330 
and barren, upon which the horses' feet could take no 
hold. After passing this dangerous road, we journeyed 
upon the mountains amidst woods of cypress, oaks, and 
mastic, covered with aromatic plants, that perfumed the 
air. 
St. Thomas is a very small village, situated in the 
mountains; Lataniskio, a little larger, is in the same si- 
tuation, and is as it were in the centre of this range of 
mountains. 
From Lataniskio I discovered very plainly the cape of 
Gatta, the extremity of which appears about seven 
leagues distant to the south-east. 
The greater part of the inhabitants of Lataniskio are 
Turks; they appear an honest and industrious people, 
very cleanly dressed, and for the most part in white. 
They all let their beards grow, which are \ong t bushy, 
and generally red. Their repasts are served up with 
neatness and cleanliness. They would be happy if they 
were not so extremely oppressed by their government, 
and they are so even more than the Greeks; for the 
most miserable among them pay each one hundred pias- 
tres yearly. These respectable mountaineers caused 
me pain, and excited my pity; they are good mus- 
sulmen, and on that account worthy of a better fate. 
The next day, the 24th, we left Lataniskio at half 
past eight in the morning. We descended a deep ra- 
vine, at the bottGm of which is a fine spring, which, 
like many others that I observed in the island, is adorn- 
ed with a little frontispiece. 
The ravine was more than 240 feet perpendicular in 
depth, and presented an infinity of horizontal layers of 
