PREFACE. ^jjj 



and so detailed of the character and manners of the Mainots * is no 

 where to be found. The district of the Peloponnesus occupied by 

 them is the portion of it bordering on the Messenian and Laconian 

 gulfs. The spirit of piracy and plunder which made them so long 

 the terror of the Archipelago and neighbouring seas, appears to have 

 been softened in some degree by commercial pursuits. A traveller 

 in the early part of the seventeenth century thus describes them : 



* The Mainots are called b}' Constantine Porphyrog. xia-rpov Mutvri; oix^roga;, de Ad. 

 Imp. c. 50. On the eastern part of the country occupied by them they are joined by the 

 Tzacones descended from the ancient Laconians, and inhabiting a district of the Morea 

 between Nauplia and Epidaurus Limera. Many Doric forms are retained by the Tzacones 

 in their language; some instances of which are given by Villoison. They say ox^pe for 

 ix^pi (in Sap()ho we find opTrsrov for kp-ziTov), xa'^ixy) for x^P'^^ '> (the Dorians said aKKoxa for 

 aXKoTi), also doiiyarrip and ^ovxa. They use vxvtx and Trpo^^ra, the Homeric nominative, 

 instead of vduTrjc and TrfofijV));. — Sec the Prolegom. ad Horn. xlix. and his MS. notes on 

 Pindar, referred to by Schasfer, p. 9G. in Greg, de D. and Leake's Researches, p. 200. 



We learn from Mr. Hawkins, that the names of the villages of the Tzaccuniotes are 

 Prasto, Castanitza, and Sitena; they have also a few hamlets or summer habitations under 

 the name of Kalivia. All these belong to the province of Mistra, though they are situated 

 in the Villaete of Agios Petros. Prasto, in respect to its Greek population, is nearly equal 

 to Tripolizza, containing from 800 to 1000 houses. Except a few small plains on the 

 sea-coast, the country of Tzaccunia is entirely mountainous, and of course it is not produc- 

 tive of corn, but supports very numerous flocks of goats and sheep. Cheese, therefore, is the 

 principal object of exportation ; and next to this, Prino Cocci, or scarlet grains, which are 

 gathered from the Prinari or Quercus Ilex. The inhabitants are celebrated for their skill 

 in draining ground, antl in conducting water; and are preferred to all others in executing 

 works of this kind in the Ionian islands. A considerable part of the whole population not 

 finding employment at home migrate either periodically, at particular seasons of the year, 

 or for a certain time. Many, for instance, visit Patras, where they are occupied in attend- 

 ing to the currant vineyards. About three hundred leave Tzaccunia every year for Zeitun 

 near Thermopylae, where they are employed during three months in the cultivation of the 

 rice grounds. It is computed that about the same number are resident at Constantinople, 

 most of whom follow the occupation of Baccalides (grocers and purveyors of victuals). The 

 bread-sellers in that city are chiefly Armenians ; but the hirelings whom they employ to 

 grind the com in horse-mills and to bake the bread are Tzaccuniotes. 



