THE HEIGHTS OF PHALERE. 267 



on the other side of the island, were to embark the same evening, in 

 order to take possession of the Heights of Phalere, which command 

 the Piraeus, and are only separated from it by the port and peninsula 

 of Munichium. I lost no time in crossing to Ambelachi, and having 

 visited the traditionary tomb of Ajax Telamon, I embarked with the 

 regulars on board the Karterea, a steam-boat, or as the Greeks call it, a 

 " pompori," under the command of the brave Captain Hastings, who 

 afterwards died in consequence of a wound received while storming 

 Vasiladi, one of the defences of Missilonghi. At night we weighed an- 

 chor, in company with seven or eight other vessels, freighted with sol- 

 diers, peasants and pick-axes, gabions, fascines, and all the materiel of war. 



We reached our destination about midnight, and after an exchange of 

 some fifty or sixty shots, with two or three dozen Turks, " up stairs," 

 as Nicolaki would have it, we effected our landing at the expence of a 

 few broken shins owing to the ruggedness of the place and the bustle of 

 debarkation. A few minutes toil put us in possession of the heights of 

 Phalere, and then forming a circle, we fired a few rounds of musquetry 

 to inform our comrades in the Acropolis, about a league and a half distant, 

 that the succour was at hand. This was followed up by a loud yuriah, 

 the charging cry of the Greeks, and in a few seconds the answering 

 guns of the Acropolis showed us that our signal had been heard and 

 understood. The Greeks immediately set to work to fortify the place, 

 which was done by surrounding the position with a wall breast high, 

 hastily constructed of loose stones of which there are abundance on every 

 hill in Greece. The Turks, who seemed to have been stunned into 

 apathy by our arrival, now thought proper to make a demonstration 

 of their numerical strength, perhaps with a view of giving us a panic at 

 once. On a sudden the whole plain from the hills of Caritzena and the 

 Piraeus, to the town of Athens itself, seemed filled with millions of " ignes 

 fatui," nor is it possible to imagine a more beautiful sight. This 

 fusillade " pour nous encourager," was followed by a sortie from the 

 Acropolis, and never shall I forget the deep feeling of interest which 

 absorbed my every faculty as I watched the progress of our friends. Vie 

 could trace their fire down the side of the hill till it was partially con- 

 cealed from us by the thick olive groves into which they had penetrated, 

 and then again on their return to their strong hold, when driven back by 

 the overwhelming numbers of the Turks. All this while, the hill of 

 Philopapas, upon which the Turks had established a mortar battery, 

 was belching forth its destructive fires against the devoted citadel. 

 Altogether, the sight was one of great beauty and intense interest, and 

 when quiet was restored, a deep gasp from the breasts of all present, 

 told of the compressed feeling which had engrossed them. The night 

 passed without further interruption, and the two or three following days 

 were taken up with disembarking and dragging up the guns iron 

 twenty-fours and when it is considered that they had to be hauled up 

 the face of a rugged steep seven or eight hundred feet high, it will be 

 seen that the task was one of severe toil. The Turks, in the mean time, 

 amused themselves by watching our operations, and occasionally throw- 

 ing at us a few shells from the convent on the Piraeus, of which they still 

 kept possession in spite of some attempts made to dislodge them. 



On the third day, a heavy cannonade was heard from Menethi, and 

 large bodies of the Turks were marched off in that direction. This was 

 the attack of the gallant but ill-fated Bourbaki. A "feu dejoie" from the 



T2 



