268 THE HEIGHTS OF PHALERE. 



Turkish host at night anounced to us the failure of his expedition, and 

 our melancholy anticipations were confirmed on the following day by the 

 arrival of one of the fugitives. Bourbaki was taken prisoner, and some 

 few who had advanced with him into the plain, had been cut to pieces by 

 the Delhis, the invariable fate of Greek infantry when opposed on level 

 ground to Turkish horse. Among the slain were a few Franks a 

 gigantic Swiss, of the name of Du Gask, who was reported to have 

 killed eleven Turks with his sabre before he was disabled : a certain 

 Mr. Le Bon, the surgeon-major, who told me that his enthusiasm in the 

 cause of liberty had made him abandon a lucrative situation with a 

 " pharmacien" in Paris, where his "appointments" were of the full 

 yearly value of 500 francs. He had registered a vow in heaven not to 

 shave till the end of the campaign, but the inexorable Turks cut short 

 his vow and his campaign together, by taking off his head, upon which 

 one of his countrymen facetiously observed, " il a etejoliement raze." 



Thus, one half the expedition routed, there was no longer question of 

 relieving Athens, but rather, whether we should not ourselves be driven 

 into the sea by a sudden assault, or, at the best, be blockaded by the 

 Seraskier. Our only supply of fresh water was derived from a well 

 situated in the plain midway between the heights of Phalere and the 

 convent of San Spiridion. This was a constant source of contention, in 

 as much as it was equally necessary to the Turks as to ourselves, and 

 for several days it was alternately in the possession of either party. 

 There is a strange custom prevalent among the Albanians, of whom the 

 army of the Seraskier was chiefly composed. It is, that of making a 

 temporary truce with their enemies for the purpose of holding with them 

 a little conversation. Two or three of them will advance in the night 

 within earshot of the outposts, and call out " Bessa, bessa," which means 

 in the Albanese dialect, faith for faith. The Greeks, who never neglect 

 an opportunity of exhibiting their conversational talents, reply in the 

 same words, each party deposit their arms, they advance to meet each 

 other and the compact is complete, and, I believe, there is no instance on 

 record of a treaty thus unceremoniously made ever having been violated. 

 It would naturally be supposed that these nocturnal colloquies would 

 have some relation to subjects of mutual interest which necessarily exist 

 between nations hitherto so intimately connected as the Greeks and 

 Albanians ; such as the fate of prisoners and so forth, but such is not the 

 fact. The disputed well was frequently the scene of these meetings 

 wherein the Greeks were wont to exercise their ready wit with great 

 effect upon the more obtuse Albanians. They generally begin by 

 threatening each other with annihilation on the morrow, and then tax 

 their invention for proofs of their power to carry their threats into 

 execution. They call each other dogs, infidels, " keratades," that is to 

 say, cuckolds, which is the ne plus ultra of Greek wrath, and after 

 having used and received all the terms and abuse with which their lan- 

 guage supplies them, they return to their posts, sometimes though, not 

 without carrying with them valuable information, which, in their mutual 

 indiscretion has been suffered to escape. It was in this way that we 

 learnt the intention of the Turks to attack us on the sunrise of the 

 Sunday following the defeat of Bourbaki. The Greeks had taken down 

 with them a particularly white loaf, which they had procured for the 

 purpose : this they presented to the Albanian Turks at the well, telling 

 them that there was plenty more of it on the height, and inviting them 

 to come and help themselves. This the Turks promised to do, and at 



