220 
found, which were dug in the time 
of the Venetians, to conceal their 
riches from the ravages of the Turks, 
The upper stories of the houses are 
always reserved for lodgings, &c. and 
vary according to the fortune of the 
proprietors. The anti-chamber, if 
such it may be called, is always above 
the store-room; the furniture consists 
of a small sofa, a table, around which 
about a dozen persons may sit, and 
several chairs. ‘The saloon generally 
contains several large chests, from 
eight to ten feetlong, and three or four 
feet over; these are used for clothes, 
&e. Against the walls we saw pic- 
tures and images, chiefly representing 
saints. The tops of the houses are 
raised like terraces, around which saf- 
fron is always planted. Each house, 
besides these, possesses a large bal- 
cony, and a court or yard, before the 
street-door. The inhabitants observe 
a custom, throughout the whole island, 
of placing crowns, called protomaghia, 
over all the doors of the houses, ata 
certain time of the year, formed of 
green ears of cornand various flowers. 
This is the business of the master of 
the house, unless he is prevented by 
the young lovers, who take it upon 
themselves. It is customary with them 
to suspend these crowns from the 
doors of their sweethearts, and some- 
times to deposit with them a pot of 
honey, some swectmeats, or a nest of 
granivorous birds; but, if the fair one 
is supposed to have treated her swain 
with cruelty, instead of a granivorous 
nest, he substitutes that of a bird of 
prey, and most commonly a screech- 
owl. 
In the island of Tinos the father of 
a child always announces its birth by 
the discharge of a musket. The neigh- 
bouring villages being thus warned, 
on the day of baptism a festival is pre- 
pared; more or less sumptuous, accord- 
ing tq circumstances, but almost entire- 
jy composed of pastry, fruits, and li- 
queurs of every species. Upon the 
return of the company from church, 
they come to congratulate the mother, 
and wish her the cala saranda, or the 
perfect enjoyment of her health for 
forty days ; and, as numbers of females 
here die of puerperal fevers, steps are 
taken to prepare them for confession, 
&c. Whenever an inhabitant of a 
village dies, the bells at the place are 
tolled; and, if the person is much 
esteemed, those also of the neigh- 
bouring villages. Personsare hired to 
Actual State of the Greek Islands. 
lament over the dead, whose bodies 
are always seized upon by the priests 
at the expiration of twenty-four hours, 
and immediately interred in the church. 
This ceremony finished, they return to 
the house of the relatives of the de- 
ceased, where they find a table laid 
out much in the same manner as that 
after baptism. Hunger and thirst be- 
ing satisfied, they pronounce a requiem, 
and, if there be awill, the notary reads 
it to the family. Mourning is con- 
stantly worn one year; after that time 
the survivors begin gradually to throw 
off the remembrance of the deceased, 
especially if he has not bequeathed 
them any thing. Widows, however, 
continue in mourning’a number of 
years, during which they are never 
seen in the promenades, or at any 
places of amusement. The greatest 
number never marry again: but it is 
quite otherwise with the men; they 
are very slightly affected with the loss 
of their wives; and yet a second wife 
is never so much esteemed as the first, 
whose graces and virtues are made a 
constant theme. The four Lents in 
the year are sometimes kept with 
great precision; but, by way of indem- 
nification, the excesses which follow 
are pregnant with danger. 
Some of the inhabitants, espe- 
cially the women, lay themselves un- 
der an obligation to abstain from figs 
till the 15th of August, in honour of 
the Virgin Mary, who they suppose 
will preserve them from intermittent 
fevers ; but till this period figs are ge- 
nerally unripe, and difficult of di- 
gestion. 
In the winter, both sexes, particu- 
larly the villagers, have nightly assem- 
blies at each other’s houses; where 
the young women knit silk stockings, 
the married women cotton, whilst the 
aged spin flax, &c.. The men during 
this time recount their adventures in 
turn, or read some amusing histories. 
Sometimes the young women sing; or, 
to vary their amusement, tell stories. 
of fairies, or recite fables. When at 
the houses of aged or pious persons, 
they read the lives of saints, or engage 
in religious conversation. ‘These 
meetings, which commence abcut six 
in the evening, are often continued till 
midnight, and sometimes till one in the 
morning ; and genérally continue from 
the Ist of November till Palm Sunday, 
when every housekeeper begins to 
clean the house, and prepare pastry 
for Easter. 
During 
