APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. ^ 



rejecting him, and that he would thereby lose liis 

 job of going with us to Janina. We however for- 

 gave him, and they, after so signal a failure of 

 their scheme to detain us, did not attempt to give 

 us any further trouble. 



Leavino- then Philates, which is the only 

 Turkish town of any size on the road between 

 Corfu and Janina, we took up our abode for the 

 night, after a ride of nine hours, at a khan or 

 public lodging-house, situated in a barren, unni- 

 habited country, having on our way thither as- 

 cended sides of almost perpendicular mountains, 

 where the bold and romantic scenery, becoming 

 if possible more striking at each turn of the rug- 

 ged path, which has been so appropriately called 

 the Scala (or steps), was beautifully illumined by 

 the silvery rays of a brilliant moon. These moun- 

 tains are all wild-looking, rocky, and barren; there 

 is a little cultivation in the valleys and plains ; but 

 the whole country generally has a most deserted 

 appearance, and hour after hour did we ride 

 without meeting a human creature. Villages are 

 very thinly scattered throughout the country, and 

 the want of population generally cannot fail to 

 strike with astonishment any person coming from 

 B 3 



