TO THE BISHOP OF DURHAM. 



195 



twenty-two convents, scarce two are placed on similar sites * ; but all 

 are either strikingly beautiful or strikingly magnificent ; and each 

 seems designed either to soothe the tedium of solitude or to awaken 



* Extract from Dr. Sibthorp's MSS. 



Sep. 25, 1794. — We coasted the western shore of Athos ; steep rocks covered with 

 shrubs, traversed by deep ravines, marked with the lively verdure of evergreen -trees 

 offered the most romantic sites for the monasteries and monastic cells. Several of the 

 latter excavated in the rock seemed to be in situations almost inaccessible; we could 

 scarcely discover the little path that conducted the hermit to his cell. Nothing could 

 be more picturesque than the situation of the monasteries we passed ; they commanded 

 an extensive view of the sea, and were surrounded bv the finest sylvan scenery. The 

 head of a vale or ravine laid into vineyards and olive grounds was the most general 

 situation ; the mountain itself broken grandly into ridges was ornamented with various 

 foliage, through which was seen the slaty substance of the rock. Having cast anchor 

 I was impatient to land on Athos and examine its shores, which from their verdure 

 promised me a considerable addition to my Flora. On landing, I found the rock 

 almost blue with the autumnal Scilla, and in the shade under the cover of the trees was 

 the Cyclamen; above on the hanging cliffs, the yellow Amaryllis all in flower. This 

 was a cheerful sight to a botanist who had just left the sun-burnt plains of Lemnos, and 

 arid rocks of Imbros. I climbed along the shore to the port of Daphne through trees and 

 shrubs, consisting of Arbor Judas, Alaternus, Phillyrea, Arbutus, Evergreen and 

 Kermes oak. At Daphne, the bay mixed with the wild-olive was spread over the rocks ; 

 a rivulet flowing down, watered the roots of some huge plane trees, around which the 

 Smilax was entwined diffusing from its flowers a grateful odour. 



Oct. 1. — A caloyer had brought from a distant vineyard a basket of grapes, and I 

 took the opportunity of having him for a conductor to visit part of the mountain, which 

 from its height, promised to gratify my botanical researches. I mounted his mule and 

 pursued from the beach a rugged path-way winding up the rocks ; ascending for an 

 hour this rough road through evergreen shrubs, I came to a mixture of pines and 

 chesnuts ; the latter were now laden with ripe fruit, and the crew of our boat that lay in 

 the port of Daphne were busily employed in collecting a stock for their voyage. The 

 pine did not appear to me different from the silver fir ; but I could discover no fruit upon 

 it. A range of mountains cloathed with these pines encircled a beautiful plain ; here 

 the convent of Xeropotamo has four Kilia or farms, where their caloyers reside. They 

 were now busy in making their wine, and the vineyards were richly laden with the 

 empurpled fruit ; my caloyer conducted me to his Kili ; and spread before me a rustic 

 table with grapes, figs, dried cherries, walnuts, and filberds. We drunk from a 

 chrystalline rill that flowed along wooden pipes, through the pine-grove from the 

 mountain ; the trunks of some of the pines which I observed in my walk had been 

 pierced to draw their resin from them; and many grown old had their branches 

 bearded with filamentous lichens. 



