54 JOURNEY THROUGH MAINA, 



The whole of this tract is as barren as possible. The mountain of 

 Taygetus is a continuance of naked crags; the cultivation disappeared 

 as we proceeded, and the coast which lay before us towards Cape 

 Grosso, seemed more bare and savage than any we had passed. The 

 villages seemed poorer, and the people less attentive to comforts and 

 cleanliness from the exti'eme poverty of the country. Still in the 

 scanty spots where vegetation could be produced at all, their industry 

 was conspicuous. Not a tree or bush is seen. We found many 

 specimens of variegated marble in the mountains, and passed by 

 some ancient quarries. * We at last came to Vitulo, formerly (Ety- 

 los, a considerable town in this desolate country, built along a rocky 

 precipice. Below it is a narrow deep creek, that winds inland from 

 the sea, and is the haven to the town. A mountain torrent falls into 

 it through a deep and gloomy glen that is barely wide enough to 

 afford a passage for its waters. On the opposite rocks that bound this 

 glen to the south is another village with a square Venetian fortress. 

 Our guides conducted us through a street, filled with gazing crouds, 

 to the house of a chief, to whom we brought letters of recommend- 

 ation. We found the master of the house was absent, but were 

 hospitably received by his family, and remained there until the 

 next day. 



In the afternoon we examined the situation and environs of Vitulo 

 for the remains of the ancient town of (Etylos. We found in the 

 streets several massive foundations and large hewn stones still left, 

 supporting the more slight buildings of modern times. We went 

 to the church, which, in most places built on the situation of the 

 old Grecian cities, contains the fragments of ancient architecture. 

 We found there a beautifully fluted Ionic column of white marble, 

 supporting a beam at one end of the aisle. To this beam the bells 

 were hung. Three or four Ionic capitals were in the wall of the church, 

 employed for building it together with common rough stone work. 



* For the quarries in Taygetus, see Strabo, lib. viii. 367. 



