CLIMATE-DISEASES. 25 other parts of Greece: in the summer the heat is oppressive; the winter is sometimes very rainy, at others extremely cold; and the inhabitants, who at one season of the year clothe themselves in the lightest apparel, at the other wrap themselves up in robes of fur: the common people preserve their shivering limbs from the severity of the weather beneath cloaks of homespun fleecy cloth. Earthquakes are common, and most frequent in the autumn they sometimes throw down the houses, and cast even fish out of the lake upon dry ground. Amongst maladies generally prevalent in large cities, fevers of all kinds were common at Ioannina, especially nervous ones: these arose chiefly from insalubrious dwellings, dirty habits of life, accumulation of filth in the streets, deficiency of wholesome nutriment, and above all, from the great number of Albanian troops which Ali quartered upon the citizens: this was, without exception, the most grievous imposition to which these poor people were subject; and nothing tended so much to corrupt their morals and to vitiate their manners: indeed all domestic comfort and purity of life must necessarily have been destroyed in that family upon which ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty of the most abandoned soldiery were quartered; and who joined, both officers and men, in the most wanton exercise of power, with scarcely any responsibility or dread of punishment: sometimes they were sent for the very purpose of gratifying the vizir's resentment, whether just or unjust. The venerable old Turkish gentleman whom I have mentioned as having played at chess with. Mr. Parker, had been obliged for many months to support fifty of these soldiers: they broke every window in his house, destroyed all his furniture, tore down his portico for fire-wood, and obliged him to reside in the 26 CRUEL INSTANCE OF ALI PASHA'S TYRANNY. confined apartments of his harem, from whence not a female of his family dare stir out; and all this for some imaginary offence which he had given to the pasha: yet this person was universally considered the most inoffensive and amiable Mahometan in Ioannina. Such are the blessings of tyranny! MARRIAGE PROCESSION OF GIOVANNI MELAS. 27 CHAPTER II. MR. COCKERELL had not left us many days before we had an opportunity of witnessing some interesting and curious scenes, in the enjoyment of which we would gladly have had his participation. One of these was the marriage feast of Giovanni Melas, an intelligent and well-educated Greek merchant. On a Saturday evening we went with Signore Nicolo to view the nocturnal procession which always accompanies the bridegroom when he escorts his betrothed from the paternal roof to that of her future husband: this consisted of near a hundred of the first persons in Ioannina, with torch-bearers and a band of music. After having received the lady, they retraced their steps, joined by an equal number of ladies, in compliment to the bride: these latter were attended by their maid-servants, many of whom carried infants in their arms dressed in prodigious finery. The little bride, who appeared extremely young, walked with slow and apparently reluctant steps, supported by a matron on each side and another behind.* At the door of his dwelling Signore Melas * This ceremony may perhaps throw some light upon the expression of St. Paul, yuvaîka nepiάyew (Cor. i. ix. v. 5.) misunderstood by many com mentators. 28 MARRIAGE FEAST AND ENTERTAINMENTS. threw several handfuls of money among the crowd: we ourselves were there introduced to him, and with great politeness he ordered the band of music to accompany us back. Next day, being Sunday, we understood that the Archbishop of Ioannina attended to place the tinsel crowns upon the heads of the new couple, light the tapers, put the rings on the fingers, and perform all the tedious mummery of a Greek wedding. The consummation of the marriage rite and the unloosening of the mystic zone is deferred till the third day of the ceremonies. On this day a grand nuptial entertainment was given, as is usual, to which all the particular friends and connexions of the bride and bridegroom were invited. In the evening we sent our congratulations to Signore Melas, with an intimation that if agreeable we would pay our respects to him personally on his marriage. This, as we had foreseen, was considered a compliment; the band of music was sent to precede us to the house, at the door of which we found our host waiting to receive us from thence he led us into the festive chamber and introduced us to his guests, I mean to the male part of them; since, as it has been before observed, in this semi-barbarous country the sexes are separated at convivial entertainments; a custom which throws over the amusements of society languid insipidity, or taints them with sottish degradation. We found Signore Melas's friends, after having partaken of the equal feast, pouring out copious libations to the rosy god, and singing hymeneal songs to the discordant harmony of fiddles and guitars. All rose up at our entrance, receiving us with every mark of attention, and seating us at the upper end of the divan, one on each side of Signore Alexi Noutza, governor of Zagori, and at that time a great favourite with the vizir he : MARRIAGE FEAST AND ENTERTAINMENTS. 29 officiated for the bridegroom as master of the ceremonies.* In the interval between our introduction and supper, a fool or zany was called in to divert the company by acting with a clown a kind of pantomime, the ludicrous nature of which consisted in practical jokes and hard knocks upon the clown's pate, which strongly excited the risibility of the spectators. We were much more pleased with the next species of entertainment, which consisted of the Albanitico, or national dance of the Albanian palikars, performed by several of the most skilful among the vizir's guards who had been invited to the feast. The evolutions and figures of this exercise served to display the astonishing activity and muscular strength of these hardy mountaineers, who grasping each other tightly by the hands, moved for a time slowly backwards and forwards, then hurried round in a quick circular movement according to the excitement of the music and their own voices in full stretch; in the meantime the coryphæus or leader, who was frequently changed, made surprising leaps, bending backwards till his head almost touched the ground, and then starting up into the air with the elastic spring of a bow, whilst his long hair flowed in wild confusion over his shoulders.+ After this was finished, * He was the chief bridesman or waрávvμpos on this occasion. This has been considered by many as a remnant of the ancient Pyrrhic dance but ancient authors differ greatly regarding its nature, though it seems generally allowed to have proceeded from Crete. Τὴν Πυῤῥίχην πρῶτος εὗρε Пúpρixos Kvowviáтns Kpǹs тd yévos. Nic. Damasen. de Mor. Gent. in Stobæi, Serm. xlii. Lucian also refers it to Crete, though he derives it from the sacred dances of the Curetes: de Salt. § 8. Aristoxenus, quoted by Athenæus, (lib. xiv. c. 7.) says it was an invention of Pyrrhicus, a Spartan, and calls it a military exercise: but as the laws of this country were brought from Crete, a mistake concerning the origin of a custom might easily arise. Strabo asserts (lib. x. p. 701, ed. Ox.) that the Pyrrhic was different from the armed dance, ἐνοπλίας ὀρχήσις, and Aristophanes refers it to a species of that lascivious |