44 



JOURNEY THROUGH MAINA, 



amulets and charms, and faith in them : but I know not whether 

 they carry these to a greater height than the rest of their nation. 



A more pleasing feature in their character, was their domestic 

 intercourse with the other sex. Their wives and daughters, unlike 

 those of most other districts in the Levant, were neither secluded, 

 corrupted, or enslaved. Women succeeded in default of male issue 

 to the possessions of their fathers, and partook at home of the confi- 

 dence of their husbands, the education of their children, and the 

 management of their families. In the villages they shared in the 

 labours of domestic life, and in war they even partook of the dangers 

 of the field. In no country were they more at liberty, and in no 

 country were there fewer instances of its abuse than in Maina at this 

 period. Conjugal infidelity was extremely rare, and indeed as death 

 was sure to follow detection, and might even follow suspicion, it was 

 not likely to have made much progress. The dress and appearance 

 of these heroines will be described in the course of my relation ; they 

 were very different indeed from what the Amazonian nature of their 

 habits and accomplishments would lead the reader to suppose. 



To return, then, to the tower of Myla, so called from the mills I 

 have mentioned on the salt streams which are described by Pausanias 

 near Abia. The Capitano who received us invited us to his house, 

 and set before us a repast, of which he partook himself, the usual 

 symbol of hospitality, but here the pledge of safety. He assured us 

 of the security with which we might proceed ; his own possessions 

 were inconsiderable, and his followers not numerous, but his house, 

 though small, was neat and well appointed. After eating with us, he 

 attended us with a large train on foot to Abia, the ruins of which are 

 on the shore at the distance of above a mile from the salt-springs, in 

 a southerly direction : one old piece of wall, of massive masonry, of a 

 circular form, and the remains of a Mosaic pavement in the floor of a 

 modern Greek church, are all the vestiges of antiquity that ascertain the 

 spot where Abia stood, except the platform, and marks on the ground 

 which indicate that other buildings formerly existed. In the tradi- 

 tion of the country the circular ruin had been a bath : however, on 



I 



