ON THE VALE OF TEMPE. , 529 



autumn ; when it is scarcely possible to escape those dreadful inter- 

 mittent fevers, which are " the natural consequences of heat, fatigue, 

 and marsh effluvia. 



Such was the result of the first attempt which I made to visit 

 Thessaly in July 1795, when I had nearly fallen a victim to my 

 temerity. * 



But in the year 1797? being more fortunate in the choice of the 

 season, I was enabled most fully to gratify my curiosity. I landed 

 at Volo on the 21st of May, and proceeded directly across the great 

 plains of Thessaly to the vale of Tempe. The heat even now raised 

 the thermometer at noon to 85°, but was not intolerable, nor was the 

 air in any part of our route insalubrious. 



We spent six days at Ambelakia, a large Greek town which over- 

 looks Tempe ; after which we ascended the summits of Pelion and 

 Ossa, visiting the plains of Pharsalia on our return to Volo. We had 

 been prevented by the fear of the plague from proceeding to Larissa, 

 and the ruins of some old towns beyond it, a circumstance which we 

 much regretted. 



My fellow-traveller, Mr. Randle Wilbraham, who had recently 

 returned from Persia, was struck with the resemblance which the 

 general aspect of Thessaly bore to the provinces of Ispahan and 

 Hamadan. This resemblance, he said, was most conspicuous in the 

 vast extent of these open plains ; in the bold rise as well as the bare 

 and rocky surface of the mountains around them ; and in the nume- 

 rous hills which emerge like so many islands out of their stagnant 

 level. 



From the summit of Mount Ossa, (now called Kissavo,) we observed, 

 how all the rivers of Thessaly poured themselves into the Peneus ; and 

 in what manner the collected stream, in its course towards the gulf, 

 forced its way through the high ridge on which we were seated. On 

 its appearance again to the right of the mountains, we saw it 



* I mention this for the benefit of others. No English traveller can perambulate 

 Greece with impunity in the months of July, August, and September. 



3 Y 



