killed or wounded before reinforce- | commanding an extensive prospect. ments arrived; but the survivors Behind it and along the sea-shore gallantly maintained their ground stretch the two principal rides and against overwhelming odds. The drives of the Cephalonians, called reSerjeant, who, like Horatius Cocles, spectively Il grande and Il piccolo had "kept the bridge so well," when giro, the former being 12, the latter asked by Lord Seaton, then Lord 5 m. in extent. In the village of High Commissioner, what reward he Metaxata, not far from the grande wished from the Crown for his ex-giro, and which can be conveniently cellent conduct, replied, "I only ask that my wife may be allowed to come out to me." His request was complied with, and he was also granted a medal, and a pension of 201. a-year for life. In August, 1849, a second insurrection broke out in Cepha- About 5 m. E. of Argostoli stands lonia, when frightful horrors were per- on an insulated hill the Venetian petrated by the insurgents, who were, Castle of St. George, which is well however, speedily crushed by the ener-worthy of a visit. It is not now getic measures of Sir H. Ward, the successor of Lord Seaton. (See Quarterly Review,' No. 182, and the 'Parliamentary Papers,' published in

1850.

The chief town, Argostoli ('ApyoOTÚλIOV), is situated on the shore of a creek branching out on the E. side of the arm of the sea, which extends deeply into the island from the S. The harbour is sheltered and safe, but grows shallow towards its termination, where a causeway 700 yds. in length has been thrown across it at a point where it is only a few feet deep. Here took place the struggle already described between the insurgent peasantry and an English detachment. Argostoli is entirely shut out from all prospect of the open sea; never having been fortified, it stretches about a mile along the excellent quays which line the harbour and form a promenade for the inhabitants, who are about 8000 in number. Most of the public buildings in the capital, as well as of the splendid roads which open out the island in all directions, were constructed while Sir Charles Napier was Resident. A low ridge of hills, whose declivities are covered with villages, vineyards, and olivegroves, rises behind Argostoli, intervening between this branch of the gulf and the southern coast of the island. On the summit of these hills a telegraph has been placed on a point

visited on the same excursion, is the house occupied by Lord Byron during the three months which he passed in Cephalonia in the winter of 1823-4. Many other pretty villas are scattered throughout the island.

kept in repair; but during the middle ages, the chief town of the island clustered round the walls of this fortress, the incursions of corsairs making it unsafe to live nearer the shore.

On the W. side of the great gulf, and nearer the open sea than Argostoli, is situated the town of Lixuri, containing 7000 inhabitants. It is not so well built as the seat of government, but is its rival in trade and local importance.

About a mile and a half from Argostoli, near the entrance of the harbour, occurs a phenomenon apparently contrary to the order of nature; the water of the sea flowing into the land in currents or rivulets, which are lost in the bowels of the earth, at a place where the shore is low and cavernous from the action of the waves. The descending streams of salt-water flow with such rapidity that an enterprising Englishman some years ago erected a grist-mill on one of them. The flow is constant, unless the mouths through which the water enters are obstructed by seaweed. The fact is, however, that the sea flowing into the land is only a new form of a phenomenon of frequent occurrence in Greece. the land-locked valleys and basins of its mountains, lakes and rivers often find for themselves subterranean passages (called Kaтaßólpa, i. e. Kaтaßáрa@pa) through the cavities of the rocks, and even pursue their un

In

seen course for a considerable dis-iii. 81; iv. 8). It was in the same tance before they emerge again to state in B.C. 218, for Polybius (v. 5) the light of day. Channels of this relates that Philip, the son of Demekind carry off the waters of the Lake trius, had his galleys drawn across of Joannina in Epirus, and of the the dry land in that year; and we Copaic Lake in Boeotia, and are deduce a similar inference from Livy frequent in Arcadia. (See Leake's (xxxiii. 17), who, in relating the siege Morea,' vol. iii., pp. 45, 153-155, of Leucas by the Romans, in B.C. 263, &c.) Their familiarity with these 197, has given an admirably graphic freaks of Nature was probably the description of the locality: "Leucaorigin of the extravagant legends of dia, nunc insula, et vadoso freto quod the ancient Greeks about long sub-perfossum manu est, ab Acarnaniâ marine courses of rivers, e. g., of the Alpheus of Elis reappearing in the Sicilian fountain of Arethusa.

great number of Roman coins found in the island, and also from the fact of its having been made very early the seat of a Christian Bishopric. The Bishop of Leucas was one of the fathers of the Council of Nice in A.D. 325. On the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Franks in the 13th centy. this island fell to the lot of a Latin noble, whose family seems to have retained possession of it, with some interruptions, until it was seized by the Turks in 1467. From that time forth until the fall of the Republic of St. Mark, Leucadia was sometimes held by the Porte, sometimes by the Venetians, to which latter power it was not finally ceded till the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718. A few localities still preserve the names of their old Mahommedan proprietors, as is also the case on the mainland of Greece. After passing through, subsequent to 1797, a series of vicissitudes similar to those undergone by its neighbours, this island was occupied in the spring of 1810 by a detachment of the English forces, which in the preceding autumn had expelled the French from Cephalonia, Zante, Ithaca, and Cerigo. The Fort, garrisoned by several hundred French troops, held out for some weeks. The veteran General Sir Richard (then Major) Church, so well known from the command he held during the Greek War of Independence, and now (1871) resident at Athens, was severely wounded in the assault which led to its capture.

bend to the eastward, and then runs S. in a course nearly parallel to the opposite hills of Acarnania, thus forming the channel between the island and the mainland. The southern shore is more soft in aspect and more sloping and cultivated than the rugged rocks of the northern coast: the bay of Basilike, in particular, washes a rich and fertile valley and the ancient name of Hellomenum is preserved in that of a harbour in this part of the island. The most populous and wooded district is, however, that opposite Acarnania. Here, where the valleys open out from among the mountains towards the sea, stand many picturesque villages, embowered in orange and olive groves. In this part of the island is the deep and sheltered port of Vliko, a semicircular bay reaching far into the mountains, and surrounded by groves of olives and fruit-trees. It is a charming anchoring place for a yacht. On the northern shore of the narrow entrance, and shaded by a fine planetree, is a copious spring, called by tradition from the period of the Turkish occupation, the Pasha's Fountain. The scenery around is delightful.

From under the N.E. extremity of the island, a lido, or spit of sand, 4 m. in length, sweeps out towards the shore of Acarnania, from which its extremity is separated by a shallow lagoon not more than from 2 to 5 ft. deep. It is on this lido, at Leucadia somewhat resembles the the distance of about of a mile Isle of Man in shape and size. It from Acarnania, and the same from consists of a range of limestone Amaxíchi, that a harbour was conmountains, terminating at its north-structed by the Anglo-Ionian Governeastern extremity in a bold and ment, and protected by a mole terrugged headland, whence the coast minating in a lighthouse. Flanking runs in a S.W. direction to the cele- this harbour stands the Fort of brated promontory of Sappho's Leap Santa Maura, erected in the middle -called, of old, Leucates-which has ages by one of the Latin princes, been corrupted by the Italians into Capo Ducato. The name of the cape, as well as of the island, is of course derived from its white cliffs (λευκάς), like our own Albion. At the N.E. headland already mentioned, the ridge makes a sudden

but repaired and remodelled both by the Turks and the Venetians. It derives its name from a chapel within the circuit of its walls, dedicated to Santa Maura, whose festival is celebrated on May 3. The fort was connected with the island by an

aqueduct, serving also as a causeway, | tains about 5000 inhabitants, nearly 1300 yds. in length, and with 260 one-fourth of the population of the arches. It was originally built by whole island. The town has a the Turks, but was ruined by the wretched appearance, the houses beearthquake of 1825. It forms a pic-ing rarely more than two stories high, turesque object spanning the lagoon. The Venetian governor, his officers, and the chief men of the island, formerly lived within the fort, and kept their magazines, and the cars (auata) on which they carried down their oil and wine from the inland districts, at the nearest point of the island. The congregation of buildings thus formed, and to which the inhabitants of the fortress gradually retired as the seas became more free from corsairs, arose by degrees to be the capital and seat of government, and is called, in memory of its origin, Amaxíchi (Auatixiov). Hence, the FORT alone is properly called Santa Maura, and the CAPITAL Amaxíchi; while the island at large retains its ancient name of Leucadia.

Leucadia is divided into 8 districts, or Demoi.

and the upper one being constructed of wood-a necessary precaution on account of the frequent earthquakes. Inside, the ceilings of the rooms are strengthened with massive joists of wood, making them look like the cabin of a ship. A bad earthquake, such as occurs here and in Zante about once every twenty years, throws all these houses on their beam-ends, but it is easy to right them again. The slight shocks which occur almost every month are merely like the rolling of a ship in a heavy sea. When an earthquake begins, all the churches are thrown open, and crowded by the population; the bells are rung and masses chanted to avert the awful calamity. This custom, when observed at night, has a very solemn effect.

Amaxíchi derives its only pleasing feature from a very ancient and venerable olive-wood behind it, stretching to the foot of the mountains, and variegated with cypresses and gardens. Beneath its shade, festas are frequently held, where the stranger will have an opportunity of observing the picturesque costumes of the islanders. The luxuriant vegetation, however, increases the malaria engendered by the stagnant waters of the lagoon.

The private houses which formerly filled the wide area within the fort have now been mostly cleared away; and this, together with the northern breeze which sets in daily during the summer months, contributes to render it not unhealthy. The walls, which are not strong except in their almost insular position, are commanded, at the distance of about 1200 yards, by a small fort on the Acarnanian coast, erected at the beginning of the present century by Ali Pasha, but now dis- This island produces corn sufficient mantled and in ruins; this is also for 8 months' consumption of its inthe case with another fortress, built habitants, and exports oil, wine, and by the same despot, at the southern salt, of which a considerable quantity extremity of the channel, at a period is procured by evaporation in the when he hoped to make himself lagoons. The currant-grape is also master of the island, as he lately had partially cultivated. The chief deof Prevesa. Fort Santa Maura, how-pendency of Leucadia is the island ever, is not badly placed for the defence of the strait at the point where, though not narrowest, it is most easily fordable. A few palm and date trees give it a picturesque and Oriental appearance.

Amaxíchi is built in the most unhealthy position of the whole island, on the edge of the lagoons. It con

Meganési (Meyavno), the ancient Taphus, off its southern shore, containing about 200 families, and growing corn and olives. Near Meganisi, and close to the entrance of the beautiful bay of Vliko (described above), are several pretty wooded islets.

The lagoon of Santa Maura is so

shallow that only light canoes (called to the town which they erected on Movóvλa) can traverse it. Its length the shore below. Numerous instances is about 3 m., and in breadth it occur in history of different quarters varies from 100 yrds. to a mile and of the same city being known by disa half. Between the fort and the tinct names. The long spit of sand town the Anglo-Ionian Government on which the modern Fort Santa constructed a canal, with a towing- Maura has been built probably did path, for boats drawing not more not exist in antiquity, and may have than 4 or 5 ft. of water. A ship- been thrown up at first by an earthcanal, 16 ft. deep, was constructed quake, for it is still yearly increasing, across the whole length of the lagoon, from the action of the winds and the from Fort Santa Maura to Fort waves. Alexander, a distance of about 3 m., but this undertaking has proved altogether unsuccessful.

Fort Alexander, mentioned above, as well as Fort Constantine, a few hundred yards N. of it, were built Colonel Leake (Northern Greece,' by the Russians when protectors of vol. iii. p. 20) argues that Strabo the Septinsular Republic, at the becould never have visited Leucadia, ginning of the present century, for because he states that the isthmus, the purpose of defending the narrowest the ancient canal, the Roman bridge, part of the channel. On the Acarnaand the city of Leucas, were all close nian shore, just opposite, are the retogether, while Nericos was in a mains of a fortified enclosure of the different situation. The great topo-middle ages, called Paleocaglia. In grapher, following the common and June, 1847, Theodore Grivas, a wellsuperficial opinion, believes the isth-known chieftain of the revolution, remus and ancient canal to have been volted against King Otho, and was 3 m. north of the city of Leucas, and besieged here with his 130 followers. near the modern Fort Santa Maura. The royalists kept up a heavy fire of Though disinclined to dissent from canon and musketry on Paleocaglia a writer who generally hits off ancient for several hours, and it was returned topography by a sort of intuition, we, from the small arms of the besieged; on the whole, agree on this occasion but no blood was shed on either side, with K. O. Müller and others, who as was often the case in these Greek believe that the isthmus and canal skirmishes, both parties firing from beof antiquity were a little south of the hind rocks, &c., without exposing their city of Leucas, i. e. between Fort persons or coming to close quarters, Alexander in the island, and Pa-and none but the chiefs being really leocaglia on the mainland. The in earnest. During the night Grivas and his men escaped into the AngloIonian territory. He was afterwards amnestied, and lived in a tower on the Acarnanian shore.

channel is narrowest at this point, not being more than 100 yds. across; and it is probable that the old capital would have been built close to the isthmus connecting the peninsula Nothing can be more delightful than with the mainland. Its ruins now a scramble among the ruins of the cover several rocky eminences, and ancient city of Leucas. The crumthe foundations of its walls may still bling walls of Cyclopean and Polybe traced down to the edge of the gonal masonry cover several rocky strait. The remains on the lower heights, at the distance of only a short ground are of a more regular, and, con- walk from the modern town. They sequently, more modern masonry than are overgrown with ivy and creepers, those on the higher ground behind, and vineyards and olive-groves are Hence it seems probable that Nericos planted among them. Below, a copiWas the ancient Acropolis, built on Lous fountain (ή μεγάλη βρύσις) issues the heights commanding the isth-from the foot of the hill. Water is mus; and that the Corinthian conveyed thence to Amaxíchi, a discolonists gave the name of Leucas |tance of 11⁄2 m., by a subterranean con