VOL. XI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS* 285 



of 8 sides, with noble porphyry pillars, and admirable cornices. Before it is a 

 court, adorned with Egyptian pillars of that stone called pyropoicilos, and under 

 it a temple, now dedicated to St. Lucia; and in the town several fragments of 

 antiquity, with inscriptions and other things, worth observing. 



Four miles from Spalatro lies Salona, which shows the ruins of a large town. 

 About as much farther from Salona stands Clissa, on a rocky hill, an eminent 

 fortress of the Venetians, which is here the frontier against the Turks. At 

 Lesina there is nothing remarkable ; only that Biondi, who wrote our English 

 history, was a native of it. Trau is ancient, and shows good signs of its being 

 so. Here I spoke with Doctor Stasileo, who published the fragment of Petro- 

 nius Arbiter ; the manuscript of which I saw. Passing the gulf of Budua, I 

 saw the mountains of Antivari, the plain of Durazzo and Apollonia, and came 

 to Sassino a small island, from whence we could see the town of Valona, and 

 the mountains Acroceraunia, now called the mountains of Chimaera. — I staid a 

 fortnight at Corfu, and had time to view all that was considerable in the island, 

 particularly the gardens of Alcinous, or the place where they are supposed to 

 have been, now called Chrysida ; a most delicious situation : also the ancient 

 port, now called Necrothalassa, and several foundations of ancient fabrics. In 

 Zante I saw but few antiquities. What is modern is very flourishing, and the 

 island rich and plentiful. 



From Zante I went to Patras, a town in Achaia, of good note among the 

 ancients. Near it is a great mountain, mentioned in Homer by the name of 

 Petra Olenia. In the town are several massive ruins, and among them the re- 

 mains of a large church, dedicated to St. Andrea, who, they say, was martyred 

 there. The plain about it is very fruitful, full of springs and rivulets ; tinely 

 wooded with olive-trees, cypresses, orange and lemon-trees. The citrons here 

 are counted the best in the Turkish empire, and are sent as presents to Con- 

 stantinople. Indeed all their fruits are in very good esteem. 



In Athens I spent two months. Next to Rome, I judge it the most worthy 

 to be seen for antiquities. The temple of Minerva is as entire as the rotunda. 

 I was three times in it, and took all the dimensions, with what exactness 

 I could; but it is difficult, because the castle of Athens, in which it stands, 

 is a garrison, and the Turks are jealous, and brutishly barbarous, if they 

 perceive that any one measures it. The length of the Cella, or body of the 

 temple without side, is 1 08 English feet, the breadth ^ 1 . The portico of the 

 Doric order, which runs round it, has eight pillars in front, and \^ on the sides; 

 the length of the portico is 230 English feet. The fust or shaft of the pillars, 

 is 194- feet in circumference: the intercolumnium, \\ of the diameter of the 

 pillars. — ^The temple of Theseus is likewise entire, but much less, though built 



