3(38 



C A NDI A. 



(Vandia. 



great facility and safety, the roughest descents over 

 steep and rocky mountains. The dog of Candia is 

 a species of large grey-hound, which, for fleetness 

 and agility, was formerly reckoned the best in Greece, 

 after those of Sparta ; but, since the Turks have 

 made themselves masters of the country, this faithful 

 friend of man is repulsed, beaten, and almost starved. 

 Oxen are little used here, except in rural labour, and 

 beef is scarce ; hogs are also not very common, but 

 lambs and kids are excellent and cheap, and turkeys 

 and poultry are in great plenty, and sold at a mo- 

 derate price. Notwithstanding, however, the abun- 

 dance of every article of subsistence in this favoured 

 country, the Greeks are obliged to live, through the 

 whole year, on barley bread, salted olives, lupins, and 

 wild'plants ;* the most valuable produce of their la- 

 bour being reserved to discharge their taxes, and to 

 pay the frequent and exorbitant extortions of their 

 Agas. 



This island is divided into three pachaliks, or go- 

 vernments ; viz. Candia, Canea, and Retimo. In the 

 first resides a pacha of three tails, who is seras/cier, 

 or commander-in-chief of all the forces in the island. 

 He nominates to all military employments, and is in- 

 trusted with the inspection of the forts and arsenals. 

 In Canea and Retimo are pachas of two tails, who, 

 except in military concerns, are entirely independent 

 of the pacha seraskier. The power of these officers 

 is absolute within the bounds of their respective pro- 

 vinces. The justice of their decisions are never cal- 

 led in question ; and their sentences are instantly car- 

 ried into execution. As their chief object is to get 

 rich as speedily as possible, they practise all the arts 

 and cruelties of oppression to squeeze money from 

 the unfortunate Greeks, who have become so habitu- 

 ated to misfortune, that they seem to have lost all 

 desire of deliverance. Under these governors are the 

 agas and soubackis, who are appointed over a certain 

 number of villages, and are equally rapacious with 

 their superiors, but still more troublesome inquisitors, 

 being incessantly occupied in setting the inhabitants 

 at variance, and then seizing the property of both. 

 The Greeks have a capitan, or primate, chosen by 

 themselves from their own nation, who acts as a jus- 

 tice of peace, in deciding all private disputes, and in 

 watching over the interests of his countrymen. His 

 opinion is generally submitted to without hesitation, 

 in order to save themselves from the severe and more 

 formidable decisions of the Turkish cadis, to whose 

 tribunal all litigious affairs are carried as a last resort. 

 They have, also, a dascalos, or writer, who keeps a 

 register of all the names of the Greek inhabitants, 

 and of the sums which every one must pay for their 

 carach f, and to the aga, after each harvest. Besides 

 these, and other exactions, which are altogether ar- 

 bitrary, and the amount of which depends upon the 

 population and circumstances of the inhabitants ; the 

 Greeks, in common with the Turkish land-owners, 

 are taxed with a seventh of the produce of their 

 lands and of their olives. But what renders their 

 situation most degrading, is the power which the 

 agas assume over their personal liberty and domestic 



connections. No married man ii allowed to quit the Gandia- 

 island, unless a mariner or a merchant ; and every bache- 

 lor, before he is permitted to go and work in the 

 Morea, must pay a tax of sixty parats, or two pias- 

 tres. No Greek can marry without permission from 

 the aga, and this must be purchased by a present, 

 which, however, is not always successful. Should 

 the young woman please this petty tyrant, he keeps 

 her for himself. The disappointed lover must bear 

 his misfortune in silence. Complaints are unavailing, 

 for the cudgel is always ready to strike the reluctant, 

 slave; and should he presume to apply for redress to 

 the pacha or the porte, he would pay for his pre- 

 sumption with his fortune or his life. But so desti- 

 tute are this unhappy people of every generous feel- 

 ing or moral sentiment, and so seductive is vanity 

 to the female sex, that it is uncommon for a Greek 

 woman not to be flattered with such an exaltation, 

 which, however, is but of short continuance, for, in a 

 few years, she is turned off to make way for some 

 more fortunate rival, and married to some Greek who 

 dares not refuse her. Such is the shameful slavery 

 in which this country is immersed ; and Candia, once 

 famed for the happiness of its inhabitants, and the 

 equity of its laws f and where liberty in a manner took 

 its birth, is now a prey to lawless oppression, and 

 bent under the yoke of a most insulting bondage. 



The native Candians are of the Greek church, and 

 are allowed the free exercise of their religion ; but 

 are prohibited from repairing their religious houses 

 or places of worship. By costly bribes, however, 

 they obtain permission from the pachas, so far as to 

 prevent them falling entirely to ruin. The island is 

 divided into twelve bishoprics, viz. Gortynia, Cnos- 

 sou, Mirabella, Hyera, Girapetra, Arcadia, Cher- 

 ronesse, Lambis, Milopotamo, Retimo, Canea, and 

 Cisamo. The bishop of Gortynia is appointed by the 

 Patriarch of Constantinople, and assumes the title of 

 archbishop. He wears a triple tiara, writes his sig- 

 nature in red ink, answers for all the debts of the 

 clergy, and nominates to all vacant bishoprics in the 

 island. He resides at Candia, and is the only Greek 

 who enjoys the privilege of entering the city OH 

 horseback. 



The situation of this island, as an emporium for 

 commerce, can scarcely be surpassed. Placed at al- 

 most an equal distance from Europe, Asia, and A- 

 frica, it bears an equal relation to these three quarters 

 of the world, and might be rendered the emporium of 

 their various productions and manufactures; but, like 

 its other advantages, this favourable position for traders 

 entirely neglected by the Turks, who are utter strangers 

 to industry and the arts ; and the Greeks dare not 

 take measures to promote either the public welfare, 

 or their private advantage. The commerce of Can- 

 dia is, consequently, very inconsiderable, considering 

 the extent of the island. The principal article of ex- 

 portation is oil, which, according to Savary, in 1779, 

 employed 24> vessels, of from 100 to 200 tons each, 

 and the value of whose cargoes amounted annually to 

 2,160,000 livres, or 90,0001. sterling. Nineteen of 

 these ships belonged to Marseilles, and besides oil; 



* A list of these plants will be found in Olivier's Travels in the Ottoman Empire, vol. ii. p. 350. 

 -f The carach is a tribute which the Grand Signior levies from all his ^rown up subjects who are not Mahometans. 



