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practicable at any particular moment. Any advice so given should never be neglected.

Money. The circular notes of the principal London bankers may be negotiated at Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Patras, Athens, or Syra; but if the tour is to be extended into the interior, or indeed in any case, it is advisable to be also provided with a letter of credit on a banker at Corfu, Athens, or Syra. În distant towns, and where the communication is uncertain, the banker runs a risk, and sometimes will object to give money on a single circular note, since, if the ship by which he sends it to England should be lost, he loses all. Bills on London, numbered 1, 2, 3, are preferred, each being sent by a different vessel.

One of the many advantages resulting from the employment of a regular Athenian courier is this: it precludes the necessity of carrying money into the interior of the country. The traveller pays his servant in one sum at the end of the whole journey, or on his arrival at a large town where there is a bank. The comfort of such an arrangement is obvious: cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator. Those who do not choose to avail themselves of it should at least endeavour to procure letters on Consular Agents, or merchants, from district to district, so as to carry as little coin as possible with them. The bag of dollars and smaller change must be carefully watched by day, and used as a pillow by night. (For money, see Special Introductions.)

Passports.-Foreign Office passports can be had for 2s. 6d., by applying in Downing-street with a letter of recommendation from a banker or magistrate, and no British subject should travel with other credentials, either in the Levant or elsewhere. The traveller starting from England for Greece, across the Continent, should have his passport vise in London by the Ministers of the principal States through which his route lies; but the visa of the Greek authorities themselves is not necessary until he is setting out on a tour in the interior of the country. He must then apply to the police or local officials at Athens, or some other chief town of a district, for a pass, which is generally necessary to enable him to hire boats, &c., and which is sometimes, though not often, required to be shown at the stations of the gensdarmes (xwpopuλakes), established in all directions.

In 1869 the Turkish Government issued a notice that no traveller would be allowed to enter the Turkish territory without a passport. This regulation is not always adhered to; but trouble may arise from neglecting to comply with it. If one, therefore, wishes to enter the Ottoman dominions from Greece, one should procure the visa of the British authorities and of the Ottoman Consul at Corfu or Athens. On arrival at the first large town which is the residence of a Governor (Joánnina, for instance), one must provide oneself with regular Turkish passports. These are of three classes -the Firmán, the Buyourouldi, and the Teskereh. The first can only be granted by the Sultan, or by a Pasha of high rank. It is procured at Constantinople, by the aid of the Embassy or Consulate. But a Buyourouldi and Teskereh will generally answer the purpose required, and can be granted by all Pashas and Governors of provinces. The Teskereh is the provincial passport for the traveller and his attendants; and the Buyourouldi is a general order of recommendation to officials of every class. Fortified with these documents, one has a right to require lodgings at the houses of the Christians in every town and village of Turkey, and to be furnished by the Menzil, or Government Post, with horses at the same price as is paid by the Imperial couriers. The traveller, provided with the proper Turkish credentials, will rarely find it necessary to use his English passport; it will only be in case of any difficulty, or of his being forced to apply to the authorities for redress, that he will have occasion

to present it. It is usual, however, when he pays his respects to a Pasha, for the dragoman (interpreter) to show it to his Excellency or to his secretary; and it is sometimes convenient, in order to enable the British Consuls themselves to be certain of the traveller's identity. When a Turkish passport is procured, the traveller should endeavour, in order to preclude the possibility of future trouble or annoyance, to have his own name and title fully and distinctly set forth in it, as also the names of the districts which he intends to visit, the number of his attendants, and of the horses which he requires; with any other directions which he may consider useful. It will be satisfactory, moreover, to obtain, if possible, a translation of the Ottoman passports. In European Turkey they are sometimes written both in Turkish and Greek.

d. CLIMATE AND SEASONS FOR TRAVELLING.

Each separate country of the East should, if possible, be visited at the season of the year best suited for travelling in it, as the pleasure of the journey is thereby vastly increased; and it is, moreover, desirable in point of health that this plan should be pursued.

The following distribution of time is recommended for the grand tour of the Levant.

January and February are agreeable months to spend at Corfu and Athens. At that season it is usually too cold and stormy, and the rivers are too much swollen, to render a journey in the interior of Greece convenient, or, in some parts, even practicable. In these two months there is excellent shooting to be had from Corfu, which is the best head-quarters for a sportsman.

March, April, and May can be devoted to the inland districts of Greece, and to Albania, Thessaly, and Macedonia. This period, though short, will enable an energetic traveller to visit the most interesting localities, and to obtain a general idea of the whole country. June and the early part of July may be occupied with the Islands of the Egean Sea, the Seven Churches of Asia, and the Plain of Troy.

During the rest of July and August one should remain quietly at Constantinople, or in one of the villages of the Bosphorus, which, at that season, are cooler than any other situation in the Mediterranean. The summer is seldom oppressively hot there. A tour of Syria and the Holy Land may be accomplished in the three succeeding months. Egypt should be visited in winter, and the ascent of the Nile commenced, if possible, in November. The tour of the southern portion of Asia Minor should be made early in the spring.

Travellers who leave England early in autumn would do well to reverse a portion of the above routes; beginning with Malta and Egypt; then procoding across the desert to the Holy Land and Syria, and so reaching Greece by the steamers from Beyrout to Syra and Athens, before the spring is far advanced.

In no country of the same extent is so great a variety of climate to be found as in Greece. Sir W. Gell, travelling in the month of March, says that he left Kalamáta, on the shore of Messenia, in a summer of its own, Sparta in spring, and found winter at Tripolitza, on the upland plain of Arcadia. In September, when the heat at Argos is still great, winter will almost have set in on the neighbouring mountains of the Peloponnesus. The advantage of this variety of climate is, that journeys in Greece may, if necessary, be performed at all seasons. But spring and autumn-and particularly the former-should be selected by travellers who have liberty of choice. By those who are acquainted only with the hazy atmosphere of

the north, the bright sun and cloudless skies which then gild this favoured land can scarcely be imagined. The duration of winter is short, but while it lasts the cold is severely felt, in consequence, partly, of the bad construction of the houses. It may be said to end with February, when the traveller may commence his excursions in the lowland districts, advancing towards the mountainous regions as the heat increases. April and May are decidedly the best months, as being free from the burning heats of summer, and also, in a great measure, from liability to sudden and violent rains, which is the great objection to the winter, and also partially to March, October, and November, when the weather, though usually delicious, is uncertain. On the whole, therefore, let the traveller in Greece choose, if possible, the period from the middle of March to the middle of June, when the deep blue of the sky and the sea, the genial but not sultry brilliancy of the sun by day, and the balmy air of the night, all bespangled with fire-flies;-when the silvery asphodels in the valleys, and the flowering myrtles on mountain and shore; when the fragrance of the orangegroves, and the voice of the nightingale and turtle betoken the spring-time of the East. Those only who have "dwelt beneath the azure morn" of Hellas (Theocritus, xvi. 5) can conceive the effect of her lucid atmosphere on the spirits in this delightful season, or realize the description of the Athenians of old by one of their own poets as "ever lightly tripping through an ether of surpassing brightness" (Eurip., Med., 825). Let the traveller in Greece, go forth on his way rejoicing (Aristoph., Clouds, 1008)

ἦρος ἐν ὥρᾳ χαίρων ὅποταν πλάτανος πτελέα ψιθυρίζῃ.

"All in the gladsome spring, when Plane to Elm doth whisper."

e. MAXIMS AND RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH; MALARIA; QUARANTINE.

The climate of Greece is, generally speaking, healthy, except in the height of summer, and in the early autumn. The hottest months are July, August, and part of September. It is in August and September chiefly that danger is to be apprehended from sickness. Fevers are then prevalent, especially in the marshy districts and in the vicinity of lakes; and natives, as well as foreigners travelling in the interior at that season, sometimes fall a sacrifice to them. In order to avoid such dangers the following brief directions should be observed: not to sleep in the open air, or with open windows during those months; not to drink cold water when heated, nor to be exposed to the burning sun in the middle of the day; not to indulge in eating or drinking too freely; raw vegetables, such as cucumbers, and salads, and most fruits, to be eschewed. The abundance of fruit is a great temptation, but nothing is more pernicious, or more likely to lead to fatal consequences. Whatever their plans, and to whatever part of the East they may bend their steps, travellers should steadily keep in view the necessity of caution in avoiding all known causes of sickness in countries where medical aid cannot always be readily procured. Malaria.-In Sir Thomas Watson's Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic, Nos. 40, 41, 42, will be found an excellent account of ague, intermittent fever, and of the malaria which produces it. That subtle poison is thickly distributed over the fairest regions of the world; blighting human health, and shortening human life, more perhaps than any other single cause whatsoever. Known only by its noxious effects, this unseen and treacherous enemy of our race has yet been tracked to its haunts, and detected in some of its habits. It is useful, therefore, for travellers and residents in the East to learn how the malaria may sometimes be shunned, sometimes averted, and how its effects on the human body may be success

fully combated. Swampy and confined situations, particularly where there is a quantity of vegetation in decay, are more likely than any other localities to produce malaria. A knowledge of this fact, combined with greater security from robbers, caused so many of the villages in the south of Europe to be built high above the plains. Over-exertion, fatigue, and anything bringing on debility, are calculated to assist the influence of malaria, which is more dangerous by night than by day, and in autumn than at any other season. Quinine, is the grand specific against it: the doses to vary according to the disease and the patient. No Eastern traveller should be without a small bottle of quinine pills, and a few simple directions for their use.

Quarantine.-Liability to detention in a lazaretto formed, until late years, a serious drawback to the pleasures of an Eastern tour. The duration of quarantine sometimes amounted to the full probation of 40 days, from which the term is derived; and it rarely was less than 10 days, even when the vessel arrived with a clean bill of health-i. e., when no plague or other contagious disorder existed in the place of departure. Recent alterations have affected a complete revolution in this respect; and travellers are not now exposed to a tenth part of the vexations which formerly perplexed them. The quarantine in most cases is practically abolished. The quarantine rules are, however, liable to constant fluctuations, as they are regulated chiefly by the state of health in Turkey, or in whatever country the vessel has last communicated. If the traveller should have the misfortune to sail in a vessel with a foul bill of health, it will be useful for him to remember that the best lazarettos in the Levant are those of Syra, the Piræus, Corfu, and Malta; the last being by far the least inconvenient and best regulated purgatory of them all. Here the rooms are, large, and to each set a kitchen is attached; dinners can be furnished from a neighbouring hotel, at a moderate price. In all lazarettos each détenu is placed under the care of a guardiano, or health officer, whose duty it is never to lose sight of him, unless when in his room, and to prevent him from touching any of his fellow-prisoners. Should he come into contact with any one more recently arrived than himself, he must remain in quarantine until the latter obtains pratique. Fees, more or less considerable, are everywhere exacted before permission of egress is granted. Violations of quarantine laws were once universally treated as capital crimes; and they are still everywhere severely punished.

As quarantine possesses an Italian phraseology) of her own, which is puzzling to the uninitiated, it may be useful to specify that persons and things under her power are called “contumaci” and “sporchi” (literally contumacious and foul), until they obtain "practica" (Gallicè, pratique), or permission of free communication. In the days of long quarantines, the term of detention could be much shortened by the traveller's going through what was called spoglio, i. e., taking a bath, and leaving every article of dress, &c., in the lazaretto, and clothing himself afresh in garments purchased or hired for the occasion from the neighbouring town. This process was both agreeable and convenient, for, in a quarantine of fourteen days, it enabled the traveller to get pratique seven days before his effects, which were fumigated by the guardiano, and delivered to their owner at the expiration of his original term.

f. TRAVELLING SERVANTS; ROADS; HIRE OF HORSES, &c.

It is very difficult to find in England a servant capable of acting as interpreter in Greece and the East generally, though a few such are to be had: English servants are, in general, rather incumbrances than otherwise,

as they are usually but little disposed to adapt themselves to strange customs, have no facility in acquiring foreign languages, and are more annoyed by hardships and rough living than their masters. Indeed, it is not only troublesome and expensive, but entirely useless in a journey through Greece, to take any attendants in addition to the travelling servants of the country. Those who may have them in their suite would do well to leave them at Corfu or Athens during the journey.

As we have already seen, the mode of travelling in the interior of Greece and of European Turkey is on horseback, the distances being calculated by an hour's march of a caravan, according to the custom established among all Eastern nations. One "hour" is, on an average, equivalent to about 3 English miles; though, in level parts of the country, and with good horses, the traveller may ride much faster. With the same horses, the usual rate of progress does not exceed from 20 to 25 miles a-day that is, from 7 to 8 hours; though, with the menzil, or post-horses of Turkey, 60 or 80 miles a day may be accomplished, by changing at stages varying from 15 to 20 miles from each other. In all probability, many years will elapse before any other mode of travelling is generally practicable in Greece proper; though excellent carriage-roads have been made in all the Ionian Islands since they came under the British protectorate. Orders and plans, it is true, have been frequently issued by the Greek Government for the formation of roads in various directions, but, in consequence of the scantiness of the population, and the ill-judged expenditure of the public revenue, little has hitherto been effected; and, as the labourer in Greece gains more by the cultivation of his lands than the wages offered by Government, it would be difficult to induce him to quit his fields and commence road-making. From the peculiarities of the country in this respect, a traveller may always go from one place to another in any direction he may fancy; so that, with the exception of the great lines from town to town, it is almost useless to trace out routes very minutely. Indeed, such a task would be endless, and, from the local changes which are constantly occurring, the only valuable information respecting lodging, &c., in the country villages must, generally speaking, be obtained on the spot.

The only Roads practicable for carriages in Greece proper are that from the Piræus to Athens, that from Athens to Thebes-passing through Eleusis and a gorge of Mount Kithæron, that from Eleusis to Megara, that from Argos to Nauplia, and a few others for a short distance round Athens. A new road is traced out from Argos to Tripolitza, and another from Thebes to Lebadea; but the traveller had better ascertain their actual condition before he ventures on either in a carriage. The road across the Isthmus of Corinth was made by the Austrian Lloyd's Company for the transit of their passengers. Many other roads, it is true, are talked and written of, but they are not as yet even surveyed. The old road from Nauplia to Tripolitza is no longer practicable for carriages. The carriage-road from Athens to the foot of Pentelicus was constructed for the transport of marble from the quarries. The paved causeways in various parts of Greece are the work of the Venetians or Turks.

Horses are found in abundance in the large towns. They should be engaged from one town to another, in order to avoid delay and the uncertainty of meeting with them in the villages. They in general perform the journeys easily, and are very sure-footed. The hire of the horses may be regulated at so much per day, or for the journey from one town to another. The first is the best plan to be adopted by those who wish thoroughly to explore the country. The latter is to be preferred for those who are obliged to reach a given place at a certain time.

The price for horse-hire varies according to the demand from 4 drachmas

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