154 ROAD TO LARISSA. 



we went over the ground, nearly the whole way, 

 at a jog-trot. 



Our day's work from Tricala to Larissa was a 

 most delightful one. Our route lay in a straight 

 Hne across the magnificent grassy plain of Thes- 

 saly, and I occasionally succeeded in persuading 

 my horse that a canter would be good for his 

 health. During the winter season, travellers are 

 obliged to follow a less agreeable and more cir- 

 cuitous path under the line of low hills which run 

 parallel with the course of the Peneus. The 

 plain itself has a beautifully rich soil, but it is 

 woefully destitute of cultivation. Occasionally, 

 we passed a piece of magnificent rye in full ear 

 at that early season, with straw the longest I 

 ever saw in my life, while the number of wild pi- 

 geons that kept constantly rising out of these 

 and other fields of corn, as we rode past them, 

 was positively marvellous. The plain must be 

 marshy in winter, but the whole of it might be 

 easily kept dry enough for cultivation by a few 

 cross dykes, the parts which are cultivated being 

 drained eflfectually in that manner. 



On passing one very magnificent piece of 

 wheat, I observed incidentally to the surrigee 



