of Central European Turkey. 123 



in exaggerated terms of the shelter which could be afforded to 

 a numerous assemblage of people under such high and beauti- 

 ful palms, or even under a large fig tree. Under the town, 

 which is situated on the edge of a high precipice, the waters of 

 the Wistritza, here divided into four streams, fall into the val- 

 ley in cascades, of which the highest must be seventy or eighty 

 feet; and smaller ones also occur lower down. The view is truly 

 magnificent, consisting of the white travertine rock surmount- 

 ed by the town ; the four cascades ; the valley studded with 

 fruit-gardens with all kinds of Mediterranean fruit-trees, and 

 watered by numerous small streams ; whilst, on the right and 

 left, are finely wooded hills, rising to an elevation of from 2000 

 to 3000 feet. Why did the kings of Macedonia not choose such 

 a place for their chief city, instead of placing it on the borders 

 of a marshy plain ? On the edge of the precipice at Vodena, a 

 Grecian bishop has erected, in his garden, a Tiiosk or pavilion, 

 from which the whole view is so well seen, that he is put to 

 considerable trouble and expense by the frequent visits of 

 Turkish travellers ; this shews, however, that the Turks have 

 a taste for natural beauties. 



The neighbourhood of Castoria, with its circular lake, pre- 

 sents a different kind of scenery, which, though less lively, is 

 still very pleasing. The town is situated on the isthmus of a 

 barren calcareous peninsula. The stone houses, of two or three 

 stories, arranged in the form of an amphitheatre on both sides 

 of the isthmus, the placid waters of the lake with its small boats, 

 the round and conical hills which encompass the lake, would form 

 altogether a Swiss view, if the hills were covered with wood ; 

 but there, as in other parts which the Romans inhabited, the 

 forests have been cut down, and the stranger must rest content- 

 ed with the trees of smaller forms which line the borders of the 

 lake. The town, its situation, its houses, and the paved roads 

 leading to it, all concur in giving us the idea that we are walk- 

 ing on old Grecian and Roman soil. The neighbourhood of 

 Lake Ochrida is reckoned much finer, as the scenery is wilder 

 and better wooded. 



Amongst the most magnificent scenery in Turkey is the view 

 from the plains of Upper Albania, or the White Drina, of the 

 rugged and snowy peaks of the Ipek chain, as also of the great 



