\f .: ■' ( 298 ) 



REMARKS 



ON 



PARTS OF BCEOTIA AND PHOCIS. 



[FSOM THE JOURNALS OF MR. RAIKES.} 



March 5. — A ride of five hours and a half over a dull and unin- 

 teresting country, bare of wood and imperfectly cultivated, brought 

 me from Thebes to Negropont, which I reached at five P. M., just 

 before the gates were closed. The name of this place I believe was 

 formed from the Euripus, on which it is situated ; the later Greeks, 

 dropping the ancient name of Chalcis, called it Egripo, by an easy 

 corruption from the Euripus, pronounced by them EurTpo ; the Ve- 

 netians by softening the Greek word to a sound more familiar to 

 their own ears, made the present name of Negropont. 



The first view of the city from the hills to the westward on the 

 road from Thebes, is perhaps the most striking of the kind I have 

 seen in Greece. The clo^ble sea winding out of sight, and expand- 

 ing in surface on either side, the town itself surrounded by lofty walls 

 and towers, rising from the water, and sheltered behind by the moun- 

 tains of Euboea, which ranged along the horizon covered with snow, 

 formed altogether a glorious picture. Every requisite for the pros- 

 perity of a city seemed combined in the view ; advantages for com- 

 merce, strength, healthiness, all appeared to belong to the situation. 

 It looked dull, however, notwithstanding these advantages. No in- 

 habitants were moving in the suburbs, not a single vessel was in the 

 ports ; an air of gloom and depopulation was spread over the whole. 

 Our road descending towards the sea, passed at the foot of a hill to its 

 left, on which some Venetian fortifications, probably raised to defend 

 the approach to the bridge still remain, and are garrisoned by the 



