IN THE MOREA. 



39 



regular, as to present almost the appearance of a modern fortification. 

 Here, however, the Aris, an inconsiderable stream, still flows to the 

 Pamisus, and, while the ancient ruins are visible on the hill, the ferti- 

 lity of the plain has obliterated the more recent habitations of the 

 Thurians : 



Deep harvests bury all their pride has plann'd, 

 And laughing Ceres re-assumes the land. 



We returned to Calamata through other villages nearer to the 

 mountain than the baths by which we had come before, and through 

 a country the cultivation of which attested the comfort of the inhabit- 

 ants. The Greek proprietors of this little district could so easily 

 remove themselves and their property into Maina, that the domi- 

 nion the Turks exercised over them was more limited in its nature, 

 than in most other parts of the Levant ; and content with the annual 

 payment of a sum of money, and occasional bribes to himself and his 

 officers, the Pasha allowed them in peace to cultivate their estates, and 

 sell the produce unmolested by the petty agents of despotism, who, 

 as Agas and Vaivodes, exercised a subordinate tyranny through the 

 rest of the Morea. 



April 1 1th.- — From Calamata our journey conducted us eastward 

 round the end of the bay of Corone, and then in a southerly direction 

 along the shore. We soon came to several copious salt-springs, 

 which gush out from a low rock ; below them are two or three mills 

 whose wheels are turned by their stream. These were anciently be- 

 tween the cities of Pherae and Abia, and now divide the district of 

 Calamata from Maina. Abia is still pointed out on the shore to the 

 south of the salt-springs. Near the mills we came to a square stone 

 tower, the residence of a Mainiot chief. As I shall have frequently 

 occasion to mention similar towers and their inhabitants, a general 

 explanation of the government and state of Maina at the time I saw 

 it will best enable the reader to understand the occurrences which I 

 shall have to relate. 



The government of Maina at the time I visited it, resembled in 

 many respects the ancient establishment of the Highland clans in 



