222 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



were rather more than usual out. Everybody here is on 

 tiptoe about the war. You see nothing but soldiers in 

 the streets, and it 's melancholy to see a small country 

 like Greece spending all its substance in army and navy. 

 The ruins here and collections are most interesting, but 

 strange to say they are not half as well cared for as 

 are the Egyptian ruins, and considering all the talk that 

 classical people all over the world make about Athens 

 and all her glory, the state of the ancient remains and 

 collections is a disgrace to the cultivated races. How- 

 ever, it has always been that way. Whenever the class- 

 ical people and the literary cusses want anything, they 

 always appeal to Government. They never think of the 

 simpler method of putting their hands in their own 

 pockets. 



I have got hold of a very pleasant Englishman who 

 is going to Vienna and who has been with me on the 

 steamer from Alexandria, and we shall keep company till 

 Vienna, where he stays for a time. So it will be quite 

 pleasant to have a decent travelling companion and some 

 one to talk to. 



Constantinople, March 9, 1886. 



" I have been much disappointed at this place. It has 

 lost nearly all its Oriental charm, having been greatly 

 spoiled by European influence of the East. It has kept 

 only its dirt. The bazaars are very poor and there is 

 little to be bought here except a few Persian things and 

 rugs, of which very fine ones could be picked up with 

 ample time to waste in bargaining and sitting still. It 

 takes about four days to buy the smallest thing at a 

 reasonable rate. 



We had a miserable passage from Athens here, and 



