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their bulk and fatness. The road now comes to the water's edge, and then descending the foot of Mount Skroponeri, reaches in 5 min. a great cavern, at the foot of a perpendicular rock 80 ft. high. It is the entrance of a low dark subterranean passage, 112 yds. long, through which flows a part of the current, which rejoins the rest of the river near the S.E. Katabóthra. In summer this cavern is dry. The S.E. Katabóthra resembles the cavern in outward appearance, being an aperture at the foot of a perpendicular rock of equal altitude; the stream which enters here is 30 ft. broad, and 25 ft. deep. A second Katabóthra is situated, at 12 min. distance, at the head of an inlet of the lake under a perpendicular cliff, lower than the first, not being above 20 ft. high; the size of the stream

called Katabóthra. The Kephissus flows through the Copaic lake in a S.E. direction, and escapes by these channels. In summer the lake almost entirely disappears, and even in winter it is little more than a marsh. It is usually a large yellow swamp, overgrown with sedge, reeds, and canes, through which the river can be distinguished oozing its path. The number of katabóthra is considerable, but several of them unite under the mountains; and if we reckon their number by their separate outlets, there are only four main channels. Of these, three flow from the E. extremity of the lake into the Euripus, and the fourth from the southern side of the lake into lake Hylica (Likeri). The central one of the three first is that which carries off the greater part of the waters of the Kephissus, and, after a subterranean is also smaller. Close to this is course of 4 m., emerges into a broad and rapid stream, flowing above ground for about 2 m., when it joins the sea at Larymna.

The natural katabóthra were not sufficient to carry off the water in great floods, and hence the Boeotians at a very remote period constructed two artificial tunnels, of which traces may yet be observed, though they had become choked up in the time of Alexder the Great. One tunnel runs from the E. end of the lake, nearly parallel to the central one of the three Katabóthra mentioned above. The second tunnel unites the lakes Copais and Hylica. History is silent respecting the date of execution of these striking monuments of antiquity. An account of them is given by Forchhammer (comp. Grote, vol. ii.).

From Kokinho an excursion should be made to the Katabóthra of the Kephissus and the ruins of Larymna. The traveller descends the rugged hill till he regains the road from Martini to Thebes, and then passes over a small plain at the head of the bay of Lake Copaïs. The lake abounds in fish, and its surface is covered with wild fowl. At the Katabóthra especially are found great quantities of the Copaïc eels, so renowned amongst the ancients for [Greece.]

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the third Katabóthra, at the foot of a rock 50 ft. high. Thence we proceed to the emissary of the river in the valley of Larma, over a stony hollow between hills: the Kephissus pursues its subterranean course in the same direction, as appears by a line of quadrangular shafts or excavations in the rock, evidently made for clearing the subterranean channel, at some period when it had been obstructed. At the fifteenth shaft the valley widens, and the road to Larma follows the slope and enters the lower valley at the place where the river issues at the foot of a precipice 30 ft. high, in many small streams, which unite and form a river 40 or 50 ft. wide, and 3 or 4 deep, flowing with great rapidity down the vale. The road follows its rt. bank for

hr., then, crossing a projection of Mount Skroponeri, it descends to an old ch. and the mills of Larma, which are turned by a canal from the river. From the mills to the head of the bay where the river joins the Euripus is of an hour. From the height the river is precipitated over the rocks for a short distance with great rapidity.

The ruins of Larymna are situated on a level covered with bushes on the shore of the bay of Larma, 10 minutes

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left of the mouth of the Kephissus. | are traces of the ancient tunnel They consist of the remains of a small alluded to above, which connected fort, the traces of the whole circuit of Lakes Copais and Hylica (Likeri). the wall, another wall along the sea, a This tunnel may be traced as far as mole in the sea, several foundations in the plain of Sengena, where it is again the town and acropolis, and an oblong crossed by a ridge. To the 1. of the foundation of an ancient building. apparent extremity of the canal are ruins occupying an Hellenic site, probably Hyle.

Return to Kokhino. N.B.-Thermopyla may be reached in 2 or 3 days from Kokhino, passing by Martini and Talandi.

From Kokhino to Kardhitza the road passes along the rugged flanks of Ptoum; midway, a small plain lies below to the rt., at the foot of a mountain on the border of the lake; and opposite to it is an island surrounded by cliffs, the summit of which is encircled by an Hellenic wall.

Kardhitza, 1 hr. Here are the ruins of Acraphium, among which are many inscriptions, particularly in the old church of St. George, which stands within the walls of the ancient city. Among other fragments of antiquity in this church, are a very small fluted Doric column, and two circular pedestals, smaller above than below. probable that this church was on the site of a heathen temple.

It is

From Kardhitza we pass from the church of St. George, through a chasm, into the plain, and, crossing it, arrive in 40 minutes at a projecting part of the mountain, which affords from its summit a good view of the adjacent part of the lake, where a stone cause

This

Sengena, 1 hr., is a small village on a rocky hill connected with Mount Phikium. A mile S. of Sengena is the emissary of the subterranean stream from Lake Copais.

The road now passes by the lake of Likeri, whose depth and abruptness of margin are remarkable after the swampy appearance of the Copaic basin, and prove the discretion shown in excavating in this course the ancient tunnel connecting the two lakes. We may observe that the lake which we have called Likeri, after Kiepert, is also called Livúdi and Senzina. Riding over the undulating plain of Boeotia, we reach at length Thebes, 2 hrs. (Rte. 4).

ROUTE 13.

TO GALAXIDI.

The traveller may visit some of the most interesting places in Greece by following this route.

Hrs.

7

way crosses the mouth of that bay of PATRAS, BY MESOLONGHI AND DELPHI, the Copaic lake which is bordered by the vale of Acræphium. causeway connected the foot of Mount Ptoum with that of Mount Phicium or Sphingiun. A similar one may be traced near the modern village of Topolia on the N. of the lake. Topolia is on the site of Copa, and gives its modern name to the lake, as Copæ did its ancient name. Continuing to coast the lake for 8 minutes, we reach the Katabóthra of Mount Phikium. The road now follows the S. side of the plain, in which are ancient foundations, probably the remains of works intended to defend the place from the encroachments of the lake. N.

10

5

Patras to Mesolonghi, by sea 2 or 3
Mesolonghi to Lepanto
Lepanto to Galaxidi
Galaxidi to Salona
Salona to Chryso (Crissa)
Chryso to Kastri (site of Delphi) 2
Kastri to Arachova
Arachova to the summit of Par-

nassus

..

2

41

Descent to Aspraspitia, or to the Scala of Salona, or to Galaxidi.

It is easy at Patras to hire a boat | in the pashalic of Joannina, and the for Mesolonghi, or to take passage in most experienced of the Ottoman geone of the vessels constantly plying nerals. The place was brilliantly between the two towns. With a fair defended for above two months, till at wind the distance will be traversed in length succours arrived, and the Turks 2 or 3 hrs.* being repulsed, the siege was raised. The fears of the Greeks were dispelled by this achievement, and a general

Mesolonghi, where there is a British Vice-Consul, is the chief town of West-rising took place in the adjoining pro

ern Greece, and is built upon a per- vinces. The Greek Government, now feet flat, 4 miles in breadth, and 18 in aware of the importance of Mesolonghi, length, watered by the Achelous and caused its dilapidated fortifications to Evenus, and extending from the base be re-modelled and strengthened under of Mount Arakynthus to the Gulf. the direction of experienced engineers. The town is situated to the N. of. Mesolonghi was invested a second the entrance of the Gulf of Corinth. time by Reschid Pasha, in the month Although the walls are washed by of April, 1825. His army amounted an arm of the sea, the water is too to 14,000 men, and on the 10th of shallow to admit of the approach of July he was re-inforced by the arrival any vessel larger than a fishing-boat, of the Capitan Pasha with a large nearer than 4 or 5 miles. One is squadron. Early in January 1826, conveyed across the lagoons in a Ibrahim Pasha arrived in person bemonoxylon, or canoe. In the war of in-fore the town with an army of 20,000 dependence the fortifications of Meso-men, and in concert with Reschid longhi consisted of nothing more than Pasha operations were carried on with a low wall without bastions, sur- great vigour and the place was more rounded by a ditch, 7 ft. wide by 4 in closely invested. depth, and in many places filled up with rubbish. The parapet, which did not rise above the counterscarp, was formed of loose stones very much out of repair. Such was the state of the town when Mavrocordato, and the remnant of his forces, were invested by land and sea in the peninsula of Mesolonghi, and the neighbouring islet of Anatolico, in October 1822. The defence of the line of parapet required 4000 men, and Mavrocordato could scarcely muster 500, including all those within the walls of the town. 14 old guns were the only cannon to be found; he had not ammunition for a month's siege, and every kind of provision was extremely scarce. Yet here, thus destitute and exposed, he and his followers resolved to withstand an army of 14,000 men; and not a moment was lost in clearing the ditch and repairing the walls.

The Turks were commanded by Omer Vrioni,-the successor of Ali

The name of this town is sometimes written Missolonghi. We might as well write Missopotamia. Merodoyyiov signifies a place in the middle of a marshy or woody waste (Aoyyos).

The Sultan had set his heart on the reduction of a town which he deemed the principal stronghold of rebellion; and it was his will that its conquest should be undertaken by the Egyptian troops, disciplined by European officers, and backed by all the naval forces of the empire, under the command of the High Admiral, or Capitan Pasha. Thus in the beginning of 1826 the defenders of Mesolonghi saw the whole energies of the Ottoman empire concentrated against them.

It would be beyond our limits to relate all the particulars of this remarkable siege, which occupied the attention of all Europe during the period of a year. The Turks were repulsed with great loss in various conflicts and assaults. The town was strictly blockaded, and though the garrison suffered terribly from want of provisions, they still refused to capitulate, although the most favourable terms were repeatedly offered to them. Invested for 10 months, on the brink of starvation, thinned by fatigue, watching and wounds, the besieged had already lost a third of

Independently of the interest which attaches to the heroic defence of Mesolonghi, Ætolia is not less celebrated for the victory and death of the Suliot chief, Mark Botzaris, considered by the Greeks as one of their greatest heroes. On the 19th of August, 1823, Mustapha Pasha, at the head of 14,000 men, a large number of whom were Mirdites, and other Roman Catholic Albanians, bitter enemies of the Greek Church, encamped on an extensive plain near Karpenisi. The Greeks scarcely numbered 2000. Yet, undaunted by such odds, Botzaris proposed in council a night attack on the enemy, and called upon those ready to die for their country to stand forward. Having selected 300 palikars, chiefly Suliots, to act immediately about his person, Botzaris directed that the remainder of the troops should be formed into 3 divisions, for the purpose of assailing the enemy's camp at different points, while he, with his chosen band, should penetrate to the centre. Not a shot was to be fired nor a sword drawn till they should hear the sound of his bugle. Everything being prepared by midnight, his last directions were,

their original number (5000 fighting | neighbourhood by pretending that it men). As the town had become a mere was filled with gold and treasure. heap of ruins from the incessant bom- Others placed themselves on the roofs bardment of the enemy, they crouched of houses, fortified their windows and amongst the mire and water of the doors, and kept up a well-directed ditches, living on the most scanty and fire on the assailants. The frightful nauseous food, exposed to the incle- scenes which may be imagined, when mency of a rigorous season, without hate, revenge, and despair combine to shoes, and in tattered clothing. As move the minds of men, were only far as their eyes could reach over the terminated by the explosion of the waves they beheld no banner but powder magazine, involving in one the Crescent; the plain around was common grave the city, its inhabistudded with the tents and standards tants, and its foremost foes. of the Infidels, while the gradual appearance of new batteries more skilfully disposed, and the field-days of the Turks and Arabs, gave fearful warning of their coming fate. Yet those gallant Epirotes, Etolians, and Acarnanians, never wavered for a moment; they had still some faint hopes of relief from their countrymen; and they knew that Mesolonghi was the last stronghold of the Christian cause in Western Greece. At length, reduced to the greatest extremities of famine, but still disdaining to surrender, the besieged, like the Messenians and Plateans of old, finally determined to force a passage through the hostile army. The gradual decay of their bodily strength rendered it indispensable that this should be undertaken as soon as possible. The garrison at this time amounted to 3000, and the inhabitants of the town to 6000, the greater part of whom were women and children. Many, too much reduced by hunger or wounds to join in the attempt, were forced to await their fate. At midnight, on the 22nd of April, 1826, all who were able sallied forth, the women, in men's clothes and armed, in their centre. If you lose sight of me, come and Their design had been betrayed to seek me in the Pasha's tent." Botzaris Ibrahim, and he was prepared to frus- succeeded in deceiving the enemy's trate their purpose; yet in spite of all sentinels, by telling them, in Albahis efforts and of his overwhelming nian, that he came with reinforceforce, 2000 of the besieged cut their ments from Omer Vrioni. On reaching way to the mountains. The remnant the centre of the camp he sounded his within the town determined to sell bugle, and the attack commenced on their lives as dearly as possible, and every side. The enemy, panic-struck, endure any death rather than fall into opposed an ineffectual resistance; and the hands of the Turks. A large by daylight the struggle had terminumber crowded near the powder ma-nated, leaving the Greeks in possession gazine, and allured the Turks into its of the Turkish camp, with 18 stand

Is lone as some volcanic isle; No torch is kindled at its blazeA funeral pile.

The hope, the fear, the jealous care, The exalted portion of the pain And power of love I cannot share,

ards, a great quantity of baggage and | The fire that on my bosom preys ammunition, a number of horses, and some thousand head of oxen. The loss of the Turks must have been very considerable; that of the Greeks was numerically small,-it is said only 30 killed and 70 wounded; but the victory, decisive as it was, was dearly bought with the life of the heroic Botzaris. His voice being recognized, just as he had ordered the Pasha to

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be seized, he received a ball in the loins; he continued, however, to animate his men, until, wounded a second time, in the head, he fell, and was borne from the field of his glory. The command of the troops devolved, by acclamation, on Constantine Botzaris, the hero's brother. M. David, the sculptor of Paris, presented to the town of Mesolonghi, in 1835, a statue in white marble, intended as an ornament to a sarcophagus. It has been erected near the landward gate of the town, and covers the hero's remains.

Near the monument of Botzaris a mound of earth has been raised, with an inscription in honour of those who fell during the above-mentioned sieges.

The town of Mesolonghi has been rebuilt of late years, but the fortifications have almost entirely decayed.

Mesolonghi derives an additional interest from being the place where Lord Byron ended his career, as almost prophetically alluded to, three months previously, in the following lines of the illustrious poet:-,

Misgolonghi, Jan. 22, 1824.† 'Tis time this heart should be unmoved, Since others it hath ceased to move: Yet, though I cannot be beloved, Still let me love!

My days are in the yellow leaf;

The flowers and fruits of love are gone; The worm, the canker, and the grief

Are mine alone!

His granddaughter is now (1871) Maid of Honour to the Queen of the Greeks.

+ [This morning Lord Byron came from his bed-room into the apartment where Colonel Stanhope and some friends were assembled, and said with a smile-" You were complaining the other day, that I never write any poetry now. This is my birth-day, and I have just finished something which I think is better than what I usually write." He then produced these noble and affecting verses.—Count Gamba.]

But wear the chain.

But 'tis not thus-and 'tis not here-
Where glory decks the hero's bier,
Such thoughts should shake my soul, nor now

The

Or binds his brow.

sword, the banner, and the field,

Glory and Greece around me see!
The Spartan borne upon his shield
Was not more free.

Awake (not Greece-she is awake!),
Awake, my spirit! Think through whom
Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,
And then strike home!

Tread those reviving passions down,

Unworthy manhood: unto thee Indifferent should the smile or frown Of beauty be.

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Seek out-less often sought than found-
A soldier's grave for thee the best;
Then look around and choose thy ground,
And take thy rest.

4 m. to the N. of Mesolonghi are the ruins of an ancient city on a hill, commanding a beautiful view of objects

rich in classical interest. These are the remains of Pleuron, an ancient

city of Ætolia (see Rte. 16).

Naupactus (Lepanto) is 7 hrs. from Mesolonghi (see Rte. 1).

Lepanto is celebrated for the great naval battle fought near the Curzolari islands off the gulf, in October, 1571, by the combined fleets of the Christian States of the Mediterranean, under Don John of Austria, against the Ottoman fleet. The whole of the latter, composed of 200 galleys, and 66 sail of various sizes, was either captured or destroyed. It was the first

[Taking into consideration everything connected with these verses,-the last tender aspirations of a loving spirit which they breathe, the self-devotion to a noble cause which they so nobly express, and that consciousness of a near grave glimmering sadly through the whole,-there is perhaps no production within the range of mere human composition, round which the circumstances and feelings under which it was written cast so touching an interest.—Moore.]

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