ATHENS. 
87 
After a dreary passage of two days and a half from Malta 
we reached the Pirseus, or sea-port town of Athens. The 
first thing that struck me upon landing was the absolute 
absurdity of being surrounded by a whole legion of boatmen, 
porters, and hack-drivers in petticoats. Their very earnest¬ 
ness in gesticulating for fees and baggage and a thousand 
other things, partly in Greek and partly broken English, 
while they sauntered about in all the pomp of mustaches, 
whips, and petticoats, was the most irresistibly ludicrous sight 
I had seen for many a day. 
We took a large hack-man, with a splendid mustache, and 
an uncommonly fine pair of legs, petticoated in the most im¬ 
posing style, who drove us through seas of dust, till we reach¬ 
ed the half-way house. There we had to stop for sweetmeats, 
because it was the custom for all people of quality upon their 
first visit to Athens to stop at that place for that purpose. 
Why, I don’t know; unless that a trifle of change might be 
divided between the hack-driver and his friend who keeps the 
establishment. 
The distance from the Piraeus is about seven miles; but 
the road being covered with a thick bed of dust which cov¬ 
ered up the hack, we saw nothing of the Acropolis or other 
ruins till we were within a mile or two of the place. 
On our arrival in Athens, my Portuguese friends went to 
the “ Orient.” It was a new hotel, and was recommended in 
the guide book as the best in the city. The “ Angleterre” was 
very good; perhaps a little larger than the Orient, but it was 
not mentioned so favorably in Doctor Mendoza’s book. Prob¬ 
ably the author had fallen out with the proprietor on account 
of an indifferent beef-steak; for I rather incline to the opinion 
that the Angleterre is a better hotel than the Orient. How¬ 
ever, neither of them suited my limited means; and I was 
reluctantly forced to leave my friends at the Orient, and go 
in search of the worst hotel in the place. Having no baggage 
except what I carried on my back in the shape of a knap¬ 
sack principally filled with leaves and small pieces of various 
ruins for my friends at home, I was not troubled about por¬ 
ters. I soon found a very indifferent-looking hotel. It was 
