NEGROPONT. 



299 



Turks. I crossed the Euripus by an old and heavy bridge of three 

 arches, under two of which are mills worked by the current, and en- 

 tered the town by a gateway between two towers. 



The houses are almost universally built by the Venetians, and with 

 a sort of gloomy solidity very different from later Turkish buildings. 

 The streets are narrow and dark. The Turks, indeed, have made 

 very little alteration in the town, which is filled with mementos of its 

 Venetian possessors. The Lion of St. Mark retains his place on the 

 gateways ; and carvings of coats of arms are to be seen over the doors 

 of some of the principal houses. Two distinguishing traits of their 

 national character, their pride and their indolence, render them averse 

 from abolishing these recollections of their predecessors. The first 

 division of the city is entirely inhabited by the Turks ; the Greeks 

 and the Jews, who abound in Negropont, reside in a large suburb, 

 separated from the town by the wall, and a broad space used as a 

 burying-ground. In this suburb is the bazar, and the house of the 

 Russian Consul, to whom I was recommended. 



In a place which has so long been the capital of a Venetian or 

 Turkish province, antiquities are not likely to have remained. A 

 large subterraneous building, in which a silk manufactory is carried 

 on, is the only object in the town bearing a date beyond the time of 

 its modern possessors. It is vaulted with very solid masonry, and 

 appears to be a work of the Roman empire. A large Gothic church, 

 which burst upon me most unexpectedly, with its high roof and 

 square tower, awakened much warmer feelings by the recollection it 

 inspired of similar buildings in England, and by its contrast with the 

 wretched sameness of the round-ended Greek chapels. In style of 

 building it resembles the later Gothic churches which occur in our 

 large towns ; and is still used for divine service. 



The fortifications of Negropont on the land side consist of a wall 

 with square towers, and a shallow trench ; beyond the suburb, lines 

 are thrown up which extend from sea to sea. The same wall and 

 towers are carried round the side of the city, which is washed by the 

 sea, and a few small guns are mounted on it. One immense gun, 



q q 2 



