IN THE MOREA. 



59 



that from hence until we arrived at Mistra the country was in the 

 possession of the Bardouniots, a tribe of lawless vagabonds, whose vil- 

 lages we must pass through, and against whom our only or at least 

 our chief protection, was the strength of our party. We resolved not 

 to stop again on the road, until we were securely lodged at Mistra ; a 

 resolution in which we persevered, and to which we probably owed 

 our safety, though our guides endeavoured repeatedly to frustrate our 

 intention. In consequence of their conduct, it was noon when we 

 left the village where we passed the night. We crossed the plains to 

 Helos, called Helios in the corrupted language of the district, the rich 

 but defenceless country of the ancient Helots. Soon after we came 

 to the Eurotas, and continued along its banks through a beautiful 

 and varied vale, in some parts so narrow as to resemble a defile, at 

 others wide and fertile, abounding in woods and varied scenery, but 

 every where rude and uncultivated, except a few fields immediately 

 near the villages, where a scanty and negligent culture ill provided 

 for the wants of the inhabitants. The villages are the habitations of 

 Albanese peasants, and were dangerous to the traveller, as every crime 

 was easy, and the people were in the habit of marauding with impu- 

 nity. The plain and mountains were infested alternately by the 

 roving Mainiots, and the Turkish or Albanese borderers, and we soon 

 found that to oblige us to stop in some of the villages was the deter- 

 mined wish of our guides. We resisted all their solicitations to that 

 effect, and, though carried by their artifices by a circuitous route in 

 order to persuade us that Mistra was more distant than in fact it was, 

 yet we continued our journey until we arrived there in safety. 



