40 



JOURNEY THROUGH MAINA, 



Scotland. It was divided into smaller or larger districts, over each 

 of which a chief, or Capitano, presided, whose usual residence was a 

 fortified tower, the resort of his family and clan in times of peace, 

 and their refuge in war. The district they governed belonged to 

 their retainers, who each contributed a portion (I think, a tenth) of 

 the produce of his land to the maintenance of the family under whom 

 he held. Each chief, besides this, had his own domain, which was 

 cultivated by his servants and slaves, and which was never very 

 considerable. They were perfectly independent of each other ; the 

 judges of their people at home, and their leaders when they took the 

 field. The most powerful Capitano of the district usually assumed 

 the title of Bey of Maina, and in that name transacted their business 

 with the Turks, negotiated their treaties, or directed their arms against 

 the common enemy. In the country itself his power rested merely 

 on the voluntary obedience of the other chiefs, and his jurisdiction 

 extended in fact only over his own immediate dependants. The 

 Turkish court, to preserve at least a shadow of power over this 

 refractory community, generally confirmed by a ferman the appoint- 

 ment of the Bey, whose own power or influence enabled him to 

 support the title. The population of Maina is so great in proportion 

 to its fertility, that they are obliged to import many of the common 

 necessaries of life. For these they must occasionally trade with the 

 Turkish provinces, and exchange their own oil and silk and domestic 

 manufactures for the more essential articles of wheat and maize, and 

 provisions. To obtain these, they had recourse sometimes to smug- 

 gling, and sometimes to a regular payment of the Charatch, and ac- 

 knowledgment of the supremacy of the Porte. This they again threw 

 off, when a favourable year, or any extraordinary sources of supply ren- 

 dered their submission unnecessary ; and by such rebellion had more 

 than once drawn upon them the vengeance of their powerful neigh- 

 bour. The contest had been repeatedly renewed, and as often the 

 Turks had been repulsed or had fallen victims to the determined 

 resistance of the Mainiots, and the inaccessible nature of their 

 country. 



