58 



JOURNEY THROUGH MAIN A, 



exactly similar to the Colombaia, now so well known in Italy. The 

 doors at the end of the buildings are their only entrances. There are 

 also near the shore ruins of baths, much like those of Thuria, but far 

 less perfect ; on which, however, we found a scallop-shell ornament 

 in stucco still remaining in one of the niches. There are other ruins 

 on the shore, of which a part is now under water ; but a floor of 

 Mosaic work may be still seen. Rubbish and old walls, many of 

 which are of brick, cover great part of the ancient Gythium, but we 

 sought in vain for the temples or any antiquities of value. 



April 18. — This day was spent in examining those parts of the old 

 city which we had not previously visited. The island Cranae is rather 

 to the south of Gythium ; and secured the port. It is low and flat, 

 and at a distance of only a hundred yards from the shore. The ruined 

 foundation of a temple supports at present a Greek chapel. 



April 19. — On this day we were to leave Maina, and proceed to 

 Mistra by the vale of the Eurotas, through a country over which the 

 Turks maintained a very unsettled government, and where the pro- 

 tection of the Mainiots could avail us no longer. Desirous to 

 render every assistance, the Bey gave us to the charge of five Albanians 

 who were at Marathonisi, and who, having transacted their business 

 there, were returning to Mistra. His boat conveyed us and our Alba- 

 nian escort across the bay to the mouth of the Eurotas ; it flows here 

 through marshes bounded by a rich and fertile plain, once the patri- 

 mony of the unfortunate Helots, whose name it still retains. Our 

 guides conducted us on foot to a village called Prinico, where we 

 passed the night in a small cottage. Our Albanians, for reasons best 

 known to themselves, retained the Bey's letter to the Greek Primate, 

 of which we had no intelligence until the next morning. 



April 20. — We now discovered, what assuredly was not known to 

 the Bey of Marathonisi, the very suspicious character of the guides to 

 whom his confidence had entrusted us. We were so much in their 

 power that we were involved by them in a thousand difficulties for 

 procuring the horses to convey us forward, and had good reasons to 

 suspect their intentions. What made our situation less secure was, 



