JOURNEY THROUGH MAINA, IN THE MOREA. Q\ 



the paschal lamb. So general is the sacrifice on this day, that no 

 peasant is so poor, who does riot find the means of procuring a lamb. 



April 14. — Silk and figs are the chief objects of attention in the 

 district of Kutchuk Maina ; wine, strong and well-flavoured, is also 

 made there ; cotton, Indian corn and millet are cultivated. The silk- 

 worm is fed on the leaves of the white mulberry tree, which is dis- 

 tinguished from the black; the one is called JVW^xa, the other <rvxotp(via. 

 The figs are sold in strings ; a string, vyj>iv\ consists of sixty figs ; and 

 one thousand of these strings will sell for seventy piastres. Caprifi- 

 cation is constantly practised ; without it the figs would fall off, and 

 not ripen well. 



April 15. — We had a favourable passage from Calamata to Carda- 

 moula, a distance of six leagues ; on our landing at the latter place, 

 Panayotti, nephew of the chief who, by the popularity of his manners 

 had gained the affections of his clan, came down with a number of his 

 followers to receive us ; we were struck at the contrast of the figure of 

 the Mainiots and the Greeks whom we had hitherto seen. The nature 

 of man seemed here to recover its erect form ; we no longer observed 

 the servility of mind and body which distinguishes the Greeks sub- 

 jugated by the Turks. We were conducted by Panayotti to his 

 tower-like castle; a narrow entrance and dark winding staircase 

 brought us into a chamber which, from the form of its structure, and 

 the loop-holes in its walls, was well calculated for defence on a sudden 

 attack. Panayotti was acquainted with the vulgar names, and sup- 

 posed medicinal virtues, and economical uses, of a great number of 

 plants. I was, soon after my arrival, presented with a root ; the top, 

 I was told, possessed the extraordinary power of acting as an emetic ; 

 while the bottom was a cathartic. I immediately recognized the root 

 of the Euphorbia Apios*, and found my Dioscorides illustrated. In 

 our evening walk, we observed, among the corn, a quantity of Lolium, 



* The passage to which Dr. S. alludes is in the 4th Book, c. 177- We may add also 

 the words of Pliny, " Aiunt superiorem partem ejus vomitione biles extrahere, inferiorem 

 per alvum." Lib. xxvi. c. 8. 



