138 ASSURANCE THE BEST PASSPORT. 



with fur, looked well upon a hale, strong, but 

 very old man, with perfectly white hair and 

 beard. Just at this place we had a laughable 

 adventure about a passport. We were riding 

 along very peaceably, when on a sudden we found 

 our progress arrested by some fellows who act as 

 a kind of gendarmerie, who required us to shew 

 our bouyourdi, or passport. It was rather incon- 

 venient to open our saddle-bags to get out our 

 bouyourdi, so, by way of a joke, calculating 

 very reasonably that none of these worthies could 

 read, one of us took out of his pocket, with some 

 care and ceremony, a small piece of paper on 

 which something was written. The chief looked 

 at it, and, as we guessed, not being able to read 

 a line of it, returned it to us, expressing himself 

 perfectly satisfied; and we proceeded on our jour- 

 ney without any detention. 



The scenery all the way down the valley of the 

 Peneus, or Selembria as it is now called, is most 

 strikingly beautiful. The whole face of the coun- 

 try from a little below the Pass of the Pindus all 

 the way to Meteora, resembles a very extensive 

 park, the mountains on either side dwindling as 

 they approach the river into hills, capable of 



