188 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



fashionable among ourselves some twenty years back, 

 and of gaudy colours. On their heads was still the 

 red fez with long black or gold tassel, which, pic- 

 turesque in itself, was utterly incongruous with the 

 rest of the dress. It seems a great pity that a really 

 picturesque dress should thus be driven out by the 

 desire of imitating Western fashions. But civilisa- 

 tion has a natural tendency to destroy national dis- 

 tinctions ; and in this case the people themselves do 

 not understand our feeling. A Greek lady, whom 

 we met afterwards in ^Egina, heard with scorn our 

 complaint that the national costume was dying out. 

 Perhaps this too is natural, though none the less a 

 matter of regret. 



The men at Megalopolis showed far better than 

 the women both in looks and dress, the greater part 

 wearing the fustanetta, or kilt of white linen, gay 

 leggings, handsome braided jackets, and on their 

 heads a red fez. Here, as elsewhere in Greece, we 

 were struck with the fine bearing of the men, which 

 is partly to be explained by the use of stays and the 

 natural restraint of the fustanella fastened tightly 

 round the waist. 



Soon growing tired of the monotony of the dance, 

 we went out to see the remains of the old town, 

 which was built on the banks of the river, whereas 

 the present village is a mile or so from it. The most 

 conspicuous object is the theatre, which Pausanias 

 describes as one of the largest in Greece. It was 



