LARISSA. 341 
who were sprawling upon the same floor, and chap. 
either smoking or sleeping. Havmg made our ■ ^ ,,i 
complaint as to the state of the conaJc, and the 
behaviour of the people, he ordered us to be 
conducted to the house of a Greek Bishop ; but 
recommended caution to us in venturing among 
the inhabitants; describing them as a vicious 
and ungovernable set of men ', over whom he 
had himself, he said, no authority, not daring to 
punish any one of them. 
We remained all the following day at Larissa, 
endeavouring to obtain some account of the 
present state of the city and of its inhabitants ; 
but this, which is always a difficult undertaking 
where the majority consists of Moslems, was 
made particularly so in the present instance, 
by the evil disposition of the populace towards 
strangers who are Christians. Never will the 
traveller find a place where Franks are less 
(l) They had the same character when Pncocke was here, in the 
middle of the last century. " The people," said he, " both Turks 
and Greeks, have a bad character ; and it is dangerous travelling near 
the city." Pococke's Description of the East, vol. II. PartU. chap. vii. 
/>. 153. Lond. 1745. 
Dr. Holland cites " a geographical work of some merit, composed 
in the Romaic language {rmy^a(pice. ^iuti^ikh), where they are charac- 
terized as Mifoxiiirroi its «xgo, xai Itifiuhit : Haters of Christ to the 
HIGHEST DEGREE, AND BRUTAL." See Holland's Travels, ^c. p. 269. 
Lond. 1815. 
