Vrachori of the Turks, we met with nothing remarkable, and about three o'clock in the afternoon we entered the town, and alighted at Col. Staico's, who joined us in our afternoon ramble through the streets of the town. This was formerly the principal residence of the sent it is a heap of Epactus, has given a home to a portion of the Suliotes. Excepting the people and a few towers that have survived the fall of the old town, we found but little to interest us. The town, we were informed, has about four hundred families, and the principal occupation of its inhabitants is the cultivation of the soil, which is both abundant and far more prolific than in other parts of the province. The Governor, to whom we were introduced in the course of the afternoon, requested us to accompany him to the eminence which was formerly occupied by the palace of Islam Bey, and which commands one of the most extensive prospects in western Greece. The mountains, the plain, the lakes, the shaded villas and towers of Ætolia, the vast and dark forest of Acarnania, and the majestic Achelous were all before us. This panorama gave us

Turks in Ætolia, but at preruins, and, like the town of

a better idea of the wealth and the resources of the country than the detached portions of it through which we had passed. The plain, indeed, appeared mountain-bound, but the waters of the lakes, and of Achelous, suggested a favourable outlet for the produce of the land, and we could

not but notice the ease with which a fostering hand might subject these vast treasures of nature to the use of man; at present the lavish prodigality of nature serves only as a contrast to the poverty of the people.

"This," said one of the party, pointing to the prospect that lay beneath us-"this is our wealth; but while our fine lands in the plains are wasting away for want of hands, our people on the mountains are living like beasts for want of occupation. I had once the pleasure of pointing out to his majesty what you now behold. He, too, was struck with the prospect, and the more so when I told him that' one village in the plain, having less than seventy families, paid to the national treasury 35,000 drachmas, while the whole population of the mountains, which is estimated at seven hundred families, had hardly been able to pay that much. 'How can this be?' said the king. 'How do these seven hundred families spend their time? Why, five months,' said I, 'are spent in the sowing and the gathering of the crops, and the remaining seven in idleness, or in stealing each other's goats.'

On our return from our walk we found the sofas and the ottomans of the Oda vastly agreeable. About half-past eight the table, which was served a-la-Turc, was loaded with all the good things that the place and the wealth of our host could afford, and our keen appetites did full justice to the savoury dishes. The entertainment derived additional inte

rest from the conversation of our host, who entertained us with his reminiscences of the past. Before the revolution, Col. Staicos was one of the primates of Ætolia, and his influence with the military chiefs of the country gave him additional importance in the eyes of the Turks. During the days of Ali-Pasha he had risen to the dignity of Codjabasee, and was consequently at the head of affairs. At the breaking out of the revolution he was in the prime of life, and being deficient neither in enthusiasm nor in patriotism, he caught the inspiration of the moment, and plunged into the contest with might and main.

Agrenium being the residence of the principal Turks in the province, became the first scene of hostilities. At the appearance of the insurgents, the Turks, who were estimated at about 1500 fighting men, betook themselves to their strong towers, and commenced a regular and systematic resistance. The Greeks, however, soon got the better of them. Different parts of the town were set on fire, and as this assumed a general character, the Turks were obliged to betake themselves to the palace of Islam Bey, where they remained in close siege for seven days, at the close of which they came to an agreement that each of them would be allowed to entrust his person and fortune to such of the Greek chiefs as they should choose. The stipulations being completed, Islam Bey, the wealthiest of the Turks, entrusted himself and

family to Col. Staicos, and the result justified the wisdom of the Turkish Bey-for, notwithstanding the temptations to which it exposed the Greek chief, the trust was not violated, and the friendly intercourse which still exists between these two characters is alike creditable to both.

This, indeed, is not the only service which Staicos has rendered to the cause of his country. He has acted a distinguished part through the whole of her eventful struggle, and (what is more remarkable and honourable to his patriotism,) when the battle was over, he was one of the first military chiefs who laid his arms aside, and applied himself with assiduity and zeal to the occupations of peace. He is emphatically a man of progress, and happy would it be for Greece if his example were to be imitated by others, who, like him, ought to look, not to the government, but to agriculture and commerce as the best means of support and fortune.

CHAPTER XVII.

MONASTERY AND PASS OF BRusso.

We left our ottomans a little before sunrise, and placed ourselves under the guidance of our Palicars, who, in beginning their journey, crossed themselves very devoutly, and prayed that they might fall in with Kiafas, a wish and a prayer in which we were in no way inclined to participate in or respond to.*

We cleared the scattered and ruined habitations of Agrenium just as the sun had touched the mountain tops of Etolia; and scarcely had we left the town behind us when we found ourselves among its mulberry plantations and vineyards, the latter of which were of great extent, and in a high state of cultivation. Their vines were bending to the ground from the weight of their fruit, and the people who were engaged in gathering the "purple grapes," presented an interesting spectacle. Here, as in other places, we participated in the riches of the harvest gatherers; and while we received from their

*This Kiafas was an outlaw in the forest of Acarnania, and the king had set a price upon his head.