292 FROM TITHOREA, 
CHAP, somelv, if not well constructed ; and then con- 
VIII. ^ 
>■ ,,- ' tinned by the side of the river for a short 
distance, having it upon our right hand. The 
plain through which this river flows is rich 
land^ Soon afterwards we quitted its banks, 
and, crossing the plain, began to ascend a part 
of Mount (Eta-, which bounds the Plain of 
Elatea upon its northern side, opposite to 
Parnassus. Here we saw the foundations of 
ruined walls upon our left; and, as we continued 
to ascend, a ruin upon our right ; denominated, 
by the people of the country, the Church of St. 
John. Higher up, we rode by a ruined village, 
and a mosque built of its materials : the place 
is called Mergenary. Thence, encountering a 
(1) It was always celebrated as tlie best land in all Phocis. Tr, Vi 
^laKiK^ifiiva; a^iirr}] rrii ^niKi'ho; '((ttiv yi •xu^a, r«v Ktiipiffffiv. (^Pausan. lib. X. 
c. 33. p. 883.) Homer extols it in this passage : 
0" T a^u <xup •ffOTCifiiv Kri^iffcv i7et 'ivcciat. 
(2) The name of (Eta was more particularly applied to that part of it 
which rises immediately over the Straits of Therm 'pylee ; but the descrip- 
tions given by Livy and by Strabo of the mountain are so perspicuous, 
tliat there can be no difficulty in identifying it with these heights above 
Bodonitzu, towards the south-west; for they are a continuation of the 
same mountainous barrier, separating Phocis from the territories of 
the LoCRi. The pacsao:e of Strnbo is too long for insertion here. It 
bcins, To S' ojoj "hiaTiivii kto Gi^/iC'TuXut xa) t>); avitToy^Yi;, k.t.X. (Vid, 
Strabon Geos- lib. ix. p. 620. e li. Oxon.) Livy's description is yet 
more minute. Vid. Hist. lib. xxw'i. c. 15. torn. III. p. 266. ed.Crevier. 
Paris, 17.38. 
