46 



JOURNEY THROUGH MAINA, 



to eat with us according to the established etiquette of hospitality 

 here, while his wife and the two younger children waited on us, not- 

 withstanding our remonstrances, according to the custom of the 

 country, for a short time, then retired, and left a female servant to 

 attend us and him. At night, beds and mattresses were spread on the 

 floor, and pillows and sheets, embroidered and composed of broad 

 stripes of muslin and coloured silk, were brought in. These articles, 

 we found, were manufactured at home by the women of the family ; 

 as the Greeks themselves invariably wear their under garments when 

 they sleep, the inconvenience of such a bed is little felt. 



April 12. — As the day after our arrival at Kitrees was Easter Sun- 

 day, we of course remained there, and had an opportunity of witness- 

 ing and partaking in the universal festivity which prevailed not only 

 in the castle, but in the villages of the country round it. In every 

 Greek house a lamb is killed at this season, and the utmost rejoicing 

 prevails. We dined with Zanetachi Kutuphari and his family at their 

 usual hour of half-past eleven in the forenoon, and after our dinner 

 were received in much state by his niece Helena in her own apart- 

 ments. She was in fact the lady of the castle, and chief of the district 

 round it, which was her own by inheritance from her father. She 

 was a young widow, and still retained much of her beauty ; her man- 

 ners were pleasing and dignified. An audience in form from a young 

 woman accompanied by her sister, who sat near her, and a train of 

 attendant females in the rich and elegant dress of the country, was a 

 novelty in our tour, and so unlike the customs which prevailed within 

 a few short miles from the spot where we were, that it seemed like an 

 enchantment of romance. The Capitanessa alone was seated at our 

 entrance, who, when she had offered us chairs, requested her sister 

 to sit down near her, and ordered her attendants to bring coffee and 

 refreshments. We were much struck with the general beauty of the 

 Mainiot women here, which we afterwards found was not confined to 

 Kitrees ; we remarked it in many other villages ; and it is of a kind 

 that from their habits of life would not naturally be expected. With 

 the same fine features that prevail among the beauties of Italy and 



