450

SUICIDE OF AN ALBANIAN PALIKAR.

our beds were spread out upon the splendid cushions of the divan, and we retired to rest.

May 15.-Anxious to make my excursions as extensive as possible over these interesting scenes, I arose soon after the sun, and inquired for the palikar who had promised to be my guide: but he was engaged in carrying out the dead body of one of his Albanian comrades who had shot himself in the night. This was the first time I ever had known or heard of the crime of suicide in this country: the incident however made very little impression upon the minds of the garrison, who seemed to think that he to whom life became a burden, had a right to throw it off at pleasure: no one could assign a reason for this rash act of the deceased; but he had been observed of late to indulge in fits of melancholy: he was a tried palikar, and had been deeply engaged in the Suliot wars: perhaps the acts which he was then obliged to perpetrate lay heavy on his soul; perhaps conscience shook over him her torturing lash in the dead hour of night, and some pale imaginary spectre of an innocent victim, like the Gardikiote which disturbed the rest of Mustafà, drove sleep away from his eyelids! Be this as it may, the manner of his death did not preclude the rites of Turkish burial: his corpse was placed under a shed, whilst a sheik who lived in one of the repaired habitations of Kako-Suli, was sent for to perform the previous ablutions. When I returned from my early excursion I found the holy man arrived, and busily occupied, washing the body in a large trough with warm water and soap; in which employment he continued for two hours: the wound was under the left breast and the ball had probably penetrated the very source of life, the countenance being void of distortion and retaining that calm serenity in death which is said always to ensue from fatal wounds by gun-shot. After ablution, the corpse was

GRAND PANORAMIC VIEW.

451

sewed up in a coarse cloth for interment in the cemetery at Kako-Suli.

After breakfast our host carried us round this great fortified serai, built upon a fine isolated cliff, commanding the various avenues of its mountainous district, and frowning over the terrific chasm of the Acheron. In style of architecture it was similar to the great palace of Litaritza; to which, although it yielded in that part of the edifice which was destined for a serai, it was vastly superior in its corresponding fortifications. After this survey I devised a plan for observing the general configuration of this interesting tract of country, the direction of its ridges and valleys, the course of its rivers, and its relative situation with regard to other districts; for which purpose I ascended with Antonietti and our obliging palikar to the highest summit of the great chain behind Kiaffa, which is called Raithovouni.* It was a labour of two hours to accomplish this task; but the extent and grandeur of the view fully recompensed us for our toil: we could see from thence nearly the whole of Epirus, the Acroceraunian hills, the lake of Ioannina, and the distant Pindus in its full extent: Arta with its lovely bay seemed to lie beneath us; all the scattered isles, rocks, and promontories of the Ionian Sea were brought into view but the most interesting prospect was that of the Suliot district below us, the winding course of the Acheron, the tremendous chasms and ravines into which the light of day can scarcely penetrate, precipices covered with thick woods and surmounted with forts and castles, together with the beautiful Acherusian plain, through which the river, after its exit from these infernal regions, flows in a graceful curve towards the sea. Having provided myself with paper and pencil,

See the plate representing the exit of the Acheron.

I contrived to take that sketch of the district which the reader may see at the head of the sixth chapter in this volume ;* though I experienced great difficulty in my operations from the violence of the wind.

* In this little sketch are the two following inaccuracies: Avarico and Samoniva ought to change places, and the river Bassa to be Vavà. These mistakes occurred from my residing at a distance from the engraver, and not seeing the vignettes before they were struck off.

MAY 16.-At an early hour this morning, after having distributed a present amongst the garrison, we departed through the castle gate under a farewell salute of artillery and muskets, accompanied by a small party of Albanian palikars. We proceeded in the first instance to the almost deserted site of Kako-Suli, where a single Turkish mosque rears the triumphant crescent over the cross: from thence we returned upon our track, and passing through Kiaffa and Samoniva, arrived at the village of Avarico, near the defile of Klissura, which is commanded by the guns of the great fortress. The scenery here assumes every feature of awful magnificence, where the gloom of woods, the foaming of torrents, and the precipitous nature of the rocks can scarcely be surpassed:

454

DISTRICT OF LAKA-FORESTS OF OAK.

but the road was so rough and bad that we were obliged to descend from horseback and walk many miles. In about four hours we emerged from these Acherontian defiles where the mountain chain of Suli ends and the district called Laka commences. Here the river winds in a very tortuous course, making several beautiful peninsulas; on one of which we eat our dinner under the shade of a noble plane-tree, smoked our pipes, and slept for about an hour.

After this refreshment we parted from the Albanians and pursued our course for about an hour S. S. E. to the village of Jermi, which was burnt by the vizir in his Suliot wars from hence we had a charming view down a long valley to the gulph of Arta, in which the extreme softness of its features was rendered more pleasing by the contrast of the scenery we had left. In another hour we took a more easterly direction over some low hills, and then pursued our way under a canopy of aged oaks apparently coeval with the forests of Dodona: here grows some of the finest timber in the world, still spared by the axe, which may yet be destined to bear the flag of regenerated Greece over the waves. After having long endured a brilliant sun, we found the coolness of these over-arching groves quite delightful. The evening shades had descended before we arrived at Lelevo, a large village pleasantly situated in a fertile plain abounding in walnut-trees of magnificent growth: under the branches of one which shaded the cottage of our host, we spread out and eat our supper, as under a tent, while myriads of fire-flies, flitting about in all directions, gave us almost sufficient light by their vivid coruscations. I never observed this insect at any other time or any other place in Greece. In the village of Lelevo cherry-trees are very abundant; its pastures are most luxuriant; and the cattle are generally white like those on the banks of the Clitumnus.