by an errant knight,* and as the charms of her personal beauty were softened by sorrow, she looked as sad and as lovely as the Cretan Ariadne.

* The knight in question was an Englishman. He acted the Don Juan, and had his Haidee a Lambro for her father: this recreant lover would not have been suffered to return to his own country to write his travels in Greece.

CHAPTER XXVI.

ISLAND OF ANDROS.

AFTER some trouble, and successive disappointments, a boat was at length sent to the straits which separate the island of Tenos from that of Andros; and we were allowed to bid adieu to Panormo, to its Lord Mayor and Justice of Peace, both of whom, I doubt not, were as glad to see us off as we were to leave them. In passing from the town to the sea-shore, we had to go over the worst portion of the island, and we found ourselves in regions where time, storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes, had all joined in the creation of a terrible chaos of rocks, crags, and caves. We wandered through their mazes, and held on to the mules as long as we could, but the paths became at length so impracticable that we had to give up all but the guide, who led us to a high crag, from whence we beheld the straits, the island of Andros, and also our little mystico, to which we had to be carried on the back of the sailors, an operation which, however novel. was by no means the most agreeable method of travelling.

The mystico left its mooring as soon as it took its cargo, and shot across to the opposite shore; but the wind, which was hardly felt while in the port, was blowing strong and stiff through the straits, and the sea rose over the boat, and washed over its decks in right merry style before it deposited its burden on the shores of Andros.

Our troubles did not end with our landing. The island appeared to be deserted, and we had to carry ourselves and our baggage for more than three or four miles before we reached the metoche, or farmhouse, of Agia Mone, where we were entertained by its poor, but hospitable Abbot. This monastic retreat is pleasantly situated at the head of a little valley, and during the latter days of the Greek revolution it became the refuge of those daring corsairs who infested the seas, and who polluted this sanctuary of religion by making it the den of thieves. They, however, reconciled the misgivings of their troubled conscience by making the saint their pat

ron.

The saint, and its sanctuary, having a share in the booty, could not be indifferent to the success of the corsairs, especially when they robbed only heretics and Turks.

After a night's rest in the dreary cell of the Abbot, we left the metoche for Idonia. The first hour of our ride was over a rocky and desolate region, but as soon as we reached the highest part of the ridge, the indications of cultivation began to be more frequent, and at length our eyes alighted upon

the beautiful valley of Corthe, which, with its white houses, green fields, groves of orange and lemon, presented a perfect contrast to the desolate regions through which we had to pass in our way to it.

We descended to this sequestered valley over a succession of stairways, and passing through the vineyards and the groves of olive trees which encompassed the farm-houses of the peasants, we climbed to the town of Idonia, i. e., the home of the nightingales, and took our quarters at the Demark's, whose dwelling, besides overlooking the sweet valley which reposed at the foot of the hills, had the appearance and the luxuries of Turkish houses. Its terraces and fountains, with the trellices on which hung the rich grapes, and the lemon trees which shaded and perfumed the kiosk, and the odas, presented us with a picture which harmonized with the soft and romantic scenes by which it was encompassed.

In the latter part of the afternoon we visited the village fountain, and also some of the high towers which are attached to the principal houses, and which were of no small use during the days when the neighbouring seas were infested with pirates, but which at present serve only as accompaniments and contrasts to, the soft and mild scenes in their vicinity. The most interesting object that fell under our notice during our afternoon walk, was the female school of Mr. Cambanes, who through his school and his intelligent pupils, promises to be

a great benefactor to his native town. For though many of the inhabitants in this island are men who have seen something of the world, the people in general have been shut out of it, and even now they seem to be beyond the reach of those influences which act upon the Greeks of the more accessible portions of the country, and which will never reach them without the agency of schools and education. But while the Andriotes are, in point of education, behind the more favoured portions of Greece, they have the advantage of having preserved more of the blood and the manners of the Greek race. The fine appearance of the men, and the beauty of the women, are matters of notoriety, while amongst them are to be noticed manners and habits which are not unlike those which were common among the old Greeks; for now, as in olden times, the guest is waited upon by the lady of the house.

The day after our arrival, we left the beautiful village of Idonia for Andros, the principal town in the island; and in passing over the valley, we were surprised to find the lower portion of it covered by the heaps and ridges of sand which have been drifted upon the fields and the groves by the force of the north-east winds. This evil, we were told, is increasing with every year, and unless they should succeed to interpose some barrier, it is feared that a great portion of this beautiful valley will be reduced to a desert.

As soon as we crossed the valley, we began to