GREECE GRENADA. 



503 



who, in Epirus, Thessalia, and Macedonia, retired 

 to the mountains, determined rather to brave the 

 dangers of a wild and lawless life, than to obey 

 the arbitrary pleasure of the Turkish Pachas arid 

 Beys. The government, despairing to conquer 

 them, found it profitable to bring them under a 

 sort of organization, uniting them with the Arma- 

 toles, a kind of militia in the service of the Porte, 

 though consisting of Greeks, and instituted in very 

 early times. The Klephts became now Armatoles, 

 without changing much their way of life ; and those 

 only, who were entirely intractable, retired still 

 deeper into the mountains, and founded the Klepht- 

 villages, high on the mountains, and utterly inac- 

 cessible to military power. The names and trades 

 of the Armatoles and Klephts were constantly con- 

 founded. To distinguish them, the organized mili- 

 tary Greeks were sometimes called tame Klephts, 

 the others wild Klephts. But even this difference 

 gradually disappeared, in consequence of the in- 

 creasing despotism of the Turks. Whenever a 

 captain of the Armatoles had trouble with the 

 Turkish magistracy, or heard that some Pasha or 

 Dervendshibashi had something in view against 

 him, he fled to the mountains, perfectly con- 

 scious that his band of Armatoles would soon 

 follow him. In this way it might daily happen, 

 that the police of a territory (for this the Arma- 

 toles strictly were) was changed into a band of 

 robbers. 



These Robbers are then the principal heroes of 

 the Greek historical ballads. Although rough and 

 vindictive, and leading a lawless life, every unpre- 

 judiced mind must feel that they are not to be 

 looked upon in the same light as robbers in well- 

 organized states. Their depredations were mostly, 

 often exclusively, directed against the Turks ; but 

 even towards them they were seldom cruel, and 

 not more revengeful than might be expected from 

 a people so long oppressed, and in so low a stage 

 of civilization. Highly laudable was their behavi- 

 our towards females ; and Turkish women were as 

 sacred to them as their own. They had, more- 

 over, a certain respect for religion ; and some of 

 them are said to have been exemplary men in their 

 domestic relations. 



The songs relating to these heroes are composed 

 in part by men of their own class, partly ^by the 

 blind Rhapsodists, who go from village to village 

 and gain their sustenance by singing them. These 

 blind bards are comparatively seldom seen in the 

 cities ; if they come there, they choose the suburbs 

 or the immediate neighbourhood of the gate, for 

 their theatre. To the rural feasts, called Pane- 

 gyri, which each village celebrates in honour of its 

 patron saint, they repair in numbers, in order to 

 sing and play to the dances, or amuse by their bal- 

 lads. Some .of them are even improvisators, and 

 make verses on given themes. These, however, 

 are exceptions ; more of them are regular poets ; 

 while the greater portion are satisfied with repeat- 

 ing the inventions of others. Other poets, of still 

 less pretensions, are to be found among the shep- 

 herds, the sailors, and especially among the women 

 of all classes. In the cities, there are sometimes 

 particular trades, among the followers of which 

 there habitually exists poetical talent and produc- 

 tiveness. Thus a great portion of the songs 

 chanted throughout Epirus, are composed by the 

 tanners of Janina. 



The melody in general accompanies the ballad : 

 and its origin is just as uncertain. The tunes ol 



the mountain songs, especially the robber-ballads, 

 are in the highest degree simple, consisting of pro- 

 longed notes, similar to the ancient chants of the 

 mass. Even when the words express triumph and 

 victory, the tune in which they are sung is mourn- 

 ful and melancholy. In general, the same melody 

 is repeated with every verse. In some cases the 

 tune comprises two verses, but never more. The 

 music of those ballads, which have their home in 

 the cities of the coast or the islands, is far superior, 

 and exhibits strongly the influence of the Italians. 

 In some melodies ancient Italian tunes are dis- 

 tinctly to be recognised. 



The songs of the mountains, and those of the 

 cities and the Archipelago, form in reality two dis- 

 tinct classes. The mountaineers despise the more 

 delicate songs of the cities and islands, especially 

 those of which the subject is love. They consider 

 them as effeminate, and as the productions of a 

 vicious degenerate race. The inhabitants of the 

 cities, on the other hand, take very little interest 

 in the Klephts, and their joys or sufferings ; and 

 their monotonous ballads seem to them the tedious 

 and rude productions of semi-barbarians, not worth 

 their attention. 



The great places of concourse for all the nations 

 of the world, the khans or taverns of Constantino- 

 ple, Odessa, and other marts of commerce, are also 

 the only places where Greek ballads, of every de- 

 scription, meet together; and in such places, the 

 traveller may hear the sweet songs of Scio, as well 

 as the powerful ballads of Olympus and Pindus. 

 Here too even the Greeks themselves feel the tie 

 of their common country. The JEtolian moun- 

 taineer here feels that the man from Crete is his 

 brother; and the native of Morea becomes aware, 

 that one common mother bore himself, the Ionia? 

 and the Thessalian Greek. 



GRENADA;* a beautiful island in the West 

 Indies, is situated between the parallels of 12 20' 

 and 11 58' north latitude, and 61 20' and 61 

 35' west longitude, nearly equi-distant from Tobago 

 (60 miles) and the nearest point of the continent 

 of South America. Its greatest length, north and 

 south, is about twenty-five miles, and its greatest 

 breadth twelve. Grenada was discovered by Col- 

 umbus, in 1498, who found it fully occupied by a 

 warlike race (the Charibs), among whom the 

 Spaniards never attempted to form a settlement, 

 and who remained for a century after in peaceable 

 possession of their native home. In 1650, the 

 French governor of Martinique, Du Parquet esta- 

 blished a colony in Grenada, built a fort for its 

 protection, and left the government of the island 

 to a kinsman, named Le Compte. Within eight 

 months after this period, we find a war of exter- 

 mination carried on by the French against the 

 Charibs. Grenada surrendered, on capitulation, iu 

 February, 1762, and, with its dependencies, was 

 finally ceded to Great Britain, by the definitive 

 treaty of Paris, on the 10th of February, 1763, 

 Lucia being restored at the same time to France. 

 The chief stipulations in favour of the inhabitants, 

 as well by the treaty as by the articles of capitu- 

 lation, were these : First, That as they would 

 become, by their surrender, subjects of Great 

 Britain, they should enjoy their properties and pri- 

 vileges, and pay taxes, in like manner as the rest 



* Abridged from " The British Colonial Library," by R. M. 

 Martin, who owns his obligations for many of the details tt> 

 the Grenada Almanac. 



