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from the rain, but also from the sun. A white umbrella should be pur

chased at Corfu or Athens in hot weather.

A green veil, and blue or neutral-tinted spectacles, are very useful as a safeguard against the glare of the sun. A pocket-telescope, a thermometer, drawing materials, measuring tape, and the like, are luxuries to be provided or not, according to the tastes and pursuits of each individual tourist.

Travellers starting from Corfu for a tour in Albania, however short, or visiting the interior of Greece, without engaging the services of one of the Athenian couriers, should pay strict attention to the following sensible recommendations of Mr. Lear:-"Previously to starting, a certain supply of cooking utensils, tin plates, knives and forks, a basin, &c., must absolutely be purchased, the stronger and plainer the better; for you go into lands where pots and pans are unknown, and all culinary processes are to be performed in strange localities, innocent of artificial means. A light mattress, some sheets and blankets, and a good supply of capotes and plaids should not be neglected; two or three books; some rice, curry-powder, and cayenne; a world of drawing materials-if you be a hard sketcher; as little dress as possible, though you must have two sets of outer clothingone for visiting Consuls, Pashas, and other dignitaries, the other for rough every-day work; some quinine made into pills (rather leave all behind than than this); a Buyourouldi or general order of introduction to governors or pashas; and your Teskereh, or provincial passport for yourself and guide. All these are absolutely indispensable, and beyond these, the less you augment your impedimenta by luxuries the better; though a long strap, with a pair of ordinary stirrups, to throw over the Turkish saddles, may be recommended to save you the cramp, caused by the awkward shovelstirrups of the country. Arms and ammunition, fine raiment, presents for natives, are all nonsense; simplicity should be your aim. When all these things, so generically termed roba by the Italians, are in order, stow them into two Brobdignagian saddle-bags, united by a cord (if you can get leather bags so much the better; if not, goats' hair sacks); and by these hanging on each side of the baggage-horse's saddle, no trouble will ever be given from seceding bits of luggage escaping at unexpected intervals. Until you adopt this plan (the simplest of any) you will lose much time daily by the constant necessity of putting the baggage in order."

Presents. It is no longer customary in Greece and Turkey to exchange presents, as formerly; and the ordinary traveller cannot encumber himself with unnecessary luggage. Those, however, who remain some time in the Levant, who travel en grand seigneur, or who sail in their own yachts, often wish to leave some token of remembrance with officials, or others from whom they may have received assistance or hospitality. For this purpose the best articles to provide are English pistols, knives, pockettelescopes, pencil-cases, toys for children, and ornaments for ladies. Prints of the Queen, the Ministers, &c., are always acceptable. New books, periodicals, &c., from London are most prized by English residents in the East.

Letters of Introduction.—These may advantageously be procured for some of the following functionaries:-The British Minister, and the Consul at Athens; the Ambassador and the Consul-General at Constantinople; the Consuls at the chief towns which it is intended to visit, such as Corfu, Patras, Salonica, Yanina, &c.

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Should the traveller be unprovided with letters, he will do well, nevertheless, to call on his countrymen holding official situations in Greece Turkey. From them he will obtain full information as to the actu of the countries in which they reside; and how far travelling is

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. In 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 (xwpopúλakes), 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 proceeding 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 monthis, 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,

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