as to lose sight of him. One of the guides, who had left them to search for some one to give him information, at length returned, and said he had discovered a cave, which was sheltered from the winds at least, but whether it were dry or not he could not tell.

"Oh lead us to it," said Edward, " and we will soon kindle a fire, and with light and warmth we shall be screened from many ills."

"How will you strike a light?" said Antonio.

"Lend me your knife," replied his young friend, “ and we will do as the savages do in America.”

When they arrived at the cave, the doctor was shivering with cold, and the two youths and the guides having collected some dried leaves, with some branches of fir, they soon kindled a blazing pile, which revived the good man for a time, but he was evidently affected by the cold more than he chose to confess. The cave too was damp, and in their joy at feeling the genial glow of the fire, our young travellers forgot that it drew the damps more powerfully around them. Antonio was the first to see a sensible alteration in his friend, and upon asking him how he did, and receiving an answer that he felt very poorly, both Edward and the young Italian evinced the strongest marks of sensibility.

"Stay with him," said the latter, "I will find a house and comfortable refreshment if these inhospitable mountains will produce it."

He did not wait for an answer, but bounding-with the rapidity of a goat over the uneven surface of the mountain, he was soon out of sight. Dr. Walker was extremely uneasy respecting him, but Edward assured him he would soon return, and so indeed he did, accompanied by a shepherd,, who offered his humble dwelling with more courtesy than they were wont to find in the inferior classes of society they had lately associated with. Supported between his youthful friends the Doctor preferred walking to mounting his horse, and in the course of half an hour, he was warmly and dryly, if not very comfortably Jodged in the peasant's hut. They were, however, detained two or three days in this sequestered spot, by a slight indisposition of the Doctor.

In a few days Dr. Walker, feeling himself much renovated, mounted his horse, and they proceeded merrily on to Martino.

SECTION VII.

JOURNEY THROUGH GREECE.

THE day after their arrival they made an excursion along the banks of the Larmi, the ancient Cephisus. From the midst of rocks and bushes, at the foot of a low cliff, the river bursts with considerable force. A little above its source there is a small plain tolerably cultivated and bounded with a low ridge of rocks to the west. The view from these is fine: the lake of Copais, into which the mountains of Boeotia jutted in broad headlands; sometimes they were bare to their base, sometimes a rich scene of cultivation skirted their inferior parts, and presented a fine picture. Beyond the lake stretched the plains of Haliartus and Orchomenus, bounded by the snowy ridges of Parnassus, which towering above the surrounding scenery lifted its proud head to the skies.

"What a melancholy view does this fine country present," said Dr. Walker, "the rising of the waters of this lake in the winter time, is so great as to turn the richest soil in the world into a morass. In the winter time the shepherds and goatherds convey their respective flocks to a more genial clime, that of Attica.

"The origin of this celebrated lake is supposed to have arisen from the river Cephisus, which stagnating in the lower part of the plain, formed at first a shallow lake, which has encreased in succeeding years, till it has become what you now see it. A fissure so common in lime-stone rocks received part of the superfluous waters, and it is said that this water has a subterranean outlet. Square pits have been dug at different times in order to receive the waters which occasionally threatened to overwhelm the whole plain. Rice, cotton, and tobacco, are now planted near the lake, and the more distant parts with wheat and barley."

They returned to their cottage, pleased with their excursion, and the next day having crossed the plain of Cephisus, they arrived at Daulis, inhabited by the laborious Arnauts.

Although Daulis contains only sixty cottages, yet it possesses no less than eighteen churches! The same disproportionate number of churches is seen throughout most parts of Greece, where the Turk is either too weak or too liberal to prevent it. These consecrated edifices are however, in general, composed only of four loose walls, which are formed of ancient fragments, and without a roof. The altar is frequently nothing more than a slab of marble, with an inscription underneath, supported by the block of an ancient column, or the pedestal of a statue. The churches at Daulis are so diminutive, that all except, four

escaped their notice; one of them is in the Acropolis. The Greek priests, as an expiation for great misdeeds, sometimes impose upon their penitents the construction of a church; and if we may be permitted to draw general conclusions from this well known fact, we must infer, that the proportion of sinners in Greece is very great. The doors, even of the better kind of churches, are commonly so narrow, as to admit only one person at a time; and this is done in order to prevent the Turks from converting them into stables, by turning in their horses, which they frequently do, when the door is sufficiently capacious.

The bread in this part of the country is very bad, but they were fortunate in arriving at Daulis before the Greek priest had devoured all the delicious white bread which had been presented to him on the 10th of March. They purchased several of the fine loaves from him, after he had blessed them, which operation is supposed to render them more salubrious to the body, as well as more agreeable to the taste.

Upon entering the rude mountains of Parnassus they were agreeably surprised to meet with fruitful and picturesque valleys in the midst of rocky and barren peaks, for in this part of the mountains the pine is almost the only tree to be seen. In about five hours they arrived at Delphos, the ancient Delphi. "Now," said Dr. Walker, " approach with reverence the Castalian spring, of which the Delphian priestess of Apollo used to drink ere she uttered her mystic prophecies."

The silence which followed this advice was first broken by Edward's repeating the following beautiful lines by Pope to a nymph of a grotto; which he appplied to the Delphian priestess.

66

Nymph of the grot, these sacred springs I keep,

And to the murmur of these waters sleep;

Ah spare my slumbers! gently tread the cave,
Or drink in silence, or in silence lave."

"What!" exclaimed the Doctor, "has not Parnassus inspired you with an original lay. Come, Antonio, let us hear something from you."

Antonio complied with the Doctor's request, and in his own native language poured forth his unpremeditated lay, with a sweetness that would not have disgraced the Delphian priestess herself.

The Castalian spring which oozes from the rock, was in ancient times introduced into a hollow square, where it was retained for the use of the Pythia and the oracular priests. Some steps that are cut in the rock formed a descent to this bath. The face and sides of the precipice, which inclose the spring, have been cut and flattened: it was no doubt anciently covered in; for it cannot well be imagined that the Pythoness laved her holy limbs in open day. A circular niche, which was probably designed for a statue, is cut in the face of the rock: a small

arch and passage is seen on the western side a little above the usual level of the spring: this was made to let off the superfluous water. At the opposite side is the diminutive chapel of St. John, which seems to have been contrived in order to exhibit the triumph of the cross, over the adoration of Apollo and the Muses.

The fountain is ornamented with pendant ivy, and overshadowed by a large fig-tree, the roots of which have penetrated the fissures of the rock, while its wide spreading branches threw a cool and refreshing gloom over this interesting spot. At the front of the spring they were gratified by the sight of a majestic plane tree, that nearly defends it from the rays of the sun, which shines on it only a few hours in the day. Homer, in his Hymn to Apollo, mentions the fount Delphonsa at this place; probably meaning the Castalian.

Above the Phædriades is a plain, and a small lake, the waters of which enter a kutabathron, or chasm: and it is probably from this that the Castalian spring is supplied. The superfluous water, after trickling amongst the rocks, crosses the road, and enters a modern fount, from which it makes a quick descent to the bottom of the valley, through a narrow and rocky glen, fringed with olive and mulberry trees, when it joins the litle river Pleistos, and enters the sea near the ruins of Kirra. While they were at Delphi, the Castalian spring was flowing in a copious stream, and formed several small cascades, the appearance of which was highly picturesque.

The sides of the fountain were covered with fine water cresses, to whose wholesome properties as an eatable, the natives were perfect strangers. They were, however, induced to taste them by the example of our travellers, and appeared highly delighted with the flavour*.

Some traces are still left of the ancient magnificence of this interesting spot; and at Delphos many valuable inscriptions have been discovered. From Delphos they proceeded to Charonæa now Caprana, where there are a few inscriptions and the remains of a theatre. They now hired guides to conduct them along the northern part of the plain of Cephisus till they arrived at Thermopyla, immortalized by the death of the patriotic Leonidas, and his three hundred Spartans.

They were now in Thessaly, but understanding from their guides, that it would be more advisable to take a boat and proceed to Volo, a town on the sea coast, about thirty eight miles south of Larissa; they followed their advice, and embarked for that purpose.

After landing at Volo, they resumed their journey by land, and proceeding in a northern direction they slept at Ambelakia a Greek town, overlooking the vale of Tempe, during their stay

This circumstance is mentioned in Dodwell's Tour in Greece.

in this town. They made excursions to the mountains Pelion and Ossa, from whose summit they could clearly distinguish how the Peneus forced its way through the rocks towards the sea. Edward was extremely impatient to visit Tempe.

"And pray Edward," said the Doctor, "tell me how your imagination has pictured this celebrated vale?

66

"Why I should suppose,” replied the youth, a beautiful undulating plain, watered by meandering streams, enriched with all the beauties of the vegetable world, and guarded from all intruding eyes by inaccessible rocks and mountains."

"Like the happy valley in Rasselas," rejoined his friend. "Just so," said Edward, but when, sir, shall we view this 'sweet spot; to-morrow?"

"Yes, to-morrow," was the reply.

Anxiously was the morrow expected, and at day break, in the 'cool of the morning, they entered the Booaz, as the pass of Tempe is now called, through a rocky dell, for which they were prepared by the gradual closing in of the mountains on either side of them. In the middle of this pass runs the Peneus, inclosed by rude rocks. As they procceded the banks of the river were shaded by groves of the oriental plane tree. The road through this pass, which is so narrow as only to admit the Peneus, is formed by man, and it is even broad enough for wheel carriages. In some places it is paved along the edge of the river, in others it is cut out of the solid base of the rock, twenty or thirty feet above the level of the water. Towards the eastern end of this vale the road rises much higher, for the rocks here shoot perpendicularly from the water.

"And this," exclaimed Edward, as he viewed the wild and romantic scenery around him, "this is the vale of Tempe; these steep rocks and wooded heights, this dark and silent stream."

“And yon gushing fountain," interrupted the Doctor, “those beautiful plane trees, from which are suspended in such rich luxuriance, the blushing vine, those gay festoons which hanging from branch to branch dip their verdant leaves, in the renowned Peneus, these form the picturesque beauties of the vale of Tempe !"-" And now, young gentlemen," continued the Doctor, let us halt and refresh ourselves, for although in the vale of Tempe, Il faut bien Qu' Arnoul dine."

His young friends had no objection to partake with him of his frugal repast, and seating themselves on the base of the rock, they never perhaps, more enjoyed any refreshment. Having wandered for some time in this secluded spot, the beauties of which have been so greatly exaggerated, at least if the scenery is not extremely changed, they returned to Ambulakin; and going a little out of their way on their return to Volo, they visited the plains of Pharsalia. From Volo they again embarked, and sailing up the gulf of Salonichi, they landed at the city of

the same name.