(Merchant's Mountain) now covered with snow, on our left. In five hours and a half from Siras we reached the village Ulash, situated near a marsh. The population of this village consists of sixty Armenian families, who cultivate the land in the immediate vicinity; they also possess flocks from which they partly supply the market of Siras with cheese and butter. The Kahya informed us that the American Missionary, whom I mentioned as having passed through Amasia some days before us, had also preceded us here, and distributed a number of tracts among the villagers. Ulash does not differ from the generality of Mohammedan villages; the houses or huts are as dirty and comfortless, and the people appeared equally miserable. There is a church here and a priest.

Oct. 13th.-Left Ulash at six A.M., our road lying through a valley well watered by streams, yet scarcely showing any signs of cultivation. At ten we reached Delikli Tash (The Perforated Rock), where we changed horses and guards at the posthouse. This village contains forty Moslem families, and is situated on the brow of a high hill. It takes its name from two perforations, resembling doorways, made on the two sides of an angular projection, and extending a few feet in the live rock. It is believed by the credulous villagers that no persons who have committed any great crimes can pass through one entrance and out of the other, and that if one desire to obtain a good wife, he has but to perform this feat to realize his wish.

At eleven A.M. we left Delikli Tash, and travelled over a wild and barren country until three P.M., when we reached Kaugal, a village containing twenty Armenian and twenty Mussulman families. The Armenians have lately built a small church, and invited a priest to reside among them; they are not reckoned within the diocese of the Bishop of Siras, but are under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Within four hours from Kaugal is a large Armenian monastery.

The huts of this and several other villages which we passed beyond it are dug partly underground, and built up for the other part with low walls of mud bricks; they were, consequently, so low that we could with difficulty discern a single dwelling when close upon the village. We observed here that the people used hay instead of straw for their cattle, and a large stack was piled on almost every terrace. This was the first time we saw hay used on our journey. At Kaugal we were again quartered in a room with our horses and mules, which very frequently in these parts share the best accommodations with their masters. The poor Christians complained most of oppression and the numerous exactions of an infidel government. Oct. 14th.-Left Kaugal at six A.M. and reached Alajakhan

at noon by a circuitous road, which the guards advised us to take, as being more secure than the direct one. Towards the

end of our day's journey, the country was level, but wild and desert; we passed only one small village, a few miles out of our road, before we came to Alajakhan, as miserable a place as any we had yet passed. The greater part of the huts are surrounded by a high stone enclosure, once the wall of a strong fortress, but now in a very dilapidated condition; moreover, the people looked miserable in the extreme, and I here observed that they were obliged to burn cow-dung for fuel, on account of the great scarcity of wood in the country around. A few Armenians resided here a short time ago, but they have since left it entirely to the Mohammedans, who number about forty families. Alajakhan is a post village, and the boundary of the pashalic of Siras.

Oct. 15th.-Set off at six A.M. and reached Hassan Teelebi with the mules at one P.M. The district between these two villages is cultivated chiefly by Turcomans, who pitch their tents behind the hills, and at some distance from the road, in order to avoid the impositions to which they would otherwise be subjected from government officers and soldiers passing through their encampments. On approaching Hassan Teelebi we ascended the hills, and passed over a well cultivated village, which winded with a winding stream until we reached a narrow glen in which the village is situated. The habitations here are similar to those of Kaugal, dug almost their whole depth in the ground, with low mud walls and floors, and two or three narrow apertures on one side and a square opening in the roof for the admission of daylight. The only dwelling worthy the name of a house was that inhabited by the aga, or governor of the place. I observed here that most of the females were busily engaged in spinning wool with a distaff; this they afterwards dye and manufacture into hose, which they send to the villages around as an article of barter. Money is very scarce in the villages, and barter is the chief medium of trade among the villagers; it is only from the towns that they receive payments in specie for the produce of their labour, and this serves them wherewith to pay the exactions of the government.

The inhabitants of Hassan Teelebi are followers of Hussein Ali, reproachfully called Kuzzal-bash (or Red-heads) by the Turks, and such of the Moslem as consider their own creed more orthodox. They do not observe the feast of Ramadan. There is but one Christian in the village, an Armenian, who supports himself by his craft as a tailor.

Oct. 16th.-Left Hassan Teelebi at six A. M. and continued our journey for the most part at a short distance from a narrow

stream which ran through a valley formed by two ranges of low hills covered with underwood and well stocked with game. The stream is an affluent of the Euphrates, and flows into a principal branch of that river near Malatiah. At ten A.M. we reached Hekim Khan, having travelled but four miles to-day, as it was Sunday. The houses here are somewhat inferior to those of Hassan Teelebi, and stand higher above ground, but still a stranger might traverse a good space, and scarcely be aware that he was walking amongst numerous dwelling-places of men and cattle. The inhabitants are Moslem and Christians; the latter occupy the lower part of the town, the former the upper, which for the most part is enclosed within a wall similar to that at Alajaghan. The Christian quarter, which three years ago was tenanted by forty Armenian families, we found nearly deserted; not more than twelve families remain, and some of these we found preparing to leave for some other place where they might live more free from oppression. The owner of the room where we lodged (a very tolerable one for a Turkish village) was absent in search of a mule or two to transport his little movable property. In the course of the day we saw most of the poor Christians, who regarded us with hopeful interest; they spoke of the insult and oppression which they endured from their infidel masters and neighbours, chiefly on account of their faith, and begged us, if we could, to do something to relieve them. They told us of their church, which had been plundered and desecrated again and again by these ruthless tyrants, until they feared to assemble there regularly to offer up their prayers and praises to God in company. Towards evening we requested to see their little sanctuary; it was just such a temple as we may imagine the early Christians to have worshipped in, when our holy religion was regarded as a crime by their heathen rulers.

(To be continued.)

Correspondence and Documents.

[The Editor takes this opportunity of stating, once for all, that he, in accordance with the course pursued in other periodicals, does not hold himself responsible for every opinion expressed by his Correspondents.]

THESSALY, ALBANIA, AND MOUNT ATHOS.1

October 26. Half a mile from our night's quarters we reach one of the peroxia, or farms, belonging to the monasteries, and which is 1 Continued from vol. iii. p. 467.

situated on the brow of the low ridge which separates the plain of Erissò from the vale of Próvalka- -as the peasants call the narrowest part of the isthmus-evidently the modern corruption (the accusative being, as usually in Romaic, substituted for the nominative) of IIpoaúλas, the canal in front of Mount Athos, excavated by Xerxes for the passage of his fleet. The features and breadth of this part of the isthmus are exactly described by Herodotus, vii. 22: 'Io0μòs w's dwdeka σταδίων, πεδίον δὲ τοῦτο καὶ κολωνοὶ οὐ μεγάλοι ἐκ θαλάσσης τῆς ̓Ακανθίων, ἐπὶ θάλασσαν τὴν ἀντίον Τορώνης. The site of the canal is a hollow between natural banks, and several artificial mounds and substructions of walls can be traced along it. It does not seem to have been more than sixty feet wide; and as history does not mention that it was even kept in repair after the time of Xerxes, the waters from the heights around have naturally filled it in front with soil in the course of ages. As, however, no part of its level is 100 feet above the sea, it might be renewed without much labour; and there can be no doubt that it would be useful to the navigation of the Ægean, as such is the fear entertained by the Greek boatmen of the strength and uncertain direction of the currents around Mount Athos, and of the gales and high seas to which its vicinity is subject, that scarcely any price will tempt them during the winter months to sail from one side of the peninsula to the other. Xerxes was therefore justified in cutting the canal, the work being very easy, from the nature of the ground. The losses also experienced by the former expedition under Mardonius would suggest the idea; and the Persians had at their disposal vast numbers of men, among whom, too, were Babylonians and Egyptians, experienced in such undertakings. The circumnavigation of Lithonia and Pallene was much more easy, as those promontories offer some good harbours; and it was the object of Xerxes to collect forces from the Greek cities there, as he passed.

For two hours beyond the canal, the isthmus consists of low, undulating ground, without much wood. There are here several μɛróxiα, with excellent farm-buildings, good breeds of cattle, substantial fences, fields well drained, and every other appearance of neatness and industry. In fact, in the East now, as in the West during the middle ages, monasteries are the only agricultural seminaries, the only encouragers and examples of industrial "progress." The superintendents of these μετόχια are all Caloyers (i. e. good elders, καλὸς and γέρων the usual name for monks throughout the East), with lay-servants (Kooμikoi), under their orders. About three hours from Erissò-where the promontory of Acte, properly so called, begins-a steep barrier of hills stretches into the sea, both to the east and west. Surmounting this natural barrier of the Holy Mountain, by a difficult zig-zag path, we soon come to the station of the frontier guards, where a few armed men of the band which the holy community maintains in its pay, are stationed to keep out robbers, women, and female animals of all kinds. No mare, cow, she-cat, hen, &c., has been, from immemorial custom, admitted into the precincts of the Holy Mountain ; but all the monasteries swarm with huge tom-cats, some of which have been taught by the younger monks the most amusing tricks-to throw

summersets and the like-which, I confess, helped to enliven the tedium of the long evenings and rainy days which I spent under the shelter of the sacred walls.

From the station of the frontier guard, two hours' ride brought us to Chiliandari, the first of the monasteries on the eastern side of the peninsula. Our way to it lay over hills intersected by deep valleys, down which torrents flow to the sea; the shore of which, at no great distance from the road, is beautifully indented by the most charming little bays, in which the waves break gently over snow-white sand. This most northern part of the mountain has no large trees, except the fragrant and feathery Ithmian Pine; but the hills are clothed with every variety of shrub and flower, and with a profusion of heaths of different colours. The day was fine and cool, with glorious lights and shades, and a magnificent purple glow on the mountains.

Chiliandari is situated nearly a mile from the sea, in a vale watered by a torrent, and surrounded by pine-clad hills. The monks here are almost all Servians or Bulgarians, and a dialect of Slavonian is the only language commonly spoken in the convent or read in the church. Many of them know nothing of Greek. I was hospitably entertained by the Тpauμarikos, or Secretary, answering to the Bursar of our English colleges, who pressed me to stay a day or two at his convent, though the other authorities were ill or absent. The name of this monastery is probably derived from its having been originally founded for 1,000 monks-Xixo avèpes. The library is not extensive, and consists entirely of Slavonian books. I was shown in the muniment room of this, as afterwards of other monasteries, many very ancient and curious charters and deeds of gift, from emperors of the Lower Empire, and princes of Servia and Bulgaria, as well as firmâns, promising protection and a continuation of the privileges now enjoyed, from successive Sultans and Viziers. The pile of buildings is very extensive and picturesque, and the convent is one of the highest in estimation and riches of the whole number. The original founders were two Servian ascetics; but the principal benefactor was Stephen, King of Servia, and son-in-law of the Emperor Romanus.

As I had determined to spend my time chiefly among the Greek monasteries, where I could communicate with all the monks without the use of an interpreter, I took leave of the hospitable Secretary—after being regaled on excellent salt fish, with fruits, sweetmeats, and wine

and in half an hour reach Esphigmenou (Η Μονὴ τοῦ Ἐσφιγμένου), situated on the edge of the sea, at the mouth of a torrent in a little narrow valley, from which compressed position the name is taken. This monastery was founded by Theodosius the Younger, and his sister, Pulcheria. I passed it by, meaning to spend a night there on my return from visiting the others; and in two hours more I reached Baronaidov, pronounced Vatopathi. This is the largest of all the monasteries, except Laura. Its name is derived from the following legend. The Emperor Theodosius was passing the promontory of Mount Athos, with his fleet, when a fearful storm-so common in those seas-arose, and the galley in which his child was embarked,