II. 
56 MARATHON TO THEBES. 
CHAP, consist chiefly of ruined houses; and of these 
we before noticed examples, in the plain we so 
visited them. Gritnhthi is lietween two anrl three hours distant from 
Sikamno, aud six hours from Thehes: it lies within the territory of 
Skimatari. As I have no intention of puhlishing the narrative of my 
travels, hut only the result of them, the following story of an adven- 
ture, similar to one of your own, is much at your service, and may 
amuse your readers. 
" At the distance of about a mile eastward from Grimatld, and at 
the same distance southward from the villas^e of Skimatari, there is a 
ruined Greek Chapel, in which I found an loyiic Capital in white 
marble, in fine preservation. I was so struck with the beauty of its 
proportion, that I resolved to convey it, if passible, to the shore of the 
Gulph, and thence on board the vessel which was there in attendance 
upon me. But it was first necessary to secure the permission of the 
Papas of the village of Skimatari, to remove it from the sacred in- 
closure ; aud, in the next place, to contrive some mode of conveyance 
for it, in a country where the use of wheels is unknown. The protection 
of an Archon of Livadia, who at this time farmed the reveuues of the 
village, powerful as it was, tojcether with that of his Soubashi or 
Turkish intendant, would have scarcely sufRced to overcome the first 
of these difficulties, had the stone been in realitv what is here called 
* aconspcrnted stone,' i.e. apart of an altar; nor in this case would I 
have had recourse to such protection; for my intercourse with the 
peasantry of Greece had been uniformly conducted with a scrupulous 
regard to their reliyious feelings. The Ptt/Jr/5, however, after a due 
inspection of the altar of the Chapel, as well as of the situation in which 
the Capital stood, pronounced that the stone mi^ht be removed with- 
out committin? the crime of sacrilege ; and we had now no further 
difficulty than that of contriving the means of transporting it about 
six or seven miles across the country. 
" For this purpose a raft was made, of the branch of a Fctllam'a oak, 
whereon the Ionic Capital was laid; and a pair of oxen were fetched 
from the village to drag it; a rope beinx first tied to the stem of the 
branch, and then to the yoke. A considerable time elapsed before all 
this preparation was completed; the oxen being taken from the 
plouj;h, aud their owner showing some reluctance to attend them. 
At 
