198 IX THE MOREA. 



may read a lesson of piety. I most sincerely regret 

 the distressing end of this poor youth. He had 

 escaped from the thieves of Italy and from the in- 

 hospitable climate of Sierra Leone. He had been 

 with me blocked up eight days by pirates at Mont 

 Athos. Poor fellow ! he was then very anxious to 

 hide my money, that we might have something, 

 he saiJ, to return home with." 



This painful event so much affected the spirits 

 of Dr Sibthorp, that he was for some days after 

 incapable of any exertion, even his journal being 

 suspended. The two friends afterwards wintered 

 at Zante, where our botanist was fortunate enough 

 to procure, from an apothecary resident there, an 

 ample and rich herbarium of the plants of the 

 island, with their modern Greek names. The sea- 

 son was sufficiently favourable, in the middle of 

 February 1795, to allow the travellers to proceed 

 to the Morea, of which they made the complete 

 circuit in rather more than two months. Here 

 "the violet and primrose welcomed them in the 

 plains of Arcadia; and the Narcissus tazzetta, which 

 Dr Sibthorp was disposed to think the true poetic 

 Narcissus, decorated in profusion the banks of the 

 Alpheus. The barbarian horde, under whose escort 

 they were obliged to travel, showed sufficient taste 

 to gather nosegays of these sweet flowers. The 

 oaks of the Arcadian mountains presented them 



