TAKEN PRISONERS. 16 



to me in a language of which I did not compre- 

 hend a syllable. I called to our servant, but he 

 could not help me, because it was a Turkish sol- 

 dier that had stopped me, who understood no- 

 thing but his mother tongue (Turkish), a language 

 not spoken by either Greeks or Albanians. A 

 respectable Greek, attracted to the spot by the 

 altercation, came and interpreted for us, when it 

 appeared, that by a municipal regulation, no per- 

 son whatever is allowed to stir out of his house at 

 night in the streets of Janina without a lantern 

 in his hand, and that we, for having transgressed 

 the rule, had been taken prisoners by a Turkish 

 guard. It was in vain for us to offer to go quietly 

 to the guide's house, and promise to appear in 

 the morning to answer for our offence. The guard 

 had caught us, and there we were prisoners ; but 

 at last, as a favour, we were escorted to the com- 

 mon khan, and, a guard being placed over us, we 

 were left there for the night. 



It is no small luxury to find oneself under 

 cover of a roof, however bad an one it may be, 

 after a long exposure to torrents of heavy rain; 

 but really the khan of which we were thus most 

 provokingly compelled to be the unwilling tenants, 

 was so detestably dirty, so perfectly horrible, 



