62 



JOURNEY THROUGH MAINA, 



which our host eolled «<pa, and added that the seeds of it, when mixed 

 with the corn, occasioned giddiness.* With the Lolium grew our 

 orobanche, which he called from its destructive qualities ; he 



commended the flavor of it when young, and boiled as asparagus. 

 The dry stony rocks of Cardamoula, exposed to the sea air, abounded 

 with the wild thyme, the favorite food of the bees ; and, on our re- 

 turn, we were served with a plate of honey, to which even that of 

 Hymettus yielded in point of flavor and pureness, being of a trans- 

 parent amber colour. We were served also with some (pctcrKcpyXicc, 

 sage apples, the inflated tumor formed upon a species of sage, and 

 the effect of the puncture of a cynips. 



April 16. — Panayotti had given notice to his followers of our in- 

 tention to visit Mount Taygetus ; and having procured mules we set 

 out, attended by him and an escort ; our road led us along a torrent- 

 bed, walled in by stupendous masses of rock ; fragments of the cliff 

 that had fallen from the precipice frequently interrupted our route. 

 We consigned ourselves not without fear to our mules, while, with 

 wonderful address, they stepped from rock to rock. We continued 

 to wind along the torrent side, and were saluted with the fire of mus- 

 ketry from the followers of Panayotti, who had collected above on 

 parts of the mountain to secure our passage. We saw several occa- 

 sional dwellings excavated in these rocks in situations almost inacces- 

 sible, where the Mainiots concealed their property on the invasion of 

 the Turks, or in their battles with each other. We had proceeded 

 about six hours, and had advanced two-thirds of the way up the 

 mountain, when we halted ; our guides agreed, that from the snow, 

 and from the distance of the summit, it would be impossible to reach 

 it and return to Cardamoula before night. The insecurity of the 

 place and the early season of the year forbade us sleeping in the open 

 air. I looked with feelings of disappointment towards the summit of 

 Taygetus, and regretted the necessity of our return. I had collected 

 several rock plants, and though we had reached the region of the 



* See the remark on Lolium T. in the list of the plants of Greece in this volume. 



