26 MIDWINTER IN THESSALY 



the most perfect technical and economic developments 

 of the art of forestry.'] 



II 



For downright, resourceless cheerlessness commend me 

 Midwinter to an oriental town under a visitation of cold, 

 inTneasaiy a ii fa Q business of Eastern architects and 

 upholsterers being to provide protection from heat. I 

 shall not easily forget the misery of arriving in Larissa 

 during the memorable tempest which swept over Greece 

 in January 1893. The previous day had been one of 

 delusive splendour; but, even as we lay basking on the 

 deck of one of those evil little steamers which traverse 

 the ^Egean Sea, we beheld a fleecy scud creeping across 

 the sky; then tall clouds piled themselves upon it, 

 flashing lightning from their violent skirts; a bitter 

 north wind swept down from the mountains ; lashing 

 rain changed hilly roads into watercourses, and level 

 ones into sloughs of ineffable despond. 



To arrive at nightfall at the capital of Thessaly the 

 granary of Greece under these circumstances was some- 

 what depressing; still, the town looked cheerful from a 

 distance, for it was the eve of Friday, the Moslem 

 Sabbath, and every minaret bore its girdle of lamps, 

 twinkling gaily against the dark sky. Worse was to 

 come. Our hotel the ^evo^o^elov TOV 'O\vfj,7rov, or 

 hostelry of Olympus bore evidence of the revival of 

 prosperity which annexation to Greece brought to 

 Thessaly in 1881. Formerly a common khan, it had been 

 rebuilt, and outwardly, with display of broad white walls 

 and multitudinous green shutters, promised some degree 

 of comfort according to European notions, especially from 



