 
 lured into sitting down to luncheon, to be told 
 afterwards that " there is no time." Drink some 
 wine and put some bread and cheese in your 
 pocket ; do anything, eat nothing, rather than 
 return with the miserable feeling that you failed 
 when close to the goal ! From all we heard it 
 seemed impossible that the walk could be very 
 long before the sea came in view. We were told 
 the sea would " soon " be seen, but as practical 
 experience had taught us that "soon" meant an in- 
 definite time, from ten minutes to one hour and a 
 half, I dare not so much as hazard a conjecture as 
 to the distance. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 We start for the monasteries of Meteora — The classic ground 
 of Thessaly — Synopsis of the history of the monasteries 
 — Interviewed by the Demarch of Kalabaka ; our escort 
 — Extraordinary position of Hagia Trias ; the net cannot 
 be lowered, so we have to climb the ladders. 
 
 We had arranged with our driver of yesterday to 
 take us to the station, and our obliging gendarme 
 was at the carriage door to see us off the next 
 morning. Punctually at 8'2 a.m. our train left 
 Larissa, and we started on our way to the monas- 
 teries of Meteora, little thinking what was in store 
 for us, and to what eccentricities we should 
 commit ourselves before the day was over. 
 
 Many heads had been shaken over us, and it 
 had been prophesied that we should never be 
 allowed to sleep in the monasteries, but be turned 
 out on the cold rocks outside. We even had read 
 in print how that one author said, " These monas- 
 teries are secure from the female sex." But we 
 understood that ladies had been admitted to 
 Hagios Stephanos. Yes, but only allowed on 
 sufferance for the sake of their noble owners or the 
 dragoman who accompanied them ! and we were 
 
206 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 going without a dragoman and without so much as 
 one husband between us. Such a proceeding was 
 most uncommon in Greece. " Ladies going alone 
 to the monasteries had never been heard of before ; 
 were we not afraid ? " Another opinion was, " Oh 
 yes, they will give you a bed at Hagios Stephanos, 
 and I daresay, as it is Easter, something to eat. 
 The abbot dined with us, but then of course we 
 were men ! " 
 
 Somehow in spite of friendly warning, and 
 elevated eyebrow, and prophesied repulse, we did 
 not feel alarmed. We thought that those good 
 brothers of St. Basil, perched on their desolate 
 rocks, must have a very dull time of it, and surely 
 they would enjoy the novelty as much as we 
 should ; moreover, if necessary, we were prepared to 
 admire the representation of the most dislocated 
 of saints, to kiss the grimiest and grimmest of ikons. 
 One thing was clear, it wholly depended upon our- 
 selves whether we were received with hospitality 
 or relegated to cold seclusion ; therefore we made 
 up our mind to fall in with the humour of the hour 
 in whatever circumstances we found ourselves ; 
 and I leave it to my readers to say if we succeeded 
 in doing this. 
 
 A run of one hour and twenty minutes brought 
 us to the junction of Velestino ; here we changed 
 trains and booked for Kalabaka. We now seemed 
 to be in the very heart of the country especially 
 
Classic Ground of Thessaly. 207 
 
 sacred to the gods. Olympos reared his massive 
 head away to the north, on the east was the 
 Pelion range, the ancient abode of the Centaurs, 
 and especially interesting to the artist from the 
 many beautiful friezes which have for their subject 
 the contests of the Centaurs and Lapithae ; whilst 
 behind a spur running down to the gulf of Volo lies 
 hidden the site of Iolkos, ever to be remembered 
 in the history of Jason of the Golden Fleece. 
 Then Velestino itself is said to be identical with 
 Pherae, the home of Admetos and Alkestis : if so, 
 these plains must have been trodden by Apollo, 
 when he occupied himself with amateur shepherd- 
 ing during his exile from heaven ; here too must 
 have passed Heraklesthe Tirynthian,ere hebrought 
 back to this world the self-sacrificing Alkestis. 
 And farther on lies Pharsalos, the supposed home 
 of Achilles, and still higher up Tn'kkala, the 
 Thessalian centre of the worship of Asklepios. 
 
 To return to Velestino, which lies some little 
 distance from the junction, and which appeared 
 to be remarkably prettily situated amongst rich 
 foliage, out of which peeped some picturesque 
 Turkish domes. In ancient historic ages it was 
 celebrated as the birthplace of the tyrant Jason, 
 who consolidated nearly the whole of Thessaly 
 under his rule, and who no doubt had a strong 
 garrison on outpost duty at Larissa. And in 
 modern Greek history it is ever memorable as the 
 
2c8 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 home of Rhigas Pheraios, the proto-martyr of Greek 
 Independence. It was near here where an armed 
 Mussulman commanded Rhigas, the unarmed 
 student, to carry him across a swift stream, and 
 Rhigas, boiling with fury, threw his man in the 
 middle of the water and after a desperate struggle 
 drowned him. This incident, together with the 
 treachery of the Turks to his father, and the daily 
 sight of the oppression of his poorer countrymen, 
 goaded Rhigas into raising the first note of war 
 against the hated oppressor — a cry which has led 
 to the emancipation of a nation and the revelation 
 of new eras of art. 
 
 The line crosses the site of poor Pompey's 
 final defeat, the far-famed battle-field of Pharsalos, 
 but the town lies nearly two miles from the station, 
 and we had been warned against staying there on 
 account of its general filthiness. Dirt, however, is 
 not the peculiar monopoly of the old towns, for a 
 very black mark had been put against Karditsa, in 
 our time-table, although to us the place had the 
 advantage of possessing a station-master who 
 could speak English. Leaving Karditsa, a run of 
 fifty-nine minutes brought us to Trikkala, a large 
 town, with a Byzantine citadel on the site of the 
 old acropolis, but with nothing left to tell of 
 Asklepios' seat of fame. Trikkala had had a 
 good mark put to it, and we had been assured that 
 the hotel was clean. A favourite way of visiting 
 
The Chief of the Brigands. 209 
 
 the monasteries is to stay at Trikkala and make a 
 day's excursion to them either by taking the 
 train 815 a.m., Kalabaka 9*1 3, or by driving up 
 the plain to Kalabaka, there engage mules for 
 the monasteries, and return by the 3*40 train or 
 drive back again ; but in an expedition of this kind 
 only a cursory idea can be obtained in comparison 
 to what can be acquired by putting up even for 
 one night at the monasteries. The distance 
 between Trikkala and Larissa is about thirty-seven 
 miles, and they are connected by a road. Our 
 first intention had been to drive from the one place 
 to the other, but as this district happened to be 
 the especial preserve of the brigands at this time, 
 we had been asked to give it up, and we did so, out 
 of fear of being stopped altogether if we did not 
 comply to polite requests. Had we gone it would 
 have entirely depended on our escort if we had 
 got through safely, for the brigands were un- 
 commonly active just at that time, and had had 
 several brushes with the soldiers. They were led 
 by a young man of twenty-five, Tsigaridas, who, of 
 course, was reputed to be very handsome and daring. 
 He had refused to come in, be pardoned, and seen 
 across the frontier, and had declared war to the 
 knife, with the intention of making the most of 
 his life whilst it lasted. A large party of Greeks 
 who were going to visit their estates between 
 Larissa and Trikkala had to have a strong guard, 
 
 P 
 
210 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 
 and one night Tsigaridas and his band had slept 
 in the village next to them, but had found their 
 party too strong to attack. The brigands, how- 
 ever, kept up a disagreeable espionage, so that no 
 one could move about unattended by soldiers ; one 
 of the party even declared that sentries were placed 
 round the courts whilst they played lawn-tennis (?) 
 No doubt it was as well we did not thrust our 
 heads into all this, and we saved a day by coming 
 by rail instead of driving across country. 
 
 Just before reaching Trikkala the line crossed 
 the Peneios, which was here a winding stream in a 
 wide bed, very different from the strong flowing 
 river at Larissa. For some time we had been 
 watching with exceeding interest the long Pindos 
 range on our left, with patches of snow amongst 
 its dark fir-clad sides, and occasional peeps of pure- 
 white mountains beyond. The plain was scored 
 with the pink sandy bed of the Peneios, amid 
 which the river appeared to stroll about, whilst to 
 the north lay Kalabaka at the foot of a collection 
 of rocks of the most extraordinary character and 
 shape. 
 
 At the risk of recapitulating what everyone 
 knows, it is almost impossible to jump to a visit 
 to the monasteries of Meteora without first throw- 
 ing back a glance at their history. The monas- 
 teries of Nitria in Egypt are much more ancient 
 dating as early as 150 A.D. The monasteries of 
 
The Aerial Monasteries. 211 
 
 Mount Athos are on a larger and much more 
 magnificent scale ; the monasteries of Syria may 
 be of more religious interest, but all travellers who 
 have seen them are agreed that in their position 
 the aerial monasteries (to. fxerecopa) of Meteora are 
 unique. 
 
 The luxuriant Thessalian plain, closed on all 
 sides by lines upon lines of mountains, broken by 
 rough waves and sharp peaks of gleaming snow, 
 may be compared to the letter V with unequal 
 sides. The short stroke it sends up N.E. to 
 Larissa, to be strangled in the sweet grip of the 
 Vale of Tempe, the long one it shoots out N.W. 
 to Kalabaka, where it is stopped by the rocks of 
 Meteora, which in places rise from the plain to a 
 height of nearly two thousand feet. Occupying a 
 large arena, these rocks, split up into the most 
 wonderful forms, present a wholly unexpected 
 and most singular sight. One massive block, 
 scarred by innumerable holes and caves, stands 
 up like a castle, another looks as if it had once 
 been wrung out to dry, and now rears a twisted 
 form on high, like a great curved tusk. Giant 
 pillars, attended by little pillars, fill in gaps, whilst 
 huge rocky monoliths and jagged crags look down 
 on them. On the most inaccessible of these rocks 
 these aerial monasteries were built, fitting them 
 like the stone fez or turban on a Turkish tomb- 
 stone, or the nest of a stork on a steeple or chimney. 
 
2i2 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 In the days when four-and-twenty monasteries 
 were perched on these extraordinary rocks and 
 the caves were alive with anchorites, this hidden- 
 away amphitheatre of peopled crags must have 
 offered a picture unique in many ways. Now, 
 alas ! the clustering crowns of sacred buildings 
 have been swept from many a peak, the hermits 
 no longer burrow in the cliffs, but to our minds' 
 eye those rocks were alive with brown, dirty forms 
 and holy but ugly faces, and we realized, as we had 
 never done before, the glorious details of that 
 inimitable fresco of the Hermits in the Campo 
 Santo at Pisa. 
 
 The monasteries of Meteora do not appear to be 
 of very ancient date, but to have been called into 
 existence during the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, in order to provide places of refuge when 
 this region reeked with tumult and war. Around 
 the monastery of the Panagia of Doupiano twenty- 
 three other monasteries arose, one at least (Hagios 
 Stephanos) being founded by the Emperor-monk 
 John Kantakuzenos, whose skull is said to be 
 preserved at the Great Meteora. No doubt all 
 these monasteries were built on the same principle 
 as those that remain to this day, so when the 
 drawbridge was up, or the rope round the 
 windlass and the ladders swung aloft, they were 
 practically impregnable fortresses. Their pros- 
 perity, however, was soon on the wane, for we find 
 
Inaccessible to Women. 213 
 
 that two centuries after their foundation they were 
 reduced to half their number, and in the present 
 century only seven remain, viz. Meteoron, Hagios 
 Barlaam, Hagios Stephanos, Hagia Trias, Hagia 
 Rosane, Hagios Xikolaos Kophinas, and Hagia 
 Mone. Some fifty years ago five of these were 
 still inhabited by the brothers of St. Basil. When 
 we visited the monasteries in April, 1892, only the 
 first four were occupied by the monks, who, so fat- 
 as we could make out, were now reduced to some 
 fourteen in number all told. The other monas- 
 teries were said to be occupied by shepherds in 
 the summer ; they looked ready-made hiding places 
 for brigands, cattle-lifters, and men of that ilk. 
 
 The two monasteries we proposed to visit were 
 Hagios Stephanos, where we should spend the 
 night, and Hagia Trias, which Baedeker describes 
 as the " most interesting of the other monasteries, 
 but a steady head is necessary, for the traveller 
 must either be drawn up in a basket (net, it should 
 be) by the monks to the rocky plateau on which 
 the monastery stands, or mount by means of 
 ladders." Another author, speaking of these 
 monasteries, writes, that they are impracticable to 
 women, because they can only be reached by 
 climbing some hundreds of feet up ladders hang- 
 ing loose on the rocks, or by the visitor trusting 
 himself to a net in which he swings and turns 
 whilst being drawn up, and he concludes by say- 
 
214 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 
 ing that these monasteries are " hardly worth the 
 horrible sensations suffered in the upward journey." 
 Of course this latter statement is a matter of 
 individual opinion ; we were perfectly compensated 
 for the agony of that climb — personally I should 
 be quite willing to go up again to-morrow. 
 
 At present I pass over these monasteries and 
 give a short summary of the two we did not visit. 
 Meteoron, also called the Great Meteora, or 
 Transfiguration, is the largest of all the monas- 
 teries ; at one time it had a good library, but all 
 the books of any interest belonging to this and 
 to the other monasteries have been removed to 
 Athens. The general arrangement of the build- 
 ings of this monastery and that of Barlaam, 
 though on a larger scale, do not appear to differ 
 in any great degree from that of Stephanos, 
 which is fully described in the account of our 
 sojourn beneath its hospitable roof; but if report 
 speaks true, the kitchen at Meteoron is well worth 
 inspection, having a great central hearth open to 
 the sky. Can it be a later development of the 
 round hearth of the megaron at Tiryns ? The 
 carved ikonostasis is not so beautiful as the one 
 at Hagios Stephanos, and the rope by which the 
 visitor is hauled up some 200 feet is considerably 
 shorter than the one at Hagia Trias. In the 
 Hon. Robert Curzon's " Visits to Monasteries in 
 the Levant," we had read that the Great Meteora 
 
Reached by Net or Ladders. 215 
 
 possessed a picture said to be painted by St. 
 Luke, and although we have seen several that 
 were attributed to the same divine hand, still we 
 should have liked to have seen this ; but had we 
 made the pilgrimage, our eyes would not have 
 been gratified by a sight of it, as no woman's un- 
 sanctified foot has ever been known to pollute 
 that sacred threshold. We once thought whether 
 we should be received if we went as nuns, but 
 where princesses had been refused we felt that 
 nuns could have but little chance. Seen from a 
 distance, Meteoron appeared perched on very 
 high ground, and the opposite side of the chasm 
 to be crowned by Hagios Barlaam, a saint as to 
 whose career we should dearly have loved to have 
 gathered some particulars. This monastery is 
 likewise reached either by the net or by ladders ; 
 the rope here is said to be the longest (340 feet) 
 of all the monasteries, but the ladders, we under- 
 stood, were not so difficult to climb as those at 
 Hagia Trias. If only we could have tried them 
 all, so as to have formed an opinion from ex- 
 perience ! But to have looked even at the out- 
 side of these two monasteries would have added 
 on three hours and a half to our time, and sun- 
 rise and the train between them would not give us 
 those extra hours. 
 
 It is a grim comment on a nation that is so 
 particular about its Orthodox Faith, to find that 
 
216 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece- 
 
 these monasteries fared better under the rule of 
 the hated infidel. The wily Turk, in order to 
 lessen the difficulties of governing these wild and 
 warlike people, left the monasteries to the enjoy- 
 ment of their revenues, but since the annexation 
 of Thessaly to Greece, in 1881, the Government, 
 after diverting the greater part of their revenues 
 to the purposes of schools and charities in other 
 places, is pursuing the policy of allowing these 
 monasteries to die out, when their remaining 
 possessions revert to the State. I have every 
 sympathy with the Greek nation in their past 
 heroic struggle for freedom, and in the present 
 no less heroic moral struggle to establish their 
 finances on a sound basis, but surely the glutton 
 goddess, Education, can withhold her hand for 
 once, and let these four remaining monasteries be 
 preserved as living witnesses of a remarkable era 
 in the history of the Christian Church ! They 
 are, in their way, as striking monuments of the 
 religion of the middle ages as are the old temples 
 of the faith of the ancient Greeks. The latter 
 are preserved with a jealous eye, and let not 
 the Greek of the present, by neglecting the 
 treasures in his hand, bring down on his own 
 head the curses he now expends on past rulers. 
 Apart from the aesthetic and ascetic interest, we 
 believe that from a financial point of view it will 
 be a mistake to let these monasteries starve to 
 
YOU CANNOT LEAVE THE STATION. 217 
 
 death. It cannot cost much to keep these two 
 or three monks going, and in time the donations 
 of visitors alone ought to preserve the buildings 
 from tumbling down. Now the railway is made 
 to Kalabaka this soon must be a fresh resort for 
 the jaded tourist, and the foreign gold, which is 
 so much needed, will gladly be given in exchange 
 for these curiosities of nature and of man that 
 are hidden away in this north-west corner of the 
 classic pasture-ground of fair Thessaly. 
 
 On alighting at Kalabaka, the station-master, 
 who could speak French, informed us, " We know 
 all about you. There have been lots of telegrams 
 about you ; the Demarch is coming to see you, and 
 you cannot leave the station until he has been." 
 
 We proposed that in the meantime we could 
 settle about engaging mules to take us to the 
 monasteries, as we were anxious to be off; but 
 this appeared to shock the station-master, who 
 declared that nothing could be even thought of 
 until the Demarch had been. This gave us a 
 sudden qualm. Were we going to be stopped 
 after all ? But we caught sight of some saddled 
 beasts under distant trees, and felt that they must 
 be destined for our use. Our time-table had in- 
 formed me that a train left the station in about 
 thirty-five minutes, and knowing that the start- 
 ing of a train is a function that generally drives 
 the foreign station-master temporarily off his 
 
218 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 head, I guessed that nothing would be settled 
 before that event, so I slipped out to have a 
 look round. 
 
 In front of the station a kind of amphitheatre 
 opened out to view. To the left the Peneios 
 wound round and disappeared into the Pindos 
 range. In the left centre, amid vines bursting 
 into leaf and the light-green foliage of spring, 
 Kalabaka nestled at the foot of some high 
 reddish-coloured rocks, which rose straight up 
 from the plain and which were peppered and 
 spotted with all manner of strange-looking holes. 
 Quite in the centre came a break and a glimpse 
 of distant peaks, and on the right two extra- 
 ordinary rocks reared themselves aloft, bearing 
 on their summits signs of habitations. On the 
 top of one of these rocks, which curved up like 
 a huge tusk, was the monastery of Hagia Trias 
 (Holy Trinity). Only a roof or two could be 
 seen, and the isolated rock on which it stands 
 did not show to advantage from this point. To 
 the right of this a square mass of rock was 
 crowned by buildings and two cupolas ; this was 
 the large monastery of Hagios Stephanos (St. 
 Stephen's), where we intended to put up for the 
 night. It was not a good point of view for either 
 of these monasteries, but such as it was I sat 
 down to draw it, as bitter experience had taught 
 me that in travelling in unknown countries it 
 
"A Guard you must have." 219 
 
 never does to wait for a more favourable picture ; 
 the view may come, but not the hour. 
 
 A train slowly puffing down the plain reminded 
 me that it was time to start, and I heard that the 
 Demarch had been and had announced that he had 
 received several telegrams about us and that we 
 were to have a guard. On our side we had inti- 
 mated that we wanted mules to go to the monas- 
 teries, but were quite ready to dispense with the 
 guard. The Demarch opened his eyes and stared 
 at these English ladies, who not only had the 
 hardihood to come alone, but who objected to the 
 good government providing them with a guard ! 
 However, he had had his orders and a guard we 
 must have, and a veritable godsend that guard 
 afterwards proved, or rather the chief of them, who 
 undertook all things, from commander-in-chief to 
 valet. Looking out on the deserted space before 
 the station, we exclaimed to the heavens, " But 
 where are the mules and where is the escort ? '"' 
 
 In true Greek fashion we were answered by a 
 young man rising up from nowhere, who proved 
 to be the chief muleteer, and who came up with a 
 decided twinkle in his eye, and asked if we would 
 not let it be four drachmas a mule instead of three 
 as the station-master had arranged. We had no 
 desire to raise the market for those who might 
 come after us, yet four drachmas for each mule to 
 take us up to the monasteries, and to come for us 
 
220 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 the next day, seemed reasonable enough ; but in 
 giving way we mortally offended the choleric 
 station-master, who roundly abused that muleteer, 
 not that that appeared to incommode the latter 
 one little bit. 
 
 The animals now came on the scene and proved 
 to be one mule, two ponies and a foal. Of course 
 the smallest and meanest-looking beast was allotted 
 to me, but by this time I had advanced a little in 
 the art of the use of a bridle consisting of a single 
 rope, likewise I had added to my repertoire a word 
 which our Olympian guide had often used with 
 good effect. I thought I would try it in the pre- 
 sent case, and no sooner was the magic word out 
 than my pony began to show his paces. He 
 understood it, although I never heard it used in 
 Thessaly, and so apparently did my muleteer from 
 the intensely amused expression of his face ; and 
 on the strength of this we established a language 
 of words and signs. When you are planted in the 
 midst of an unknown tongue, if only the natives 
 will talk you can pick up words and forge along ; 
 it is when all your linguistic attempts are answered 
 by that inevitable kald ! that you " get no forrader." 
 A few yards ahead our guard appeared from under 
 the trees, saluted and took us under their protec- 
 tion. Our escort consisted of two little privates in 
 dark blue with guns as big as themselves, who 
 might have been own brothers to the soldier whom 
 
We Christened him Ariel. 221 
 
 we helped along to Andritsaena, but they were 
 led by a tall young fellow in most picturesque 
 regimentals. Tight white leggings, turned up 
 white shoes with large blue tufts, a blue coatee 
 that stuck out after the manner of a fustanella, 
 sleeves behind a la hussar, the real sleeves being 
 large loose hanging white ones which caught the 
 wind when he ran, and gave him the appearance 
 of having wings. Edith christened him Ariel on 
 the spot, which was a much more convenient title 
 than Demetrios Pelekaons (so he spelt it) ; and in 
 his leather belt the inevitable pocket handkerchief 
 of snowy whiteness was placed. His crisp curling 
 black hair stood up from his forehead, and was 
 framed by the peak of his blue cap with a red band, 
 and whichsomehow stuck on to the back of his head. 
 In face and figure we had seen many of his type in 
 fustanella in the Peloponnesus gloomily stalking 
 across their land, but this young fellow, though 
 keeping his party well in hand, was brimming 
 over with life and laughter ; and so were our two 
 muleteers. These men, as active as panthers, as 
 merry as grigs, were of a totally different type to 
 Ariel, being in shape, feature, and complexion 
 something like the gipsies, but really more re- 
 sembled the men we afterwards saw at Broussa in 
 Asia Minor ; without doubt they had a long pedi- 
 gree of brigandage at their back, and looked two 
 as veritable thieves as you could wish to see. I 
 
222 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 could quite fancy Pyrrhos and Alexander the 
 Great with a body-guard of these men, and if it is 
 true that the tribes of these parts claim descent 
 from the Pelasgians, then must that much specu- 
 lated upon people have had at any rate a ready 
 wit. It was good-bye to the silent - Greek and 
 enter the gay Thessalian. 
 
 Our procession started in this wise : muleteer, 
 boy leading pony, Ariel, pony, laughing muleteer, 
 soldier, boy leading mule, soldier bringing up the 
 rear, foal skirmishing along the ranks. After 
 crossing various rivulets we entered the scrub that 
 lay at the foot of the great rock on which stands 
 Hagios Stephanos, and began to wind our way 
 slowly up. At first we had scoffed at our escort, 
 soon we were to experience its use as a sharp turn 
 showed us the path blocked by two advancing 
 mules laden with sticks. Heedless of all things, 
 the mules came on ; our advance guard gave the 
 alarm ; Ariel, shouting at the top of his voice, rushed 
 forward and recklessly suggested that the man 
 should pitch himself, his mules, and all that apper- 
 tained to him over the side of the abyss. The 
 man very properly objected, so Ariel brandished 
 his sword and the mules were backed, one crashing 
 down the side of the hill till he settled himself 
 comfortably in the middle of a bush, the other 
 being jammed against a rock and the sticks held 
 back by guns, so that we passed without having 
 
"Called a Cuckoo perhaps." 223 
 
 our eyes taken out. Glancing down at the mule 
 apparently perfectly content in the bush, I could 
 not help wondering if that was where we should 
 have been but for our guard. Nobody seemed to 
 think anything of the incident, the rule of the 
 road being that exceedingly simple one, the weak 
 must make room for the strong. 
 
 Seen from the station the rock on which Hagios 
 Stephanos stands had somewhat disappointed us, 
 but from here it looked a great height, whilst 
 other huge masses of rock rising sheer up began 
 to come in view, as we wound round to the right, 
 and found ourselves on the side of a lovely little 
 valley, which appeared all the more beautiful from 
 its close juxtaposition with the cold bare rocks. 
 Here the men stopped and insisted on our listen- 
 ing to the cuckoo ; they were perfectly sure we had 
 never heard anything like it before, and upon 
 being told that even in England there was such a 
 bird, my wicked muleteer replied, — 
 
 tc Called a cuckoo perhaps, but in England they 
 don't kukko like this," and they all began imitating 
 the bird, and so drowning the faint note of the 
 " Professor's poulet," which we had been trying to 
 catch. 
 
 The nightingale was all very well in its way, but 
 nothing to the cuckoo in our muleteer's opinion. 
 
 We had now struck the old road to the monas- 
 teries, which, in their palmy days, had been a wide 
 
224 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 paved causeway like those leading to the Saracenic 
 towns, with which we are all familiar on the Riviera. 
 This zigzagged up the hill, and turning our back 
 on the miniature valley, we gazed straight up at the 
 great walls of rock above us, and were surprised that 
 we could ever have felt a tinge of disappointment 
 with regard to their height. Hagios Stephanos 
 was now quite out of sight, hidden behind the dark 
 mass that looked like a castle, and up the side of 
 which we were now pressing. Ariel with the flat 
 side of his sword urged on the foremost beast, the 
 little soldiers occasionally prodded the others with 
 their guns, whilst the foal which had been rather 
 troublesome, charging us all in turn, had been " shoo 
 shooed " down the side of the hill and we saw it 
 no more. From the east and the north our faces 
 were now turned to the west ; we began to catch 
 glimpses of the higher snow-clad peaks of the 
 Pindos range, and very soon we reached a platform 
 in the rocks, where a splendid view of the country 
 was obtained. Before us stretched out the long 
 Thessalian plain, scored by the single line of rail 
 and the sandy bed of the Peneios with its meander- 
 ing thread of gleaming water, and in the middle dis- 
 tance Trikkala with its white Turkish fortress stood 
 out, the Stirling of the plain. On each hand hills 
 and mountains arose ; the near ones on the left en- 
 tirely shut out the mighty mass of Olympos and 
 Ossa's graceful head, but across the riverto the right, 
 
View from the Rocks. 225 
 
 was the great Pindos range, in strong contrast of 
 black and white, with gleams of snowy points in 
 rough Albania. All down the side of the plain the 
 mountains ran, fading into softest grey and cold thin 
 blue, with a white peak out in the far, far distance 
 that must have been Tymphrestos ; but a mountain 
 even of upwards of seven thousand feet had no in- 
 terest for my muleteer, who the whole time I was 
 gazing through my opera glasses, kept assuring me 
 I was looking in the wrong direction. " It was not 
 the mountains that I should look at, but Trikkala 
 that stood out in the plain. Trikkala that had a 
 castle, a grand castle, was the object that was really 
 worth looking at. He was pointing it out to me, if 
 only I would look, for Trikkala was very beautiful ! " 
 Before such a magnificent picture by Nature, it 
 was so intensely comic to be requested only to look 
 at the work of man, that I could not hold up my 
 glasses for laughter ; and at once a hand was 
 stretched out, and an eager demand to be allowed 
 to look through them. Then arose great shouts of 
 " Trikkala, Trikkala ! " Ariel, glancing over his 
 shoulder, saw his opportunity, rushed back, took 
 the glasses, swept the plain, and flew off to his 
 post ; the other men all stopped to have a look, 
 each one vowing he saw some fresh object the 
 other had not seen, till it came to the second 
 private, who could not see Trikkala or anything 
 through them. My gay muleteer seized them out 
 
 Q 
 
226 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 of his hand, adjusted them, and with a triumphant 
 smile handed them back ; the private raised them 
 to his eyes, shook his head, solemnly reversed 
 them, and exclaimed that he saw Trikkala splen- 
 didly! and in spite of my amusement and the 
 jeers of his companions, he stuck to it to the last, 
 and always insisted, on all occasions, upon stolidly 
 looking through the broad end of the glasses. 
 
 Turning round the great rocks on our right, we 
 suddenly saw before us a large irregular mass of 
 buildings, severed by a yawning gulf from the rocks 
 that ran up to where we stood gazing in silence at 
 so unique a sight. This first view of Hagios 
 Stephanos was very impressive, but it was a 
 moment or two before we realized that the little 
 bridge, thrown across this chasm of some eighteen 
 feet, is the only means by which the Monastery 
 can be entered. We however had settled to go to 
 Hagia Trias first, and we began to wonder if our 
 gay Thessalians were playing us false, and there 
 was Ariel jumping from rock to rock, and flying 
 across the bridge. In a moment it flashed across 
 us that he had gone to announce our coming, and 
 before we could put our question into words, his 
 white wings had floated him back, and he was 
 urging our cavalcade forward with renewed signs 
 of energy and delight. Leaving Hagios Stephanos 
 on our left, we followed the path to our right, and 
 after two turns looked down on a monastery to the 
 
Hagia Trias. 
 
 227 
 
 left, this was not wholly deserted, though no 
 brothers of St. Basil inhabited it now. Away to 
 
 
 ■ 
 ■ 
 
 
 fl 
 
 
 the right in the distance were three more monas- 
 teries, each situated on its own particular rock, 
 whilst before us to the left, perched on its solitary 
 eyrie, was the goal of our desires, Hagia Trias. 
 Q 2 
 
228 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 At the top of the hill we left our animals, and 
 with our two muleteers and escort descended the 
 lovely glade that ran down to the foot of the rock. 
 The way was slippery but exceedingly picturesque, 
 and we got a splendid impression of the situation 
 of this monastery, as, from this side, it appeared to 
 be crowning the top of a huge monolith. Looking 
 up, it seemed impossible that we could ever get to 
 the top of that rock, and the nearer we approached 
 the higher and grimmer grew that crag, until we 
 were engulphed beneath its dark shadows, and 
 could see the summit no more. All this time 
 Ariel had been growing more and more excited, 
 shouting to let the brothers know of our approach, 
 and talking a great deal about the delights of 
 climbing the skalas ! It was evident that he 
 wanted us at once to tackle the ladders, but we 
 had set our hearts on being wound up in the net, 
 so we would not look at the ladders, but passed 
 down to where a rope was dangling from above. 
 There was no net to be seen, neither a rope of any 
 substance, for this cord could be of no use ! The 
 wild shouts of our five men were answered by a 
 faint voice from above, and, craning our necks, we 
 could just see the outline of a dark pent-house, 
 which looked within measurable distance of the 
 sky. After a good deal of up and down shouting, 
 Ariel announced that we could not be drawn up 
 in the net, but would have to ascend by the 
 
The Ladders inside the Rock. 229 
 
 ladders ; so with shouts of " To the ladder, to the 
 ladders," he flew up a rock where all arms, including 
 our umbrellas, were piled and left under the guard 
 of one of the privates. Glancing up the smooth 
 face of the monolith, we saw that some ladders 
 and a gallery led to a dark hole in the rock ; what 
 happened then we could not tell, but we could see 
 that an uncommonly long ascent would have some- 
 how to be made inside. 
 
 Our escort did not share in the least in our 
 chagrin that we could not go up in the net, they 
 evidently thought the skalas much better fun, and 
 after going up the ladders we felt that the net 
 would have been a trifle. The skala began with 
 an innocent-looking, long sloping ladder, which 
 was as pleasant climbing as ladders on the slope 
 generally are ; turning at right angles, we sidled 
 along the rock on open galleries hanging over 
 space, of which we obtained pleasing glimpses 
 between the broken boards that sprang under our 
 feet as we gingerly picked our way ; at the end 
 of the galleries a short ladder (the only respectable 
 one in the whole lot) disappeared into the dark hole 
 in the rock. So far, we had come along gaily 
 enough, but no sooner had number one plunged 
 into darkness, than from the bowels of the rock 
 there came the most piercing cries of — "I can't 
 get up. I am stuck fast," drowned by the cheery 
 voice of Ariel, who had no idea of looking back 
 
230 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greecf. 
 
 after once putting the shoulder to the plough, 
 and in this he was loudly seconded by the muleteer 
 who led the way. Altogether the noise going on 
 above was so strange that I began to laugh, and 
 my little soldier, thinking I Avas going to roll off 
 the ladder, added his cries to the others, until it 
 was perfectly deafening. What checked the novice 
 on entering the rock was to feel that the ladder 
 you were on suddenly ended, and your hands only 
 slid along the damp rock, but by groping to the left 
 the bottom rung of another set of ladders was felt, 
 and wriggling on to this you were at the foot of a 
 great shaft in the rock — that I can only com- 
 pare to a mill chimney — down one side of which 
 hung a long series of short ladders tied together 
 but not secured to the wall, and which oscillated 
 frightfully and pulled out as if coming down on 
 your head at each rung you made. We thought it 
 would have been easier if we could have seen those 
 ladders, but this darkness was most appalling, only 
 the touch of those eternal rungs ever before you. 
 It was impossible to tell if the rock was close to 
 your back, or if there was nothing but ghastly 
 black space all around you, and once or twice you 
 were startled by a streak of light coming from 
 some far-away crack (the one in the sketch) and 
 showing that you were crossing hideous gashes in 
 the bowels of the rock. These flashes of light 
 were most objectionable as revealing too much or 
 
That Awful Climb. 231 
 
 too little. It seemed as if those ladders never 
 would come to an end, and there were some fear- 
 ful long gaps between the rungs where the ladders 
 joined. The quickest method of proceeding was 
 to seize your dress between your teeth, throw 
 yourself well back, and go up hand over hand like 
 a monkey, taking care, however, not to knock your 
 teeth out with your knees. At last a streak of 
 light came from above, and Ariel, who had never 
 ceased shouting out his kalds by way of encourage- 
 ment, handed us out of the shaft, and we all in- 
 wardly prayed that we might not have to go down 
 those ladders ; Miss C. averring, in her soul, that 
 if that was the programme her bones would be 
 left on the top of Hagia Trias. 
 
 Curving round a rock, we passed through the 
 vaults of the monastery, out to a little platform in 
 the rocks, and there the Hegoumenos met us with 
 words of blessing, and greeted us with great kind- 
 ness. He was a fine tall man with dark hair and 
 a rich brown beard, a splendid forehead, and clear 
 eyes which seemed to have caught a reflection of 
 a spiritual life unseen. Altogether his was a face 
 of exceptional holiness ; even those hardened 
 children of irreverence, our two muleteers, stood 
 abashed before him. We looked down on the 
 roofs of Kalabaka, at the railway station, which 
 appeared as a toy house on the plain, across the 
 Peneios to the high mountains beyond. Truly 
 
232 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 this was a monastery in the air, and it was not 
 altogether pleasant glancing down that sheer rock, 
 though our escort danced round the edge in 
 delight, as by the aid of my glasses they recog- 
 nized familiar houses in Kalabaka. 
 
 Whilst gazing at the opposite hill, it flashed 
 across us that almost in a direct line, but hidden 
 away behind miles and miles of ragged peaks, 
 were the ruins of Dodona. That famous old 
 oracle of Zeus, whose priests are said to have 
 practised much the same kind of asceticism as has 
 been attributed to the anchorites of Meteora. 
 Thus do we find the "great unwashed " receiving 
 canonization in all ages. 
 
 The wind was very strong and keen up here, and 
 the thoughtful Hegoumenos was afraid we should 
 take cold after the exertion of scaling the ladders, so 
 he would not permit us to look at the view for long, 
 but conducted us back to the buildings. On our 
 way we spied a large tank for rain wa ter, and he 
 pointed out how it was fed by numerous little 
 channels cut in the rock ; by the side was a place 
 for a fire, and a giant washing-pot was at hand, — 
 this was the laundry of the monastery, and was in 
 keeping with the spotless appearance of the 
 Hegoumenos. He showed us a curious small 
 round chapel, in shape like a beehive tomb, and 
 which was covered from the base to the top with 
 home-made paintings. The decoration consisted 
 
Chapels of Hagia Trias. 233 
 
 chiefly of dislocated figures of saints, ranging in 
 circles up the dome, and they were very much in 
 the character of the early Christian mosaics, but 
 without the echo of classic art, which is still trace- 
 able in them. Below the figures there was a dado 
 of a kind of flowing Owen Jones pattern, which 
 looked exceedingly quaint mixed up with these 
 stiff, ugly saints — ugliness being the sign of the 
 Orthodox Faith as beauty was the symbol of the 
 Classic Belief. 
 
 We were then taken to the chapel proper, 
 where the light was so strictly dim and religious 
 that it was quite impossible to judge of the merits 
 of the pictures on the ikonostasis, or altar-screen ; 
 indeed it was so dark we could not find the alms- 
 box, but the Hegoumenos kindly came to our 
 assistance, and as Edith shoved notes into the 
 top of the broken box he drew them out at the 
 other end — a proceeding as primitive as it was 
 comic. An old priest with flowing white hair and 
 silver beard read to us out of one of the books 
 in the softest and most musical tones I have ever 
 heard. Modern Greek may be abused for its 
 classic shortcomings, but all the same to listen to 
 it is a never-ending delight. The rich music of 
 the language as it flows from the soft-voiced 
 Greek is like the rippling of distant water, or 
 the vox humana stop of an organ. The living 
 wonder is how that a people, whose speech is 
 
234 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 thus enchanting, contrive to emit such hideous 
 sounds when they attempt to sing. A ray of 
 light from an apology for a window touched the 
 hair and beard, and threw out the fine profile of 
 the old priest, who looked like some ancient 
 prophet proclaiming the law aloud, and our 
 escort, subdued and sobered, listened to him in 
 awed silence. 
 
 We were now conducted to another part of the 
 rock, up a little slanting bridge to an enclosed 
 corridor, the floor of which was divided into an 
 upper and lower division. Chairs were brought 
 to us, our escort finding seats in the lower part, 
 whilst the Hegoumenos arranged his chair so as 
 to form a link between the two. Here we looked 
 across to the three distant monasteries. The 
 Great Meteora was pointed out to us, with Hagios 
 Barlaam on a neighbouring rock to the right, and 
 I think Ariel said that the other was Hagia 
 Rosane, but my memory may be in fault about 
 this ; then the Hegoumenos looked at the monas- 
 teries through all our various glasses, and we 
 wished we could only put into intelligible Greek 
 the many questions we wanted to ask. A boy 
 with close-cropped hair and dressed in blue and 
 white mediaeval-looking garments, entered with a 
 tray whereon was Turkish delight ; after hand- 
 ing this solemnly to us in dead silence, he dis- 
 appeared, but soon returned with the inevitable 
 
The Rope Dangerous. 235 
 
 tumblers of water, and some liqueur glasses 
 containing a white liquid (raki) which tasted like 
 a cross between turpentine and methylated spirits, 
 but withal had a flavour that grew upon you. 
 The Hegoumenos smiled very much when he 
 saw us tasting it neat, and suggested that we 
 should mix water with it as he did ; this mixing 
 with water turned the liqueur to a very pretty 
 opal colour, all the same it quite spoilt it. 
 Nevertheless, we were very thankful for it after 
 that exhaustive climb up the ladders, and this 
 reminded us— how were we to get down ? Coming 
 up was bad enough, but we all had an idea that 
 we could never get down those ladders, so we 
 inquired about the net and were taken through 
 dark winding passages to the room containing 
 the capstan, which is turned by poles long enough 
 to be grasped by several men. Alas ! now there 
 are not enough brothers to wind up any heavy 
 weight ; the cord we had seen dangling down was 
 used for hauling up their small requirements. 
 The thick rope was wound tightly round the 
 drum of the capstan and was in a frayed con- 
 dition, being bound round with string in several 
 places ; whether it was really dangerous I cannot 
 say, but they appeared to have a great objection 
 to our using it. The net was spread out on the 
 ground, I sat down on it, and our attendants 
 practically demonstrated how it was managed. 
 
236 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 The corners were gathered together, the great 
 hook at the end of the rope thrust through, and 
 I found myself strung into a kind of ball with my 
 knees in my mouth. What would have been my 
 exact position when I reached the ground I 
 cannot say — men have been known to come 
 down on their heads ! All the same, it seemed to 
 me that if you were careful about adjusting your 
 balance at the start it ought to be all right. 
 
 With our escort there were plenty of men to 
 let us down, and we wanted to know why we 
 could not go. They took us to the drum, and 
 pointing to where the rope was bound with string, 
 looked at Edith in her winter coat, and, shaking 
 their heads, said, " Too heavy." 
 
 " Well, you can't bring that objection against 
 me." They all laughed, and I thought I had 
 accomplished it, but the Hegoumenos stepped 
 forward, and was perfectly sure I should bang my 
 head against the rock or come down on my head, 
 I could not make out which ; and although I was 
 willing to risk my brains, he would not undertake 
 the responsibility. At this juncture the ever- 
 ready Ariel had a brilliant idea. Leading out 
 the little private, he suggested, how would it be 
 if we went down together? he to act as buffer, I 
 suppose. 
 
 Whilst roughing it in Greece we had done many 
 strange things. I looked at that little soldier, I 
 
'Twixt Devil and the Deep Sea. 237 
 
 shut my eyes and tried to swallow down all re- 
 maining rags of prejudice, but it was no good, I 
 had had experience of the close quarters of that 
 net, I could not bring myself to that ! I only 
 trust that this piece of cowardice on my part will 
 be put down to our credit side when our critics 
 rise up in judgment on us. 
 
 The Hegoumenos seemed very much relieved 
 when we gave up the net, but our hearts sank, and 
 we turned to each other with faces of dismay at 
 the idea of going down those awful ladders. 
 Ariel, however, would allow of no time for thought ; 
 declaring it was growing late, we must be off at 
 once, he flew to the little pent-house erected above 
 the opening of the shaft in the rock, and dis- 
 appeared into darkness. As I swung myself into 
 the abyss I threw a glance upwards, and it struck 
 upon a picture that might have walked out of the 
 frame of an old master. Grouped against the 
 dark rock, with the light slanting in between it 
 and the irregular beams of the shed, stood the 
 tall, fine form of the Hegoumenos, with fingers 
 raised in act of blessing above the bowed head of 
 one of the muleteers, the other bending forward 
 looked up to his face, whilst the dark blue of the 
 private and the maroon and brown of my friends 
 massed together, brought the whole group into 
 tone. It was worth coming up those ladders to 
 see that picture alone. 
 
238 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 To our surprise, we found coming down to be 
 child's play to going up, and we were hailed with 
 delight by our solitary soldier on guard who 
 rushed to know if we had all gone up to the top, 
 and how we liked the skdlas ? so he added his 
 kalds to the others, and they all congratulated 
 each other on the success of the expedition. 
 Then we shouted up renewed thanks and good 
 evenings, and from the capstan platform words of 
 farewell faintly reached our ears. 
 
 I was most anxious to find out the exact height 
 of Hagia Trias, but, as usuah when it came to facts 
 I could get no authentic information on the point. 
 The rope was said to be over 300 feet long, every- 
 one appearing to agree that it was considerably 
 longer than the one at the Great Meteora ; and as 
 I have since read that the latter has been calcu- 
 lated to be 250 feet in length, it would seem that 
 300 feet might be pretty correct for Hagia Trias. 
 Of course the novelty of the situation, the extra- 
 ordinary means by which the monastery is 
 reached, together with the darkness, gave the idea 
 of its being perched up on a greater height than 
 it really is. What makes the ascent of Hagia 
 Trias unique is that the hanging ladders are 
 within the rock, whereas at the Great Meteora and 
 Hagios Barlaam they are outside. We were told 
 that having climbed the ladders at Hagia Trias, 
 we need not sigh after those other two, still, pre- 
 
A Modern Saint. 239 
 
 suming that the oscillation was the same, we 
 should have liked to have tried which was the 
 worst, going up in darkness or in light. 
 
 With many regrets we turned our back on the 
 towering isolated crag, and retraced our steps up 
 the steep side of the picturesque little valley to 
 where we had left the boys with our animals ; and 
 as I was about to mount, my soldier gallantly 
 offered me his knee instead of his hand. We 
 found out afterwards that the Hegoumenos of 
 Hagia Trias wrote " Archimandrite " after his 
 name, so that he was the head of the Monasteries 
 of Meteora. Although he was the youngest look- 
 ins' of all the Brothers of St. Basil that we saw, he 
 appeared in every way to be the one most fitted 
 for the position. It was good to look into the 
 steadfastness of those clear eyes, you felt the 
 better for that blessing, and a feeling of awe crept 
 over the soul in anticipation of what might be in 
 store for us at Hagios Stephanos ; lightened, how- 
 ever, by our firm belief in individuality as against 
 class. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Arrive at the Monastery of St. Stephen's — The Hegoumenos' 
 reception, his keen sense of humour — He dines with us 
 entertaining us royally — Ariel turns valet, strange pro- 
 ceedings of everybody — The churches, beautifully carved 
 altar-screen — The cells of the Brothers of St. Basil. 
 
 On the rocks before Hagios Stephanos we dis- 
 mounted, crossed the chasm by the little bridge, 
 dived under some dark arches, and came out into 
 an irregular courtyard, surrounded by the large 
 church with its arcade, a bell tower, and dark 
 wooden galleries erected before the cells which 
 appeared to be incorporated in the thick outside 
 walls. Turning to the left, we again plunged into 
 semi-darkness, past the kitchen and the refectory, 
 up some stairs to a large long corridor where were 
 the guest-chambers. On our way through the 
 gloomy arches we had bowed and shaken hands 
 with every brother we met ; one seemed surprised, 
 we fancy he was the cook, but we thought it was 
 best to err on the side of politeness. 
 
 The guest-chamber was a large square room. 
 A row of little windows occupied one side, but 
 these were so encrusted with religious dust it was 
 difficult to distinguish the landscape without, a 
 
Kind Reception. 241 
 
 long narrow soft-cushioned divan ran along the 
 whole of another, a row of chairs stood against the 
 third, whilst the fourth was occupied by the door, 
 a table, and chairs of various shape, one of which 
 with arms appeared to be a kind of seat of honour. 
 The Hegoumenos, a little oldish man with sharp 
 eyes, grey hair and grey beard, came in and sat 
 by the side of the table, above which hung his 
 
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 W' ; " ; : r ^ ~" ♦ *» ^^§% 
 
 
 
 portrait in oils. Ariel at once drew our attention 
 to this and to the three orders he wore in the 
 portrait, and of course we said what an excellent 
 likeness it was. Then entered the Hegoumenos' 
 butler, a youth with close-cropped hair, and 
 dressed in the same fly-away blue and white 
 garments as the mediaeval-looking attendant at 
 Hagia Trias. Standing with his heels well to- 
 gether, toes turned out, sleeves hanging from his 
 shoulder, he had a most quaint and graceful 
 
242 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 appearance as he bent over the tray whilst we 
 helped ourselves to a red kind of sweet jelly, 
 water, and raki, this latter after our late experience 
 we took neat, which was at once noticed by the 
 Hegoumenos who did ditto, and with a twinkle in 
 his eye, remarked, " It is much better so." After 
 this first course of jelly and raki the mediaeval boy 
 brought in coffee, which was the best I tasted in 
 Greece, and it was served in tiny little cups with 
 butterfly handles ; at this juncture the Hegoumenos 
 taking out a cigarette, passed his case to us with 
 the hope that we would have one. Not being 
 prepared for this, we naturally declined, and in an 
 instant were aware of the faux pas we had made. 
 
 The Hegoumenos' face fell, Ariel's grew blank 
 with dismay, for the space of a minute dead silence 
 reigned in the room, then the voice of wisdom was 
 heard to murmur, " When we were at Damascus 
 we did as the Damascenes do/' So we graciously 
 intimated that we would, and in a moment Ariel 
 had flown to the rescue and was rolling up cigar- 
 ettes like lightning, but I preferred my own manu- 
 facture. 
 
 " That's too small, it will never light," said 
 Ariel ; but a long apprenticeship in the making of 
 cigars for the amateur stage was not without its 
 due effect, and he was surprised at the way that 
 cigarette went off. 
 
 The Hegoumenos, who had been looking un- 
 
We Grow Sociable. 243 
 
 comfortably at his solitary cigarette, now puffed 
 away in peace, so did Ariel, but not in peace as he 
 kept a watchful eye on the flickering life of our 
 cigarettes, and supplemented our bald statement 
 of our visit to Hagia Trias with many details, 
 which seemed to amuse the old gentleman exceed- 
 ingly. " So it was true, we had really all been up 
 the ladders of Hagia Trias ? " " Certainly," we 
 returned with correct Greek solemnity. At this 
 the Hegoumenos brightened up still farther, and 
 I fancy on each side we began to think that we 
 should not have such a dull time of it as we had 
 anticipated. He then asked us if we were English 
 or American ? and I thought he seemed just a 
 little surprised when we claimed to belong to the 
 former people ; perhaps we did not fit in with 
 what he had heard of that " solemn nation ; " no 
 doubt he made a study of our idiosyncrasies the 
 better to adapt himself to the next English ladies 
 that came that way. If he did, all I can say is, 
 may I be there in spirit to see the faces of those 
 " next English ladies ! " 
 
 After coffee we went out on the rock, where was 
 a flagstaff, to look at the fading view, and Ariel 
 let off a regular fusillade to fetch out the echoes 
 that lurked behind those many curves and isolated 
 rocks. This row brought forth all the inhabitants 
 of the monastery, and we came down from the 
 flagstaff and shook hands again, and asked them 
 R 2 
 
244 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 how they were, and if each of those unkind brothers 
 did not reply by that one wretched word ka/d, or 
 I think it was improved to ka/os on this occasion. 
 It was really too disheartening, here were we burn- 
 ing to acquire another way of answering that 
 question, and this was all we got. We varied our 
 inquiry by two phrases, yet they only returned us 
 that stone ka/d ; and this was the more disappoint- 
 ing, as when you did not want it they always in- 
 sisted upon using different words. 
 
 One of the Brothers of St. Basil took us in to 
 see the pictures in the little church, of which they 
 seemed to be very proud. It was too dark to see 
 anything properly, but the ikons appeared to be 
 better painted than usual, and they were set in 
 beautifully carved frames. There was one very 
 old picture, said to be fourth-century work, dated, 
 I think, 387, but the taper flickered so much I only 
 saw the three and the eight clearly. 
 
 Stumbling up the stairs in the dark, we again 
 reached the guest-chamber, and then we became 
 painfully aware that we had had no particular 
 meal that day. We saw no signs of a coming 
 repast, and we began to think that we were to 
 retire for the night on Turkish delight, coffee, and 
 raki. Did they imagine we lived upon water and 
 sweets ! We began to think of the many words 
 of warning we had discarded, and that we ought 
 to have heeded good advice and brought our own 
 
"A Feast is Preparing." 245 
 
 food with us. Thus in doubt we turned to our 
 referee in general and inquired if we were going to 
 have any dinner ! 
 
 " Dinner ! " exclaimed Ariel, his eyes dancing 
 at the magic word. " A lamb is being roasted for 
 you, a feast is preparing. Meat and wine, wine 
 and meat, the kitchen below is full of meat, 
 meat, meat ! " I am sure there must be lamb in 
 the Greek heaven. 
 
 At this joyful news we regarded each other ; our 
 general appearance was not creditable to our 
 nation, it was impossible to go up those ska/as 
 with impunity. We were ushered down the corri- 
 dor to another large room, where we dimly dis- 
 cerned our rolls laid out on the raised divan at the 
 end of the room, which formerly had been the 
 place whereon the stranger slept ; now there were 
 actually iron beds. 
 
 Ariel rushed out and brought in a lamp which 
 he put upon the table, then he pointed with great 
 glee to the beds. "Three beds, three ladies," he 
 kept repeating, evidently such lavish accommoda- 
 tion being a thing unknown in his experience. 
 Was there anything we required? "Water to 
 wash our hands." 
 
 u Kald" which appeared to be Ariel's "all 
 right," and he was out of the room like a flash 
 of lightning, to return with a battered brass basin 
 with a perforated cover, an antique ewer in the 
 
246 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 shape of a coffee pot, a piece of soap, and a towel 
 over his shoulder ; this arrangement he put down 
 in the middle of the room, and invited us one and 
 all to come on whilst he poured water over our 
 hands, in the same way as the little maid at Volo. 
 This method of washing is simply a survival of the 
 old custom of washing before and after meals in 
 the days when it was chic to eat with the fingers ; 
 and however satisfactory it might be for that pur- 
 pose, it always seemed to us as the least satisfy- 
 ing of all ways of washing. Afterwards at Broussa 
 we saw ewers and basins of the same pattern made 
 in pottery of exquisite design and colour, and of 
 course those looked quite clean ; somehow after 
 dabbling in these greasy metal basins, the soul 
 longed for a fresh babbling brook. As soon as 
 the performance was over out it all vanished ; 
 evidently to the Greek mind there is something 
 revolting in having the washing apparatus in the 
 room, of which peculiarity we were to have an 
 amusing illustration later in the evening. 
 
 Whilst we brushed ourselves up, Ariel flew in 
 and out of the room with the latest intelligence as 
 to the progress of the feast, spinning round on one 
 foot like a dervish in a perfect ecstasy of delight 
 over some dried grapes. We thought the state of 
 affairs looked decidedly hopeful, there was no 
 doubt we were to be treated to all the delicacies 
 the monastery possessed, the Hegoumenos had 
 
Ariel Entertains Us. 247 
 
 evidently a sense of humour, and we were no longer 
 fearful of being relegated to cold seclusion. 
 
 Unwashed but in our right mind we assembled 
 in the guest-chamber, and there Ariel entertained 
 us according to his kind. He showed us his sword, 
 the blade of which he said came from England, but 
 the name of the maker was so worn away I could 
 not make it out ; then he went through his bayonet 
 exercise, which having accomplished, he drew his 
 sword, presented it to us, with the mild request 
 that we would show how they did things in 
 England. Never was the honour of our country 
 in so feeble hands ! we tried to call up visions of 
 Aldershot, but only the gyrations of an awkward 
 squad of militia-men in a north country town would 
 come before our straining eyes ; then a far-away 
 vision rose before us of a smiling English garden 
 on a quiet sabbath eve when all was peace, and of 
 the flash of foils beneath an oriel window, behind 
 which slumbered he who had been officiating on 
 that sacred day — those surreptitious lessons had 
 not been in vain. Raising the sword above our 
 head, we saluted, flashed through the positions 
 regardless of sequence, and breathlessly returned 
 that sword, Ariel standing his ground without 
 flinching, evidently having a greater faith in our 
 ability than we had ourselves. Not to be outdone, 
 he began swinging his arm round in a circle, which 
 of course we could not do, and by way of keeping 
 
248 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 his pride down, we requested him to touch his 
 feet without bending his knees. Apparently he 
 had never seen this, and he was very much 
 surprised that he could not do it, and he went 
 flopping all over the room in his endeavours, until 
 brought up against the wall by a resounding crack 
 on his head ; this straightened him at once, and he 
 commenced swinging both arms, his white sleeves 
 flying out and making him look like a windmill 
 with double sails. In the midst of this intellectual 
 entertainment the Hegoumenos came in, took up 
 the lamp and invited us to dinner. We now 
 entered upon a scene which for strangeness and 
 picturesqueness must ever stand out alone in our 
 memory. 
 
 At one end of the long dark gallery a table had 
 been set, the large window was closely barred, the 
 embrasure of which, taking an intensified darkness, 
 framed as it were the head and shoulders of the 
 Hegoumenos, throwing out into bold relief his 
 long grey hair and well cut features. On his left 
 sat two of his guests, on his right was the other 
 and a lamp ; the rays from the latter falling 
 directly on the table and illuminating the faces 
 bent over it, whilst it seemed to flash up Ariel's 
 tall figure, to die out among the crisp black curls 
 on his forehead. It also outlined the top bar of 
 the stair-rail, caught the face and hands of the 
 mediaeval boy as he busied himself at the side 
 
The Hegoumenos Unbends. 249 
 
 table, and, by some quick movement of Ariel's 
 wings, shot strange gleams of yellow light down 
 that silent corridor. But silent it was not long 
 destined to remain. No doubt that roof had often 
 echoed to pious prayer and holy song, now it was 
 to be awoke to the light laughter and frivolous 
 tones of woman's voice ! Gentlemen the Hegou- 
 menos had often entertained, but never before had 
 it fallen to his lot to have three unprotected ladies 
 thrown on his hands. He found himself in a 
 unique position, and he rose to it magnificently. 
 The good St. Basil no doubt had not foreseen the 
 contingency, so the kind-hearted old man, left to 
 himself, treated us as angels whom he was enter- 
 taining not unawares. The long, trying days of 
 Lent were over; it was Easter, and it was meet 
 that the heart of man should rejoice, that hospi- 
 tality should flow in the land. Dependent entirely 
 on the kindness of our host, and considering the 
 concessions he had made in our favour (for had 
 we not been told on authority that he would never 
 dine with us ?) it was only just that we should do 
 our best to amuse him ; and I venture to say that 
 the Hegoumenos never enjoyed himself better than 
 he did that evening he entertained us to dinner in 
 that dark old corridor of Hagios Stephanos. But 
 a word must be said to the dinner, the like of 
 which had never met our eyes before. 
 
 The table-cloth must have been closely related to 
 
250 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 those rags at Olympia — the worst of that lamp was, 
 that it showed up the blots as well as the beauties — 
 the spoons were of that yellow-looking metal, with 
 a kind of sunflower pattern scratched on them, 
 which you find in old houses in England, and the 
 crockery and glass was of a heterogeneous charac- 
 ter. Soup plates were laid round ; we said, " We 
 are going to be quite civilized." We had wondered 
 why the Hegoumenos had been so particular that 
 Ariel should stand at the foot of the table, we now 
 saw the reason, he was to act as chief butler, his 
 length of limb allowing him to stretch over to any 
 part of the table. The mediaeval boy brought up 
 everything from the kitchen, but Ariel would not 
 allow him to put a single dish on the table, or to 
 fill our glasses. 
 
 Whilst we were speculating on what the soup 
 would be like, Ariel put on the table a large pie 
 dish, dug a fork into it and triumphantly hauled 
 out the lamb's head, which was carried off to the 
 side table. The soup turned out to be a very thick 
 kind of mutton broth, and the Hegoumenos' idea 
 of a help was on a scale sufficient to have choked 
 a ploughboy. The second course consisted of the 
 lamb's head, and whilst the Hegoumenos was 
 turning his attention to the brains, Ariel seized a 
 miscellaneous fork, and, poking it into the dish, 
 helped us all round. Then the Hegoumenos, who 
 had been making a scientific dissection of that head, 
 
Delicate Attentions. 251 
 
 distributed the brains, and, picking up an eye on 
 the point of his fork, presented it as a special tit- 
 bit to Miss C, who received it with the utmost 
 graciousness and gravity, and again saved the 
 situation for us — this she called doing pro- 
 priety. Our third course was kid and a kind of 
 very good preserved cabbage. All these dishes 
 were from the same animal, but whether the kid 
 was lamb or the lamb was kid this deponent 
 knoweth not. Then came plates of rice and 
 cream, the rice was beautifully cooked, and we 
 wished that the courses had been reversed. When 
 the cheese arrived, which was a cross between 
 Athens butter and an English milk cheese, sur- 
 feited nature could go no further, but we revived 
 slightly at the sight of " dried grapes from our own 
 garden." 
 
 It must not be thought that this repast was 
 taken in silence, far from it. The hilarity began 
 by the Hegoumenos jerking bits of meat on to our 
 plates whenever he thought we were within a 
 measurable distance of finishing, and the more 
 we protested we did not want any, the more 
 delighted he grew and insisted that we must eat 
 it. When he turned to those on his left I always 
 took the opportunity to quietly transfer to his 
 plate all the choice morsels he had put on mine ; 
 this I discovered was a delicate attention which he 
 quite appreciated, although it was not etiquette to 
 
252 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 appear to notice it — other people's knives and 
 forks were nothing to the Hegoumenos. 
 
 Whilst at dinner a great caterwauling was heard 
 downstairs. " A cat ! " exclaims one of our party. 
 " Oh, the little darling ! I love cats," and the 
 Hegoumenos explained that cats were his pets, 
 and that he had some dozen of them. 
 
 The ever-obliging Ariel at once dispatched the 
 mediaeval boy to bring up a cat. An awful scuffle 
 below was heard, and the mediaeval boy appeared, 
 a meaning smile on his face and a cat in his 
 arms. 
 
 " Oh, the little honey-dove !" cried Amaryllis. 
 Heedless of that warning smile, Ariel seized the 
 cat to present it to the longing fair, when that 
 wily cat just stretched out his claw and ripped 
 Ariel's hand up in the neatest way possible. In- 
 voluntarily he dropped that cat, and the " little 
 darling" bolted down the stairs, the Hegoumenos 
 being highly delighted at the pluck and fight 
 shown by his champion cat, and chaffing Ariel on 
 coming out second best in that encounter. 
 
 When the grapes came on the Hegoumenos 
 called on Ariel to fill up our glasses — which was 
 quite unnecessary as he had never allowed them the 
 chance of getting empty — and insisted on touch- 
 ing glasses and drinking to our health. Of course 
 we returned the compliment, and he replied with 
 smiles and courteous words. Feeling our fev^r 
 
" My Dear Soul." 253 
 
 sentences were quite inadequate to express our 
 sense ofhis kindness and condescension, I rushed 
 off for my book, followed by Ariel, who thought I 
 was ill, and was delighted to find that all I wanted 
 was a book, and still more charmed when he saw 
 it was " Hellenika ! " 
 
 I fluttered the pages of Tien in the hope of find- 
 ing some sentence that I might adapt to the 
 present circumstances. Page after page I turned. 
 " Familiar Dialogues," that ought to suit, of course 
 the adjective was here used only in a cosmopolitan 
 sense. I glanced down the page, and my eye fell 
 upon this — " My dear soul, I do not like so much 
 ceremony." 
 
 To call the Hegoumenos " my dear soul," would 
 never do, neither had I perceived that there was 
 any ceremony at which to cavil. What came 
 next ? 
 
 " It is true, my heart, I really love you." This 
 was worse, and she answers — " I believe you, my 
 darling. I say yes." 
 
 I did not see how I could adapt these sentences to 
 our situation. The requirements of a pair of lovers, 
 who could have said it all without words, had been 
 thoughtfully met, but it was evident that Doctor 
 Tien had never dreamt that he would have been 
 called upon to assist three ladies dining with the 
 Superior of a monastery. In disgust I flung the 
 book to Ariel, who had been begging for a sight of 
 
254 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 it, and he and the mediaeval boy in the intervals of 
 waiting read out sentences one against the other. 
 
 Again and again the Hegoumenos, with much 
 politeness, pledged us, saying, in soft, insidious 
 tones, " Just a lectle more, a lee-tle more," and 
 picking out the largest grapes and putting them 
 on our plates. Coffee, as excellent as before, was 
 handed to us by the mediaeval boy — to hand coffee 
 being apparently outside Ariel's duties — the in- 
 evitable cigarette case again came forth, and we 
 all lit up. The Hegoumenos' sharp little eyes 
 twinkled with delight — no doubt the situation was 
 as comic to him as it was to us — the dark roof 
 echoed to our laughter, we could not have been 
 merrier had we been able to converse in seven 
 languages. 
 
 " You will drink my coffee," said Edith. 
 
 " Certainly ; we shall offend nobody this time. 
 The Hegoumenos will only see an occult joke in 
 it." 
 
 The occultness, however, proved to be on my 
 side, for the Hegoumenos, pretending to look 
 shocked, raised a hand, and said, — 
 
 " Two cups ! two cups of coffee ! " 
 
 " But," I returned, " the coffee of Hagios 
 Stephanos is the best I have tasted in Greece. It 
 is more than excellent." 
 
 " It is good," answered he, suasively ; " but have 
 a lee-tle more wine." 
 
Our Unfortunate Joke. 25 
 
 It was my turn now to raise my hands. 
 
 The Hegoumenos then called up Ariel, who was 
 having his supper downstairs, and he was nothing 
 loth to clink glasses, and, I am glad to say, he 
 thanked our host for his kind hospitality and 
 wished him a long life. 
 
 Whilst this was going on we had been debating 
 whether it would be considered very rude if we 
 intimated our desire to go to bed ; finally we 
 adopted the indirect method of taking out our 
 watches, this made the Hegoumenos produce his, 
 which was a beautiful chronometer. Ariel, not to 
 be outdone, pulled out his little silver self-winder 
 which he had been showing off during our ride up 
 to the monasteries, and he was very much sur- 
 prised to find it had stopped. For the twentieth 
 time he wound it up, shook it, turned it upside down, 
 but go it would not, so he appealed to us to know the 
 reason, and we gently suggested that the krassilmd 
 got into it. This explanation was received with the 
 wildest delight, the Hegoumenos shaking with 
 laughter, Ariel in his glee shouting out the joke to 
 the mediaeval boy below. The curious thing was 
 that all our watches pointed to different time, and 
 of course Ariel was sharp enough to see this and 
 turn the tables on us. The fact was we represented 
 Athens time, Constantinople time, Meteora time, 
 and Fancy time ; however, striking the mean, we 
 all arrived at the conclusion that it was bed time. 
 
256 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 
 Bed of course represented to us rest, peace, and 
 privacy, but we found that bed here simply meant 
 an adjournment of the principal actors of the day 
 to our room. The muleteers, I am thankful to say, 
 did not show up, but in some miraculous way the 
 two privates appeared at this juncture and stood at- 
 tention at the door as we passed, one of them follow- 
 ing and taking up a position just within the room. 
 " What in the world are they waiting for, and 
 why can't they go ? " we murmur, and are answered 
 by the mediaeval boy marching in with a tray 
 on which was a water bottle and two glasses ; 
 evidently no civilized Greek can sleep peacefully 
 without those two glasses of water. The bringing 
 in of this water seemed to afford great satisfaction 
 to our two attentive attendants, and then Ariel 
 turned and asked if there was anything else we 
 required. Knowing that unless by some stratagem 
 we could get that Turkish basin into our room to- 
 night, good-bye to the most elementary dip in the 
 morning, we asked for it. Out darted Ariel and 
 returned with the whole arrangement, but being 
 informed that we wanted to keep it for the morn- 
 ing he knit his brows and paused. It was evident 
 that v/e had put a problem before him ; he made a 
 step forward, Olympos ! was he going to hide that 
 leaking ewer in my bed ? his eyes roved wildly 
 round the room, until they fell on a dark corner 
 under the table, and there the things were de- 
 
Ariel to the Rescue. 257 
 
 posited — safe hiding-place, whence soap and towel 
 could offend no eye. After this supreme effort he 
 pulled back the door and showed us the lock and 
 bolts, but whilst he was doing this, voices were 
 heard outside, and the Hegoumenos came in on 
 purpose to explain how to turn that key and draw 
 those bolts ; then, in turning round to say a repeated 
 good night, his sharp eyes perceived that washing 
 apparatus beneath the table, and before we could 
 utter a word he had darted forward, caught up the 
 whole concern and run out of the room with it. 
 Then loud and bitter wails arose from our lips 
 Ariel seized the situation, dashed down the 
 corridor, rescued soap, towel, etc., and brought 
 them back in triumph amid the plaudits of our 
 soldiers. 
 
 We told Ariel to call us at five o'clock the next 
 morning, to which he returned he would give a 
 good rap at thedoor, suiting the action to the word — 
 anything for an excuse to make a noise — and then 
 he departed, leaving to our infinite disgust the 
 little private standing rigidly within the room, 
 apparently with no intention of moving. The 
 situation began to look alarming, when all at once 
 our guard's idiosyncrasy of always following us 
 flashed across our mind, of course we would hoist 
 them with their own petar. Dashing out into the 
 dark corridor, the faithful little private at once 
 followed, a sharp double, and the door was shut in 
 
 S 
 
258 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 his face. We drew those bolts and turned that key, 
 which was all simplicity itself, as there was nothing 
 into which those bolts could shoot, not a chamber 
 to receive that lock ; the whole arrangement was a 
 farce. This would never do, so, casting our eyes 
 round, we found a wooden bar above the door, 
 which nobody had pointed out to us, and this we 
 let down. We had secured our castle, at least so 
 we thought, and were congratulating ourselves 
 that at last we should be able to turn in, when the 
 door was pushed open as far as the bolt would 
 allow, and the devoted little soldier beckoned me 
 out. 
 
 Across the dark corridor we went until we came 
 to the top of the stairs, where a faint light came 
 struggling in through a half strangled window, and 
 there the little private turned and whispered in 
 tragic tones, "Your door was open, you must 
 turn the key — the door below turns so." 
 
 Now as I had no idea of risking my neck down 
 those stairs in the dark, and knew if I told him our 
 door would not lock, that that would be a sure 
 signal for bringing the whole monastery on us 
 again, I simply said, " Yes, all right," and having 
 got him on the step below me, I turned and fled 
 down the dark corridor, guided by the feeble light 
 that issued from our room. This time, by the 
 help of a thick pincushion belonging to Miss C, 
 we wedged that door tight, farther barricading 
 
Excursions and Alarms. 259 
 
 ourselves by heaping up all the heavy cushions 
 that strewed the divan. After our seven hours of 
 railway, climbing those ladders, efforts at talking 
 and general excitement we felt very tired, and had 
 just turned into bed when the one nearest to the 
 door said in a stifled voice, " There is someone 
 trying to get in ! " 
 
 Over those cushions I crawled, and then I heard 
 the voice of our faithful little soldier, whisper- 
 ing,-- 
 
 " Open, open the door.'' 
 
 " It is the little private," I said, " and he wants me 
 to open the door." 
 
 " Whatever you do," exclaimed the other two, 
 " don't let that man in, we should never get him 
 out. Remember, his orders arc ' not to let us out 
 of his sight.' " 
 
 So I return, " No, no ; sleepy, good night." 
 
 Then in piteous accents came, " Open, open, 
 please open ! " 
 
 " No, not even were it a parting nightcap from 
 the attentive Superior," but this he did not under- 
 stand, though he did our peremptory " No, good 
 night ! " and we listened to his departing footsteps 
 going downstairs. 
 
 Now what was his mission ? Alas, we shall 
 never know ! 
 
 At dawn, upon unfastening the shutters, I saw 
 the windows looked on a trellised vineyard, and 
 S 2 
 
260 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 there, perched on one of the walls, was our faithful 
 little soldier ; I began to wonder whether he had 
 been on guard all night. 
 
 At 5 a.m. came a rap loud enough to arouse the 
 whole monastery, and we went out to look at the 
 view. I was anxious to see if the distant monas- 
 teries could be seen from the flagstaff, but, unfor- 
 tunately, all our eyes rested on were clouds and 
 clouds of rolling mist. 
 
 Ariel's snowy pocket-handkerchief had suffered 
 much in that encounter with the cat, and this 
 morning he had been making desperate attempts 
 at a wash with much the same result at which I 
 arrived at Olympia, likewise the wind was too high 
 to put it out to dry, so in desperation he tied it to 
 the flagstaff and went away and promptly forgot 
 it. A cry now arose of coffee, and we proceeded 
 to strap up our rolls ready for departure ; then the 
 mediaeval boy brought in coffee, Ariel taking as it 
 were a back seat on one of the beds. He had 
 been eyeing those beds more than once and, when 
 he thought we were not looking, had given them 
 tender pokes as if testing their softness. Was it 
 indeed the fact, as Monsieur V. had declared, that 
 the ordinary Greek always slept on the floor ! 
 
 Under Ariel's auspices we now went to see the 
 large church whose arcades graced one side of the 
 irregular square ; this again was so dark it was im- 
 possible to see it properly. We passed through a 
 
Carving at Hagios Stephanos. 261 
 
 nave or large ante-chapel before reaching the body 
 of the church under the dome, which was decorated 
 with the usual half-figure of Christ, but we did not 
 notice any frescoes on the walls. Three bookcases 
 or lecterns of wood inlaid with ivory and mother- 
 of-pearl stood about, and remained as specimens 
 of the work that used to be turned out in the 
 monastic workshops, one or two valueless volumes 
 still gracing their empty shelves. The great 
 feature of the church, however, was the beautiful 
 ikonostasis of carved wood, Russian work that had 
 been brought from Constantinople (?) and given to 
 the monastery by one of the Turkish governors, so 
 at least we were told. It is of a light-coloured 
 wood which gives it rather a modern look and 
 slightly detracts from its beauty, which indeed is 
 very great, the whole of the altar-screen being one 
 mass of deeply-cut flowers and fruit. 1 The Archi- 
 mandrite's chair was also entirely made out of this 
 exquisite carving, but I could not help admiring 
 most a kind of canopied kneeling-stool which was 
 a lovely specimen of this light and artistic work. 
 In the midst of all this delicate carving we found 
 that the service-books rested on rough blocks of 
 plain wood slightly hollowed by long use. The 
 pictures on the ikonostasis were considered very 
 precious possessions, the frames were beautiful and 
 
 1 I thought I made out birds as well ; but it was really too 
 dark in the early morning to see the carving clearly. — I. J. A. 
 
262 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 the subjects much more pleasing than, usual ; but 
 with regard to Greek religious pictures I prefer the 
 ikons — you see less of the painting. Ariel said 
 there was carving in Kalabaka like this at Hagios 
 Stephanos. 
 
 Leaving the church, we crossed a little bridge 
 and entered the wooden corridor, which looked 
 very much like an old tithe-barn on piles. This 
 corridor runs the whole length of the cells, which 
 are here sixteen in number, and it is in a very 
 dilapidated condition, the wind whistling through 
 the loose sides and the ground below being visible 
 between the gaping planks. At one end of the 
 corridor a number of skins stuffed with oak leaves 
 were hung up to dry, and which in time would be 
 used as wine-skins. 
 
 We now proceeded to visit the cells, Ariel going 
 first and putting his ear to the door to listen if 
 anyone were within. All the cells appeared to be 
 constructed on the same principle, thus : the door 
 in the corridor opened into a short, narrow, dark 
 passage which led to a room lighted by a long 
 loophole, the floor of which was on two levels, a 
 balustrade dividing the lower from the upper where 
 the brother slept and where his blanket was now 
 neatly rolled up. In the lower level all was bare 
 save for a shelf in the wall on which sometimes 
 stood a vessel for water, and a large cupboard 
 which, according to Ariel, who poked his nose into 
 
The Brothers' Cells. 263 
 
 every corner, contained nothing but a piece of dry 
 bread. Above the door of one cell was a grand 
 design of red scroll-work, very like a child's first 
 effort, but we could not enter to see if the decora- 
 tion were continued within as Ariel declared some- 
 one was " snoring in there." The cell occupied 
 by the Hegoumenos had no dark passage but 
 opened direct on the corridor. It was slightly 
 lighter than the others and in one corner there 
 was an apology for a table, likewise he was 
 allowed the luxury of a Turkish washing apparatus. 
 His blanket was rolled up on the high level just 
 as in the other cells, and above his window, stuck 
 on to the wall, were several little pictures of 
 cats, some of which looked like political carica- 
 tures. We then and there registered a vow that 
 the most exquisite Christmas card of cats that 
 London could produce should be added to that 
 gallery of art. I fancy from Ariel's inexpressible 
 delight at so doing that he had no business to take 
 us into those cells. Clattering down an outside 
 wooden gallery, we were taken to the bell tower 
 where Ariel wanted us to try the bell, but as bells 
 are only rung in these monasteries on especially 
 joyful occasions or as a salute of honour, we de- 
 clined. Apparently Ariel considered the condi- 
 tions were fulfilled, for he pulled it himself, and of 
 course this brought out the brothers, who call each 
 other to prayer by the primitive method of banging 
 
264 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 a piece of wood or striking a rod of iron. We 
 then visited the refectory, a large vaulted room 
 which would have held two long tables easily, and 
 which looked musty, cold, and bare, with only one 
 small table and two narrow benches in one corner ; 
 there appeared to be the remains of a fresco at the 
 end of the room. We hoped to see the little 
 chapel better by the morning light, but in this we 
 were disappointed. We could make out the in- 
 terior of the dome and some of the carving a little 
 clearer, but the fourth century picture was entirely 
 in the dark, and whilst we were groping about in 
 search of it we were startled by the sound of 
 smothered laughter, and out from behind the 
 pillars came our gay muleteers. 
 
 We began by regarding our guard as merely 
 ornamental, we soon found out its useful qualities, 
 and we ended by partially believing that they were 
 required for protection. Once outside the monas- 
 tery, like our escort to Tempe, they never let us 
 out of their sight, indeed, whilst within the walls 
 Ariel had followed us about everywhere. From 
 what we heard, the brigands were not so very far 
 away from the Monasteries, and certainly this wild 
 country would have lent itself admirably for an 
 attack ; troops were out in all directions trying to 
 hem the brigands in, and it was expected daily 
 that they would do some daring act. Ariel seemed 
 to think that something dreadful would happen if 
 
Sketching under Difficulties. 265 
 
 one of us were out of his sight, and I had quite a 
 trouble to get out of the monastery to make a 
 sketch. 
 
 Owing to its curious position it was impossible 
 to obtain a satisfactory view of Hagios Stephanos 
 at close quarters, and it was only by walking some 
 way on the route to Hagia Trias that I could get 
 one that gave any idea of its extraordinary situa- 
 tion. Attended by one of the muleteers, I sat 
 down to sketch, well within sight of our party, who 
 were all grouped on the rocky platform outside 
 the monastery. Presently Miss C. and Edith 
 came sauntering up, and not appreciating the 
 wind, which was so cold that it brought tears to 
 the eyes, they strolled on and disappeared behind a 
 turn in the rocks. This was the signal for a tre- 
 mendous uproar from the platform. My muleteer 
 was sent after them with a flea in his ear ; Ariel, 
 shouting and gesticulating, came flying round the 
 curve, imploring them to come back ; if we had all 
 been on the point of being murdered he could not 
 have made more noise. It looked, however, as if 
 there might be danger in the air, for surely he would 
 not have made such a frightful row for nothing. 
 
 As we were about to leave, consternation seized 
 Ariel; we could not think what awful thing had 
 happened, the mediaeval boy was sent flying across 
 the bridge, the men stood in suspense, until the 
 boy's blue and white garments were once more 
 
266 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 seen, and in his hand he bore Ariel's no longer 
 snowy emblem which he had left tied to the flag- 
 staff. 
 
 The Hegoumenos came out on the rocks to 
 bid us farewell, and it was with great regret that 
 we prepared to take our last look at a place that 
 had been the scene of so unique an experience. 
 Again and again we thanked the Hegoumenos for 
 all his kindness, and trusted it was only an revoir. 
 He thanked us for the pleasure we had given him 
 in coming, and echoed our an revoir, then for a 
 moment he tried to look serious, but it would not 
 do, his eyes twinkled in response to the laughter 
 that leapt in ours, and amid a shower of smiles 
 and adieux we rode away, the speechless delight 
 and open mouth of the mediaeval boy being the 
 last object to fade from our sight. 
 
 We had been told that beside the donation in 
 the alms-box (which a Greek said should be five 
 francs each, and as much more as you liked to 
 add), an " adequate compensation " should be 
 given to the butler, and we had been much 
 exercised in our minds as to what would be 
 considered adequate ; nobody seemed to know. 
 As we inclined between five and three drachmas 
 we split the difference and gave him four, and 
 there was no doubt from his radiant face that this 
 was quite adequate. I mention this as it is so 
 difficult to know what is the amount expected in 
 
Adieu to the Monasteries. 267 
 
 these cases ; and if the visitor can spare more, let 
 that be added to the donation in the alms-box, 
 for these monasteries, deprived of the greater part 
 of their revenues, are no longer rich, Hagia Trias, 
 we understood, being exceptionally poor. 
 
 The animals that had been brought up for us 
 this morning, were, if possible, a greater scratch 
 lot to look at than we had had yesterday, not that 
 there was any fault to be found with their paces. 
 The saddles, or anyway the saddle that was 
 allotted to me, looked as if it would split up on 
 the slightest provocation, and the muleteer had to 
 hold it together whilst I scrambled on, for there 
 was not so much as a rope stirrup to help you up, 
 and the ground had more spring in it than the 
 very wooden knee of the faithful little soldier. 
 
 When mounted I demanded, — " Where is my 
 stirrup ?" 
 
 " It has been given to the other ladies," returned 
 that mendacious muleteer. 
 
 " No, no ; that won't do ! " 
 
 " You don't want it, you have only to balance 
 yourself so and so," laughed this audacious indi- 
 vidual, suiting the action to the word. " You will 
 be all right. Let us start, let us start ! " 
 
 As for balancing yourself, that is all very well 
 so long as you look straight before you — " between 
 your horse's ears" is an impossibility, as these 
 beasts make a point of coming down hill with 
 
268 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 their noses between their fetlocks ; but when you 
 are intent on the view above, below, behind, and 
 your animal goes swinging round a steep turn with 
 his nose to the ground, it feels very like shoot- 
 ing over its head, and nothing but a grab at the 
 tail can save you ; moreover, when not accustomed 
 to it, it is very tiring to ride for any length of time 
 with your legs dangling down in the air. The 
 rider should certainly strike for one stirrup, and 
 get two if she can. 
 
 Running my eye over my baggage, I noticed 
 that my opera glasses had disappeared, but before 
 I could ask for them my muleteer struck in with, 
 " They were not safe there, they would have fallen 
 out going down the hill ; " adding with a wink 
 ironical, " I have put them in my pocket, where 
 they are quite safe/' 
 
 I looked at his countenance, it was not exactly 
 of the cast to inspire unlimited confidence, and I 
 glanced at his clothes; though picturesque, I should 
 not have guessed that they contained a whole 
 pocket in them. By this move the men had the 
 glasses ready for use, and some of them hurried on 
 to get a. good stare at Tn'kkala, whilst the last I 
 saw was our rear-guard looking steadily through 
 the broad end. On arriving at the railway station 
 I found that they had passed into Ariel's keeping. 
 
 I fancy the most interesting way of returning to 
 the station would have been to have gone round 
 
That Audacious Muleteer. 269 
 
 by Hagia Trias, but we should have had to 
 walk the greater part of the way, and it would 
 have been a tremendous struggle against the wind ; 
 also Ariel objected to dividing the party, so it 
 ended in our all returning the way we had come. 
 On this side of the rocks there was no wind, the 
 sun had come out, making it quite warm, and as we 
 were glissading down the old causeway I thought 
 I heard suppressed sniggering, so I glanced behind 
 and saw my gay muleteer mincing along under 
 my umbrella, doing the English lady, no doubt. 
 Caught in flagrante delicto, his face took a deeper 
 tinge ; was it an attempt at a blush ? 
 
 " Ah," I said, " I see you are afraid of your com- 
 plexion," which was not lost on my faithful little 
 soldier, who communicated it to the rear-guard, 
 who shouted it out to the advanced guard, and 
 that audacious muleteer had a hot five minutes. 
 
 Winding down the cuckoo valley, we soon were 
 among the flowering trees and shrubs, and our 
 escort employed themselves in bringing us flowers, 
 my little soldier for ever presenting me with 
 wonderful little bouquets tied up with black thread. 
 I could not imagine where he got that thread 
 unless he pulled it out of a dirty piece of rag he 
 had for cleaning his gun. Ariel was very atten- 
 tive in hewing down with his sword all offending 
 scrags that threatened to take off our hats ; these 
 scrags are sometimes very dangerous, during our 
 
270 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 short experience we saw a lady receive a ghastly- 
 cut on her cheek from one. Among the trees and 
 flowers that grew here we noticed the sweet-scented 
 willow that had so struck us in the Vale of Tempe, 
 the yellow bladder nut, a dog rose with a very 
 large deep pink blossom, lupins, and red anemones. 
 As we rounded the foot of the huge rock on which 
 Hagios Stephanos stands Ariel and the two 
 privates, in true Greek fashion, rushed off over the 
 rocks to a spring of fresh water, which they said 
 was beautiful ! and a few more minutes brought 
 us to the station where we bid adieu to our escort 
 and gay muleteers. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Leave Kalabaka— Volo and the old cities in the neighbour- 
 hood — We are criticized by a Greek woman — Ther- 
 mopylae at sunset, and splendid view of Mount Par- 
 nassos— Khalkis, the Euripos, and Bay of Aulis — The 
 mines of Laurion — Beautiful position of the temple 
 on Cape Sunion — Arrive at Athens two days late, the 
 manager of our hotel thought we had been killed. 
 
 The station at Kalabaka was wonderfully clean, 
 so, as we had some time to wait, we thought we 
 would make tea ; the difficulty was to get water, 
 but the station boy, who had attached himself to 
 us yesterday and who had risen out of the ground 
 on our return, departed to a distant cafe and 
 returned with a tray of glasses of water, and of 
 course the inevitable Turkish delight, and was 
 much exercised in his mind to know what on earth 
 we could want with the former without the latter. 
 We had begun by giving this boy a copper when- 
 ever he did anything for us, a proceeding he greatly 
 appreciated ; he evidently calculated on making his 
 fortune out of us, and he looked with anything 
 but a pleasing eye of welcome upon Ariel, who 
 now swaggered in with a large cigar in his mouth, 
 the first-fruits no doubt of the tip he had received. 
 
272 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 The escort is most generously provided by the 
 Greek Government. All the traveller has to do is 
 to tip the leader, who, we understood, gave a 
 drachma to each man, and kept the rest for him- 
 self. 
 
 One thing that was so exceedingly comfortable in 
 this Thessalian trip was that everybody appeared 
 perfectly satisfied with what they received. The 
 drivers and muleteers in the first place might ask 
 for more, but when the price was once settled there 
 was an end of it ; it remains with travellers them- 
 selves if this happy state is disturbed. Of course 
 I do not include boatmen in these remarks, they in 
 all countries are past praying for. 
 
 The one train to Volo in the day leaves Kala- 
 baka at 9.50 a.m., and the station boy, fearful 
 that Ariel was going to cut him out of his coppers, 
 seized our baggage and bolted with it into the 
 train as soon as it came up from Karditsa. As 
 promptly we were turned out by a distracted 
 guard, and Ariel set on that over-zealous boy, draw- 
 ing his sword and with wild shouts chasing him half 
 way back to Kalabaka, then he returned to us 
 smiling. Certainly there was a wildness about 
 Kalabaka manners that was immeasurably refresh- 
 ing to the jaded Britisher. 
 
 In Greece for everyone that leaves by a train 
 ten remain behind, so when the station began to 
 get unpleasantly full we were permitted to take 
 
The Last of Meteora. 27% 
 
 our places, Ariel actually condescending to carry 
 some of our things, the adventurous boy who had 
 been hanging about outside, sneaking in and seiz- 
 ing the rest. The station grew fuller and fuller, 
 several privates who had been on leave turning up, 
 and to our disgust Ariel began to hold forth on 
 our late adventures to a choice audience, that 
 wretched joke of the krassi and watches being all 
 rehearsed, no doubt with many embellishments. 
 It was quite a relief when we suddenly saw the 
 calm face of the Hegoumenos of Hagia Trias. 
 Ariel immediately told him where we were, and he 
 came and greeted us most cordially before getting 
 into the train. We left Kalabaka amid a shower 
 of kalds, Ariel's white wings waving adieu being 
 the last object to fade from sight. One long 
 lingering glance was taken of the extraordinary 
 rocks of Meteora, and then we were obliged to 
 draw up the wooden shutters to keep the carriage 
 anything like decently cool. At Trikkala the 
 Hegoumenos of Hagia Tiias got out, but he 
 courteously came into our carriage to say good-bye 
 and to give us a final blessing. 
 
 When we reached the junction of Velestino we 
 had to get single tickets to Volo, but not to change 
 trains, and here whilst standing on the outside 
 platform of the railway carriage, we were inter- 
 viewed by two railway officials, one of whom spoke 
 a little English, the other a little French ; and 
 
 T 
 
274 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 who reeled off their questions in this wise : " Did 
 you go to the Vale of Tempe, had you an escort, 
 and were you frightened ? Have you been to the 
 Monasteries, and where did you sleep ? Hagios 
 Stephanos was good, but it was nothing to Hagia 
 Trias. Hagia Trias was the monastery you ought 
 to have seen." 
 
 " We have seen it, we went up." 
 " What ! they drew you up in the net ? " 
 " No, they would not let us go up in the net." 
 " But if you did not go up in the net how could 
 you see Hagia Trias, for the ladders are dangerous 
 and swing backwards and forwards, and we never 
 heard of ladies climbing them ? " 
 
 " But we did, and they pulled out and swung 
 just as you say." 
 
 "You climbed the ladders of Hagia Trias ! but 
 not the other ladies, not the tall lady who has gone 
 for the tickets, you did not all go up ? " 
 
 At last we convinced them that we had all been 
 up, and then they turned, and in a loud voice 
 announced to the whole station which was crowded 
 with men in fustanella, that " these English ladies 
 had been up the ladders, the ladders of Hagia 
 Trias," and our position was getting uncomfortably 
 prominent when mercifully the train moved on and 
 we left our admirers behind us. 
 
 On arriving at Volo the station appeared to be 
 more than ordinarily crammed, and to our horror 
 
Return to Volo. 275 
 
 we found that we were the special attraction, 
 people coming forward and shaking hands in the 
 most embarrassing way. There was nothing for it 
 but to make a bolt, and seeing our rolls being 
 carried off by unknown individuals, we followed 
 them, and were run into a carriage and driven off 
 without a question. As everybody seemed to 
 know more about us and our wants than we did, 
 we silently gave ourselves into their hands, and 
 shortly drew up before the Hotel de France, where 
 the smiling proprietor congratulated us on our safe 
 return. 
 
 It had been our intention on coming back to 
 Volo, to call upon our kind hostess of three nights 
 ago, but we were so utterly worn out by our days 
 of adventure and sleepless nights, that all we could 
 do was to go to bed. We found the Hotel de 
 France perfectly satisfactory in every way. It is 
 situated close to the landing stage, there is a clean 
 and good restaurant under the roof, and the 
 charges are most moderate ; as an instance, a bill 
 for supper, bed, and breakfast, tout complet, came 
 to six drachmas. As far as we saw, any English 
 person could stay here with comfort, and the 
 proprietor, who spoke French, was most obliging. 
 
 The Volo that we see to-day, stretching along 
 
 the shore, is quite a modern town, and derives its 
 
 name from the little village of Volo that lies some 
 
 two miles and a half inland. From being at the 
 
 T 2 
 
276 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 beginning of the present century simply a landing 
 stage for the neighbouring villages, it has become 
 the chief port of Thessaly, having developed with 
 extraordinary rapidity since the annexation. 
 Hardly a Turk now remains in the place, likewise, 
 with the exception of the large village of Lechonia 
 near the shore, the Moslems have all vanished 
 from the " four-and-twenty villages" that cluster 
 on the hills ; but the memory of them, we were 
 about to find, was still fresh in the hearts and 
 minds of some. Next to Larissa, Volo claims to 
 be the most important place from a commercial 
 point of view, notwithstanding dirty, thriving 
 Karditsa has a larger population, whilst Tn'kkala — 
 the beloved of our muleteers — in point of size 
 comes second to the capital, though as some half 
 of its inhabitants during the summer months are 
 out on the plains with their flocks and herds, it is 
 only in the winter months that it boasts of a 
 population of about ten thousand. 
 
 Mindful of our many warnings, we arranged to go 
 on board early to secure a cabin, but as it turned 
 out we need not have troubled ourselves, as we 
 were the only ladies on the steamer ; moreover, 
 although advertised to leave at noon, in point of 
 fact the boat did not start until a quarter to three, 
 the delay being caused by the number of sheep 
 and lambs she was taking on board ; indeed more 
 than half the boat was devoted to them. Edith, 
 
One Thousand and Fifty Sheep. 277 
 
 who had declared herself tired of " rocks and 
 foundations," said she " could look all day long 
 at these sweet little darlings ; " she was delighted 
 to have these " pretty little honey-doves " on board, 
 and she rushed off to kiss their " dear little black 
 noses." About 8 p.m. in the evening she was 
 heard to remark, " There is a very extraordinary 
 muttony odour about this ship." The next morn- 
 ing she announced that " there were too many 
 sheep on board, they ought not to be permitted to 
 carry so many," and as she sighted the Piraeus she 
 exclaimed, " that nothing on earth would ever 
 make her travel again with a cargo of horrid 
 sheep ! " 
 
 As we waited hour after hour on deck, we 
 turned our back on the modern flourishing 
 little town of Volo, and tried to clothe those rocks 
 with the world-renowned towns that once had 
 graced them. Near the village of Volo, on a 
 rocky spur of Mount Pelion, Iolkos once reared 
 " her airy wall " whence Jason must have looked 
 across at what Byron calls " the first old Greek 
 privateer, the Argo " riding at anchor in the har- 
 bour of Pagasse, ere he set sail with that mighty 
 and aristocratic company in search of the Golden 
 Fleece, which all lovers of books ought to main- 
 tain that indeed it was a beautiful skin covered 
 with writings in letters of gold. 
 
 Before us, to the south west of the town of Volo, 
 
278 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 we made out some crumbling walls running down 
 in the direction of the sea. This was the site of 
 Pagasae, the old port of the Pagasaean Gulf, which 
 appears to have been the outlet for all Thessaly, 
 and to have become very famous as the port of 
 the large city of Phera, known to us as Velestino. 
 Down to the time of the Romans, Pagasse was a 
 harbour of much importance, although the town 
 was practically depopulated when the city of 
 
 Demetrias was built at the beginning of the third 
 century B.C. It must have been here that Achilles 
 set sail with his intrepid Thessalians for the Trojan 
 war. We could fancy the strong agile natives 
 coming down from their fastnesses in the Pelion 
 range ; those old towns round Lake Boibeis (Karla) 
 whose ruins we had traced in the distance sent 
 forth their contingent, the rocks of Meteora must 
 have given her sons, even flowery Tempe was re- 
 presented. At Phera the sublime Alkestis sent 
 forth her son Eumelos with his matchless horses, 
 
 
 
The old Cities on the Gulf. 279 
 
 who by-the-way would have won for him the first 
 prize at the chariot race in the funeral games 
 instituted by Achilles in honour of Patroklos, had 
 that famous race been run on the square. And as 
 some fifty years before Asklepios had set out from 
 here with the Argonauts, so now from " Trika's 
 (Trikkala) towers " came his two sons, Podateirios, 
 specialist on brain and nerve diseases, and Machaon, 
 the eminent surgeon, to minister to the Grecian 
 warriors whilst encamped before Troy. Indeed a 
 good memory might pile incident upon incident, 
 so intimately associated is the ground of Thessaly 
 with the lives of the gods and heroes of old. 
 
 More than a thousand years after the Trojan 
 war, the city of Demetrias was built on the east 
 side of the Gulf, perhaps a mile from old Iolkos, 
 which place together with Pagasae were despoiled 
 of their inhabitants to populate this new town 
 founded by Demetrios Poliorketes, and which 
 became such a favourite residence of the Macedo- 
 nian kings. The situation of Demetrias, over- 
 looking the beautiful Pagasaean Gulf and backed 
 by the then dense woods of Pelion, must have been 
 very fine ; with the farther attraction of excellent 
 wine and unlimited sport in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. And now those three places, Iolkos, 
 Pagasae, and Demetrias, so famous in myth and 
 history, are represented by the pushing little 
 town of Volo, striving hard to stretch itself out 
 
28o Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 along the shore at the extreme head of the Gulf 
 of Volo. 
 
 Crowded out by the sheep, the natives swarmed 
 on the upper deck, and among them was a woman 
 clad in thick white muslin, a cloth embroidered 
 jacket, and with her head tied up in a yellow silk 
 scarf; we thought she was a Turk, but very soon 
 found out our mistake. At first she tried one of 
 our chairs, sitting on it gingerly as if she were afraid 
 it would come down, and she held on to it with one 
 hand like grim death whilst she looked through my 
 opera glasses. It was evident she was not accus- 
 tomed to sitting on chairs, and she soon gave up 
 the attempt and squatted down on the floor, where 
 she looked much happier, kindly inviting me to 
 follow her example, saying, — 
 
 " Cold where you are, much warmer here ; " and 
 she moved her sack, adding, " See, I have made a 
 place for you by my side." 
 
 The deck of a Greek boat, however, is not ex- 
 actly immaculate ; moreover, I did not wish to 
 miss the view, so I told her I wanted to see the 
 Gulf of Volo and all the beautiful towns on shore, 
 and she pointed out her village, Lechonia, and 
 told me the names of several of the four-and- 
 twenty villages. She then opened the sack which 
 contained all her worldly goods, and showed me 
 a loaf of bread and some pigeon's eggs, with 
 which she seemed very pleased, and offered me 
 
Friendly Overtures. 281 
 
 some dry peas which she kept constantly eating ; 
 but thinking discretion the wisest course when on 
 the tramp, I did not try those peas. 
 
 This woman was very anxious to tell us her 
 family history, which apparently had been one full of 
 tragedy. All the ills and woes of her life she laid 
 at the door of the Turks, whom she hated with the 
 hatred of past servitude; her daughter was dead, 
 she was alone in the world, and it was all owing 
 to the Turks ! Here no doubt was an interesting 
 episode of a past rule laid out before us, and I 
 could only anathematize my own stupidity for not 
 understanding it. As I could not comfort her in 
 words, I gave her some chocolate, which she said 
 was very good, and led her thoughts in other direc- 
 tions. She became desperately interested in all 
 that we possessed, criticized our garments by touch 
 not by sight, and picked out the one that was 
 made entirely of wool ; likewise she was very much 
 taken by the gold shot silk lining of my cloak, and 
 offered to exchange her old blue cloth jacket for 
 it, much to the amusement of the men who 
 clustered round. We compared rings, and she 
 begged hard to try ours on, and when decked with 
 them flourished her hands in the face of the scoffing 
 men, who pleasantly told her that she was a bird 
 dressed out in borrowed plumes which would not 
 even fit her, because on most of her fingers our 
 rings would not go over her knuckles. At first 
 
282 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 she seemed puzzled at this, and insisted on measur- 
 ing hands with me, which simply made the men 
 roar. 
 
 " Ah ! " she said, shaking her head at us, " you 
 have small hands because you ladies sit all day 
 with your hands folded before you so ; but I am 
 always washing, washing like this, and that is what 
 makes my hands big." 
 
 We tried to make her understand that though 
 we did not wash, we did other things with our 
 hands, but she would not believe it, evidently she 
 knew of no other occupation for a woman. It 
 ended in her exchanging a brass ring with a 
 dancing death-skull scratched on it — value one 
 half-penny — for an Egyptian ring of Miss C.'s that 
 took her fancy immensely ; but farther amenities 
 were put a stop to by the captain sending to know 
 if we would not prefer to come up aloft. 
 
 Here we had a splendid view of the exquisite 
 scenery of this beautiful coast, and caught a last 
 glimpse of Volo ere it faded out of sight. Passing 
 the island and the town of Trikeri, which our 
 Greek woman had assured us "had a castle and 
 was a beautiful place," we rounded Cape Stavro, 
 and now had Eubcea before us. Owing to our 
 calling at different stations our route was quite 
 changed to what it had been on our outward 
 voyage, and it was difficult on a fine day to 
 recognize the features of nature, which we had 
 
Mount Parnassos. 283 
 
 only seen through a veil of misty rain. This 
 time the steamer went into the Malian Gulf, and 
 we were staring hard at the hills about Ther- 
 mopylae, which were all bathed in a lovely soft 
 crimson glow from the setting sun, when suddenly 
 we were startled to see before us a great range 
 of snow mountains standing out clear against 
 the indigo sky above. We could hardly believe 
 that this was Mount Parnassos, and that these 
 snowy peaks that looked so near were the same 
 that we had seen in smiling daylight across the 
 Gulf of Corinth. It was a scene to leave a deep 
 impression on the mind — Parnassos and Ther- 
 mopylae, names ever sacred in classic religion and 
 history, viewed first under the glowing colour of 
 the setting sun, at a stroke to be plunged into 
 the cold blues of silent night. 
 
 The wind was bitter, a choking mist was rising 
 from the sea ; so regretfully we groped our way 
 among the sleeping forms that covered the deck, 
 and retired below, to dream of a procession of 
 those thousand and fifty sheep solemnly walking 
 in at one port-hole, and going out of the other. 
 
 It was 5 a.m. when we awoke, and we seemed 
 to be stopping in a bay, we had been told that we 
 should pass through the straits about 5.30, so 
 thought we had plenty of time ; but keeping one 
 eye on the port-hole, suddenly, to our horror, we 
 saw it obscured by what looked like a wall, and it 
 
284 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 dawned upon us that we were in the Euripos 
 already, and going through the narrow channel at 
 Khalkis. Before I could spring up to the port- 
 hole we were clear, and, looking back, it appeared 
 as if we had just come through a short but wide 
 lock ; it was curious, but a decided come down 
 from the towering rocks and aerial bridge that had 
 been described to us by a patriotic Greek. 
 
 Baedeker says that, prior to 41 1 B.C., the Euripos 
 at this point was wide enough to allow of a free 
 passage for the ships of that day, but that the 
 Eubceans partly filled it up in order to throw a 
 fortified bridge across the straits, and so prevent 
 the Athenian war ships from cutting them off 
 from Boeotia. Eubcea, which was then a garden of 
 fruits, was very necessary to Athens ; but although 
 the Eubceans succeeded in shaking oft" the Athenian 
 yoke, they generally allied themselves with them, 
 and only lost their independence with the rest of 
 Greece to Philip II. of Macedon, at the fatal battle 
 of Chaeronea, B.C. 338. After centuries of subjec- 
 tion at the hands of the" Macedonians, the Romans, 
 the Venetians, and the Turks, Euboea once more 
 became free when incorporated in the new king- 
 dom of Greece in 1830. 
 
 From the time the straits were narrowed a 
 wooden bridge is said to have always connected 
 the island with the mainland, and the present 
 descendant of these many bridges is a composite 
 
The Straits of Khalkis. 285 
 
 one, half stone, half wood, and it is the latter 
 which swings back ; but as the channel was kept 
 open the short time we stopped at Khalkis, we 
 were disappointed in seeing how the swing-bridge 
 looked when in position. In point of fact there 
 are two channels, an impracticable one which is 
 spanned by the stone bridge, and the practicable 
 one crossed by the wooden bridge ; the ends of 
 both these bridges appearing to rest on a rocky 
 
 -I ' i ' - ; : '• ■ ' <te 
 
 bastion that divided the two channels. We were 
 told that when the tides were -fractious it was 
 through this narrow strait that the sea tore ; the 
 current being so dangerous that even these big 
 coasting-steamers dare not attempt the passage. 
 The reason for the vagaries of the Euripos have 
 never been satisfactorily explained, and it is said 
 that there is no calculating upon them ; be that as 
 it may, we understood that our present captain 
 was very lucky in always hitting the Euripos at a 
 happy moment, and that .the knowing ones liked 
 to make a voyage with him. 
 
286 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Our boat amused itself by letting off steam the 
 whole time we remained at Khalkis, so that our 
 view was greatly clouded, but what we did see 
 conveyed an impression of extreme quaintness. 
 We seemed to be in a little oval basin, the 
 bridges shutting in one end, a rocky promontory 
 almost closing the other. Looking back, on the 
 left, rising up from the stone bridge, was an old 
 Turkish fortress guarding the entrance to the 
 mainland, no doubt on the site of the ancient 
 Greek fort built for the same purpose. On the 
 right was the interesting-looking town of Khalkis, 
 with its picturesque castellated Venetian walls 
 and towers running for some way along the shore, 
 and here as well as on the rocky bastion in the 
 middle of the bridge the Venetians have left their 
 lion of St. Mark. 
 
 Leaving Khalkis we hugged the Boeotian shore, 
 going so close in that it looked as if we must run 
 aground, but this was owing, I suppose, to the 
 fluctuating currents of this strange channel. Still 
 skirting the coast, we passed round another pro- 
 montory and entered the bay of Aulis, so interesting 
 to the Homeric student as the meeting place of 
 the ships ere they started for Troy ; and some- 
 where up among those low hills the attempted 
 sacrifice of Iphigeneia must have taken place. 
 Though the water appeared perfectly calm, we were 
 told that the whole of this passage was one of 
 
Tears, Sobs, and Turks. 287 
 
 great difficulty. Two men were kept at the wheel, 
 and the captain never moved from his perch above. 
 It was not until we had passed between a low- 
 lying tongue of land and some rocks on which was 
 a tower fast crumbling to pieces, that we were 
 assured that we had come through the Euripos 
 without a hitch, and as a proof that the dangerous 
 passage was over, the captain came down from his 
 perch to say good morning. 
 
 The poor Greek woman who had slept on deck 
 all night, came up to us shivering in her white 
 gown, which looked horribly out of place this cold 
 morning, and with her face hardly visible among 
 the folds of her yellow scarf; it appears that if the 
 natives only tie up their heads well they do not take 
 cold. Miss C, taking compassion on her, gave her 
 a present, upon which she burst into a torrent of 
 tears. At first we were afraid that her amour 
 propre had been offended, but soon we found it 
 was all her daughter and the Turks ; what however 
 with tears, sobs, and Turks, there was no making 
 out what she wanted. Happily smiles very soon 
 succeeded to tears in her case. 
 
 On this boat there was an immense variety of 
 costume, but as the men spent the greater part of 
 the day asleep, rolled up in their blankets, there 
 was not much opportunity of studying it ; the 
 shepherds all wore the fustanella, and there was 
 one enormous man, a regular Henry VIII., who 
 
288 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 
 must have had twenty yards at the very least in 
 his petticoat. They did not seem to trouble them- 
 selves much about the sheep, who according to 
 their general folly were lying on the top of each 
 other in some places, and leaving bare boards in 
 others. Whilst looking across at the sheep in the 
 fore-deck Miss C. said, " There is a man down 
 below who has been staring up at us for a long 
 time ; I think he is trying to catch your eye." 
 
 I looked down, and who should I see but a 
 private, who had been Ariel's most attentive 
 listener at Kalabaka station, and who had travelled 
 to Volo in the same train as we had. He at once 
 saluted ; of course we shouted down our greetings 
 and he sent up his kalds, and so delighted was he 
 with this shouting acquaintance that he called 
 together his brothers-in-arms, until there was a 
 group of blue-coated men, staring at the English 
 ladies who had been up the skalas of Hagia 
 Trias ! This was passable, but then if that 
 wretched private did not begin to repeat that un- 
 fortunate joke of the wine affecting the watches, 
 and we knew that by this time to-morrow it would 
 be known in every barrack in Athens, with what 
 addenda the gods only know ! Thus had it 
 followed us from Hagios Stephanos, and I sank 
 down on my chair and dejectedly murmured, 
 " Be sure your sin will find you out." 
 
 Passing: Eretria with its extensive ruins at the 
 
Pass Marathon. 289 
 
 foot of Mount Olympos (3848 feet) in Euboea, we 
 called at the village of Aliveri, and then steered 
 between little islands and the mainland for 
 Laurion. To our right Pentelicus reared his 
 marble head above the other mountains ; from his 
 summit we had seen how he looked down on 
 historic Marathon, but the plain was now hidden 
 from our view by the projecting peninsula of 
 Kynosoura. It seemed an interminable time 
 before we rounded that promontory, and were able 
 to look back at the red earth which marked the 
 battlefield of Marathon, and the mound which we 
 supposed was that raised over the graves of the 
 Athenian heroes. The view now became less in- 
 teresting, and as we had been gazing at the beauti- 
 ful scenery for upwards of five hours, we thought 
 this a good opportunity to pack up and refresh the 
 inner man ; it is in long stretches like this, where 
 you do not want to miss an inch of the landscape 
 that dry chocolate comes in so useful. Some 
 people maintain that chocolate is more sustaining 
 than wine and bread ; I did not find it so, although 
 I grant it is much nicer, but in this matter, as in all 
 cases of food, what suits one person is poison to 
 another ; each individual must suit himself or her- 
 self. 
 
 We steamed into the port of Laurion, where 
 among many small craft was a large English vessel 
 bearing the curiously clipped name of Goldsbro. 
 
 U 
 
290 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Laurion is a regular mining village, as ugly as any- 
 English one ; still we were glad to see that Greece 
 did possess one thriving mining district, and 
 although the mines are chiefly worked by French 
 companies, the miners we understood were Greeks 
 of a kind. Lead is the principal product of to-day. 
 but in early times they were worked for silver, and 
 proved a very valuable possession to the Athen- 
 ians. So early as the time of Pausanius (second 
 century A.D.) these mines had fallen into disuse, 
 and it is only in the middle of this century that 
 they have again risen into importance. Many of 
 the old workings are still left in their original state, 
 and must be very interesting to those who take an 
 interest in the ways and works of the ancient 
 Greeks. 
 
 These mines seem to be one of the fetishes before 
 which the regulation tourist considers himself 
 bound to bow, though from the very little satisfac- 
 tion that he appeared to get out of them, I could 
 not help thinking that he would have done better 
 had he taken a seat with that lady who, upon see- 
 ing her party being conducted up the Acropolis at 
 Athens, exclaimed, "Well, if you are going up 
 there, I shall just sit down and wait.''' 
 
 Virtuous resolve of an excellent woman ; only 
 think what her friends and companions were 
 spared ! 
 
 At Laurion bad sailors often land and return 
 
Cape Sunion. 291 
 
 by rail to Athens in order to escape the proverbial 
 rough passage round Cape Sunion. Three times 
 we were destined to double this cape, both night 
 passages were exceedingly rough, but to-day the 
 sea was perfectly smooth and all passengers 
 remained on board. Owing to the raggedness of 
 the coast line we saw the temple before the cliff 
 on which it stands, and from this point the spark- 
 ling white columns appeared to be poised in air as 
 
 if ready to take flight, and we thanked the gods 
 that we had been permitted first to see it from the 
 sea. Crowning the perpendicular cliffs of Cape 
 Sunion the situation is simply magnificent ; it was 
 meet that here in ancient times a temple should 
 have been erected to the guardian of the sea, but 
 Poseidon had to give way to the great Athene ; 
 beaten on the Acropolis, he was not even allowed 
 to watch over his own waters, and so the re- 
 christened Temple of Athene stands a pathetic 
 spectacle of the subservience of religion and of 
 U 2 
 
292 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 reason to political considerations. The temple is 
 built of marble, and eleven columns and a bit of 
 wall are still in position ; it is sad to think that 
 since the end of the seventeenth century eight 
 columns have fallen. Standing as it does on the 
 summit of a perpendicular cliff, the temple appears 
 to take a new form with every turn of the vessel, 
 and a rapid panorama of exquisite pictures was 
 reeled off before the eye had time to separate 
 them j but from every point the magnificence of 
 the situation was impressed upon the beholder, 
 our only regret was that it vanished from sight so 
 soon. 
 
 Of course on rounding Sunion we looked out 
 for the Acropolis, but we looked in vain, in point 
 of fact it was full two hours before we saw it. 
 Perhaps in ancient days the point of Athene's 
 spear might have been caught between the moun- 
 tains from some particular spot, anyway Athens 
 is now completely blocked out from view first by 
 the Hymettos range and then by Lykabettos ; 
 and to be strictly honest, Athens does not show up 
 well when approached by sea from Sunion. The 
 view, however, was not dependent on Athens. We 
 had left the rocky Island of St. George behind us, 
 Hydrea and the dim outline of the Argolic penin- 
 sula had faded out of sight, on the right Pentelicus 
 was ever turning a new face to us. The long, 
 graceful form of ALgina with its distinguishing 
 
That " Silver Chien." 293 
 
 peak was on our left, whilst Salamis lay ahead, 
 backed by the distant light blue hills near Corinth 
 and Kithaeron's pointed top. In this voyage and 
 in our sail from Nauplia to Athens we gained a 
 very good idea of what a tour among the islands 
 must be like, indeed when speaking to some who 
 had been on that trip we were amused to find 
 that we had seen the places which they especially 
 mentioned as the most beautiful. 
 
 In spite of the beauty of the view we were very 
 glad when the steamer anchored in the Piraeus, 
 and our comfortable hotel became a factor in the 
 immediate prospect. The captain and the mate, 
 whom we had found most courteous throughout 
 the voyage, amused us very much by asking if 
 we would not return to Volo soon ? But we 
 thought that one journey with a thousand and 
 fifty muttons on board might last for a lifetime. 
 
 At our hotel we were received with the news 
 that friends were waiting to see us, that others had 
 been inquiring every day to know if anything 
 had been heard of us ; whilst the unanimous 
 opinion seemed to be that we must have come 
 utterly to grief. 
 
 "You know," exclaimed the manager, "you 
 are two days later than you said, and I thought 
 you had been killed by the bry-gans ! " evidently 
 that " silver chien " had been hanging heavy on 
 his soul. 
 
294 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece 
 
 One word on this trip. I should not wish 
 anyone to be led astray by what I have said into 
 thinking that they could do as we had done 
 without discomfort. On this point the warnings 
 we had received were true, comfort did not come 
 into the category at all ; we were not disappointed, 
 for we did not expect it. With regard to boats, we 
 were exceptionally fortunate both in going out and 
 coming back ; in one we had the large ladies' 
 cabin practically to ourselves, in the other we were 
 first put into a miserable narrow hole among the 
 men's quarters, but immediately transferred into a 
 state apartment which we had all to ourselves, and 
 could not have been more comfortable in any boat. 
 Having experienced the food in a Greek steamer 
 when we had our dragoman to superintend it, we 
 did not so much as look at what was provided 
 either going or returning. Perhaps it was a mis- 
 take not to have tested it, but meals always came 
 on just when the scenery was particularly interest- 
 ing, moreover we were told by a young Greek that 
 " the food was beastly," which we could easily 
 imagine, as there came up from the kitchen so 
 powerful an odour that for a space even the 
 "bouquet de mouton " was drowned. The bread, 
 however, was all right, not in the least mouldy, 
 and the oranges good, but we had to pay three- 
 pence a piece for the latter. Had the vessel been 
 crowded with Greek ladies and children, and had 
 
Remarks on this Trip. 295 
 
 it been detained a day by the fickle Euripos, our 
 experience would have been very different, and 
 that boat no doubt would have become a veritable 
 inferno ; as it was, those thousand and fifty sheep 
 at such close quarters almost made Liebig and 
 bread impossible. We lived on the memory of our 
 laughable experiences and our mind was satisfied, 
 although our body called aloud for recognition. 
 
 No doubt if we had taken a dragoman with us 
 things would have been arranged to have approxi- 
 mated more closely to our English idea, but then 
 we should not have had one quarter of the 
 amusement which we managed to get out of this 
 trip. We should not have had so many natives 
 claiming our acquaintance, the Hegoumenos 
 of Hagios Stephanos would never have so 
 unbent ! we should have missed Ariel's quaint 
 way of waiting on us ; besides, we had accomplished 
 our object, which was to show the hollowness of 
 the assertion that it was impossible for ladies to 
 make this trip alone. We flattered ourselves that 
 we had proved that any woman — who did not 
 mind roughing it, and would take the chance of 
 upsetting her digestion — could accomplish this 
 journey with ease, and if she had a laugh in her, 
 derive a great deal of amusement from it ; more- 
 over the whole trip only cost us about 5/. each. 
 
 At the time we went Greek boats alone were 
 running between Athens and Yolo. Although 
 
296 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Messrs. Gaze could not book us for these steamers, 
 they gave us the time of their leaving the Pirseus, and 
 told us we could take our tickets on board, which 
 saved us a journey to the Company's offices. On 
 arriving at Volo we found it safest to ascertain 
 there the exact hours the steamers started, and the 
 day or days they did not intend to run ; armed 
 with this knowledge and a time-table, the traveller 
 can plan out his tour at pleasure. As the time of 
 starting the boats did not appear to be permanent, 
 it is useless to give the information we collected on 
 this point, but as we had found it so very difficult in 
 Athens to get an exact idea as to the actual time 
 this trip took, perhaps the accompanying outline 
 of our tour may be useful to the future traveller. 
 
 Thursday. Left Piraeus at 7 p.m., slept on 
 board. 
 
 Friday. Arrived at Volo 7 p.m., slept at Volo. 
 
 Saturday. Left Volo 7.30 a.m., Larissa 10.22 
 a.m., looked at town. 
 
 Sunday. Started for Vale of Tempe 6 a.m., 
 returned 7.15 p.m. 
 
 Monday. Left Larissa 8.2 a.m., Kalabaka, 2.48 
 p.m., visited Hagia Trias, and slept at Hagios 
 Stephanos. 
 
 Tuesday. Left Kalabaka 9.50a.m., Volo 4 p.m., 
 slept at Volo. 
 
 Wednesday. Left Volo at 2.45 p.m., slept on 
 board. 
 
HOW TO SEE TEMPE. 297 
 
 Thursday. Arrived at Piraeus 5 p.m. 
 
 A day can be saved in two ways. If only a 
 short excursion is made to the Vale of Tempe, a 
 carriage can be ordered to be ready at the Larissa 
 station, and in that way only one night need be 
 passed at Larissa. This however appears to be a 
 decided mistake, as the most interesting part of the 
 Vale cannot possibly be seen ; indeed I should 
 strongly urge anyone who was really interested in 
 the Vale to allow fourteen hours for the trip ; or, 
 better still, pass a night at the large Khan close to 
 the entrance of Tempe. Without however cutting 
 short the Vale of Tempe expedition, a night at 
 Volo can be saved by reversing our route and 
 going first to Kalabaka and the Monasteries, as 
 the 8.2 a.m. train from Larissa arrives at Volo 10.13 
 in time for the boat. Again I would advise anyone 
 coming so far to give another day at the Monas- 
 teries, so as to be able to go and see the Great 
 Meteora and Hagios Barlaam ; even if they were 
 not ascended, their extraordinary situation must 
 be well worth seeing, besides in the journey to and 
 fro, most interesting peeps must be obtained of 
 the curious rocks, and of the unique position of 
 Hagia Trias. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 From our experience of Greece we came to the 
 conclusion that we could have come through the 
 Peloponnesus perfectly well by ourselves, taking a 
 native guide from place to place. Thus, when we 
 were at Andritssena, only one day's ride across 
 country would have brought us to Megalopolis 
 (the special preserve of the British Archaeological 
 School) where we could have dispensed with the 
 further services of a guide, as we were told that from 
 that place we could drive in six or seven hours to 
 Tripolitza, and there rail to Athens, the Corinth 
 and Sparta line having been carried southwards 
 as far as Tripolitza. Of course food and lodging 
 would have been the difficulty, and it would have 
 been absolutely necessary to have taken some 
 provisions with us, also we should have tried very 
 hard to have got the loan of a sheet. 
 
 I do not for one moment recommend this way 
 of seeing Greece; it is much better to take a drago- 
 man and have things comfortable, to be able to 
 set up your tent where you will, and have leisure 
 to poke into any corner that takes your fancy. I 
 
The Courteous Greek. 299 
 
 only mean that as far as we could make out it was 
 a perfectly practical way, and one that any 
 individual could take did he or she wish to 
 economize. 
 
 As for danger, there appears to be none ; the 
 excitement in the spring of 1892 was quite abnor- 
 mal, and no doubt the country has now settled 
 down into its usual state of peacefulness and 
 security. Personally, we can bear the highest 
 testimony to the courtesy and kindness of all 
 those with whom we came in contact, from the 
 shock-headed Leonidos of Olympia, to Madame 
 Sophie Tricoupis, the intellectual sister of the 
 present Prime Minister, who, although occupied 
 with a room full of politicians, yet found time to 
 receive us with that cordiality and charm for 
 which she is so justly renowned. 
 
 This remarkable woman is said never to go out, 
 her doors are thrown open from ten in the morn- 
 ing to ten at night, and the world comes to her, 
 from the king to the shepherd. The room in 
 which she received us was a beautiful bower of 
 india-rubber trees, palms, and roses, the offerings, 
 we were told, of her many admirers and friends. 
 
 In Greece all the places of interest and treasures 
 of art are thrown open in the most generous way 
 to the public. Nevertheless, I think a few money- 
 boxes in various museums would enable many 
 foreigners to contribute to the Archaeological 
 
300 Two Roving Englishwomen in Greece. 
 
 Society, who are wishful to give, but cannot afford 
 large sums. 
 
 Another agreeable feature which struck us very 
 much was the absence of that official fussiness 
 which, in some continental countries, would be 
 so intolerable were it not so absolutely absurd. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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