126 SHRINE OF ST. NICHOLAS. 



amine anything, we passed through a Turkish 

 burying- ground, filled with marbles and archi- 

 tectural fragments of all descriptions, and then 

 proceeded through the village and down the 

 plain towards the port or Bay of Andraki, 

 passing the theatre and a picturesque group 

 of rock-tombs adjoining it under the acropolis 

 on the way. About a mile further on we 

 reached a dilapidated building, the Monastery 

 of St. Nicolo, where we were received with great 

 civility by the priest and his wife, and were 

 shown into their best room, very mean and small 

 compared to the one we had recently occupied 

 at Kassabar. It was, nevertheless, very accept- 

 able to us in our present soaked condition ; 

 thanks to heavy rains and a swollen river, in 

 which we had repeatedly to bathe our lower 

 extremities during the long day's journey. The 

 monastery is built in the form of a quadrangle 

 surrounding a small low church, — until a few 

 years since, the shrine of the relics of St. Ni- 

 cholas, the first Bishop of Myra. We were 

 informed by the priest, that this precious trea- 

 sure was taken to St. Petersburg by a Russian fri- 

 gate, during the Greek revolution. The emperor 

 sent a gaudy picture as a substitute, and it is 



