NICOPOLIS. 43 



vesa ; and Sir Howard Douglas has now in his 

 possession the prow of a Roman galley which 

 was fished up in the year 1836, not far from 

 Prevesa, by some fishermen, and which is sup- 

 posed to have belonged to one of the vessels 

 sunk in that engagement. It is of copper, and 

 in very excellent preservation, the medallion or 

 head of a man at the end of it being remarkably 

 perfect. 



The w^alls of Nicopolis are in ruins, but it is 

 easy to trace them throughout their contour, and 

 also to distinguish the principal buildings. The 

 baths appear to have been on a very large scale, 

 and with double walls, so as to heat them in the 

 same manner, I conclude, as the Turkish baths 

 of the present day. Two amphitheatres are in 

 very good preservation. The extent and splen- 

 dour of this city must have been very great ; but 

 its situation, so close to the large and unhealthy 

 marsh of Arta, was not well chosen. Here, too, 

 are clear indications of a population which once 

 existed, but of which no traces are now to be 

 seen. Where are the thousands, and where the 

 descendants of the thousands, that once inhabited 

 Nicopohs? What bhght has swept from the 



