its former grandeur. The walls, inclosing the original town, as well as the fortifications, constructed when it was enlarged, may still be traced. This double inclosure existed in the end of the eleventh century; for Anna Comnina states that Robert Guiscard, while besieging Durazzo, as it existed in his days, occupied a position within the ruins of the antique Epidamnus. Both towns were built on a promontory, advancing into the Adriatic, and beaten by its waves; against which shipping in the port, though a place of great resort, had no other defence than a very insecure anchorage. In this manner is Dyrrachium described by Lucan in his Pharsalia, vi. 22, &c. "A fortress this, invincible by steel: 'Tis nature's work alone. It's strong defence The present Durazzo, built on the ruins of Dyrrachium, of which the remains are frequently discovered, is surrounded with a wall mounted with cannon, all in the Turkish fashion; and containing 400 Mahometan families, commanded by a vaivode, at the head of a corps of Janissaries. By that vis inertiæ, that resistance to change, which still maintains the Ottoman empire in existence, Durazzo, like all the other Turkish towns on the coast of Greece, continues to be numbered among the fortresses of the grand-seignior. But it is also like too many of such towns, the theatre of insubordination and confusion, a nest of pirates, a den of assassins, and the polluted receptacle of criminals who escape from the shores of Italy. On the outside of this modern Poneropolis, (city of the wicked; a name assigned to Philippopolis of Thrace, because many of the first inhabitants had been guilty of sacrilege,) is a varochi, or suburb, occupied by 600 Roman Catholic families. Their church, under the invocation of St. Roch, was repaired in 1809, by means of contributions, collected under the authority of a French general in the country. The edifice, originally erected by the Normans in the twelfth century, was the see of the Latin Archbishop of Durazzo. But through the persecutions of the Turks, the present incumbent was compelled, at the hazard of his life, to relinquish his place and withdraw to Corbina, in the adjoining pashalik or government of Croia. There he has taken refuge near the Mirdites, a tribe, who, while they preserve inviolate their fidelity to the Ottoman government, have also resolutely defended their Christian profession and their civil rights, against the tyranny, spiritual and temporal, of their Mussulman rulers. The rever nue drawn from the three voivodeliks or districts of Durazzo, Cavailha, and Pekini, which are farmed out in Constantinople for 400 purses, or 8,400l., (a purse being twenty guineas,) is computed to exceed three times that sum, through the exorbitant operations of the beys in office. From the port of Durazzo the Sclavonians from the northward draw corn, oil, tobacco, Turkey-leather, and timber. In exchange they furnish scarlet-cloth, serge, steel, glass, and fire-arms, from the manufactory of Brescia, in the north of Italy. In going from Durazzo to Scutari, you return on the road from Cavailha, for above two miles, to the edge of a marsh, which is crossed in its narrowest part on a decayed wooden bridge. This marshy lake is formed, not by the Apsus, as some writers, misunderstanding Lucan, have supposed, but by the waters of the Spirnatza or Ululeus; which in winter inundate the low grounds; but in summer the ground becomes sufficiently dry to allow maize to be sown and reaped. Beyond the marsh, the road winds for a league and-a-quarter to the river Lisana or Isanus, over which a Roman bridge is still sufficiently entire for use; and above five leagues farther is the river Matis, called by the Greeks Madia, but by the Albanians Bregoui-Matousi. There begins the district of Croia, called by the Byzantine historians Croas, but by the Turks Ak-serail, the white palace. This town, situated on a hill of difficult access, was founded in 1338 by the chief of the district then called Scouria, now that of Pekini, on both sides of the Genusus. By its position Croia was secure from any sudden effectual attack; and by its abundant springs of water, from which it acquired its name, the town could not easily be reduced. Its chief renown, however, arises from the heroic and patriotic exploits of George Castriote or Scanderbeg, of whose states Croia was the capital. Although much decayed, the town still contains 1,200 Turkish families. Of 100 villages under its jurisdiction, sixty are occupied by Christians of the Roman church, under the Bishop of Alessio. The revenue of the pasha amounts to 300 purses or 6,300l. and he would willingly augment it; but the warlike habits and reputation of the people have hitherto restrained him within reasonable bounds. The Mirdites, already mentioned, inhabit a multitude of villages, spread over the fertile valley of the Matis, twenty-four leagues in extent from the sea to its springs: their chief place, Orocher, is distant sixteen leagues from Alessio. Two leagues up the river from the sea, is situated Ischmid, in the tract of country called the Red Plain, mentioned in the adventures of Scanderbeg. The road to Scutari traverses a forest two leagues in extent, following the tract of a Roman way, which leads to the bank of the Drino, a little above Alessio. Here ends Macedonian Illyricum; and here ends my description of the north of Greece along the coast of the Adriatic. I now return to Port Palermo, to continue the journey to Janina. CHAPTER VI. Route from Port Palermo by Delvino to Janina.—Excursion from Delvino to Butrinto, the ancient Buthrotum. On the 1st of February 1806, we arrived in the bay of Port Palermo, and on the following morning we commenced our journey to Janina, the residence of Aly. Our baggage was sent on before us, and at two in the morning we mounted our horses, accompanied by the boulouk-bashi, or commandant, heartily tired of his post, and in the hope of obtaining some mark of his master's favour, through our testimony of his good services and attention. Recommending therefore to the people of the place the care of the fortress, but in a special manner the care of his sheep and goats, he took the lead of our caravan. Climbing up the mountains which cover the bay on the south, we directed our course to the south-east; our horses, although bred to similar paths, having no small difficulty to pursue their course among the sharp rocks. The country seemed, as far as the moon enabled me to discover, to be wholly desert, only a few plants of the euphorbia, or prickly-pear, shooting up among the rocks. After an hour's progress we descended into a deep wooded valley, containing some sheep-folds, guarded by shepherds fully armed, and by dogs of the Albanian race, which assailed us with inconceivable fury. Our road then led for 200 yards through a gallery opened in the solid rock, and turned east, over a tract of land supported by ranges of dry stone-walls, to retain the water abundantly employed in the cultivation of maize. Soon after we came to the shore, at a vast height over the water, where was a watch-tower, inclosed by groups of shepherds round their fires. Our guides foreseeing an approaching storm we pushed forward away from the coast, over a very rugged tract to the river Epari, which we luckily found low enough to be forded. The storm now in fact came on; the moon disappeared, and the lightning, which flashed with incessant vigour, alone pointed out our path. Confused by the gleams, however, we missed our way, and wandered about until, by the dashing of the waves, we found that we were again on the brink of a precipice over the sea. The rain pouring down in torrents we alighted for safety; but after some time we discovered the entrance of the valley of Borchi. Fording the river which the people call Hadgi-agas-potami, then hurrying along trees torn off by the violence of the rain, we mounted half a up mile to a khan or inn, defended by a tower occupied by a party of Albanians. After some questions we were admitted by the people, who were Christians; and a plentiful woodfire, lighted from the lamp always burning before the picture of the Virgin, with some maize-bread and brandy, soon restored us to a comfortable state. Notwithstanding all their attention, I could perceive that our guides and postillions seemed full of apprehension. Every motion and look of the Chimariotes was watched with peculiar care; and I concluded that we were in a post of the mountain-robbers. It must, however, be acknowledged that we received all attention and service with good-will from the suspected mountaineers, as far as their means enabled them. When day appeared I went out of the khan to view the country. The town of Borchi is placed at the west end of a fertile valley, which reaches east two leagues up the country, abounding in olive and other good trees. A torrent rushed down to the beach, where a number of fishing-boats lay a-ground. In front lay Corfu; to the west and north-west I saw Fano and Merlere, with three Russian men-of-war at anchor within a mile of the tower. Our whole night's journey had not exceeded ten miles; and it was our purpose to reach Delvino in the evening: we therefore set off early. Proceeding for a mile along the beach we came to the valley of Paron, but the village lies a league up the country; riding at times up to the saddle in the sea; and three miles farther we came to the valley of Pikerni. The intervening hills were covered with lentiscus or mastick-trees, laurel, vallona oaks, &c. From one eminence I observed a vast fall of water, forming a succession of five cascades, down the face of a mountain clothed with pines. The rain had now ceased, the air was clear, and our attendants made the hills resound with their songs, in honour of the high martial deeds of their master Aly. I observed, however, that their voices gradually fell as we drew near to Loucovo, a small town, of which the inhabitants might probably have answered in a manner any thing but complimentary to that hero. Loucovo is situated on the round summit of a well cultivated hill. The slopes towards the sea are laid out in terraces, ornamented with fruit-trees and other valuable vegetable productions; the whole appearing an Eden in the eyes of persons emerging from the rude barren wilds of Acroceraunia. The inhabitants forming 400 families of Christians, lately subdued by Aly, manifested an appearance of prosperity and comfort, far from common among the peasantry of Epirus. On the sight of Aly's people the Loucovians shut their doors; the peasants of Corfu, who pass over every year to labour on the continent, retired from the fields as we drew near; and we could hear, as we passed along the streets, certain expressions of vengeance, to which our guides thought it proper to yield a deaf ear. From Borchi to Loucovo is a course of seven miles; and on leaving the last place we entered on a region offering a melancholy contrast with that we had just left. Nothing is to be seen but a naked plain covered with stones and slate, intermingled with stunted bushes of kermes-oak and paliurus. To the north and east the view was bounded by ranges of lofty mountains loaded with snow: but our course was to the southsouth-east for a league, following the tract of blood from animals recently devoured by the wolves. Half a league farther we descended to a deep torrent, a mile beyond which I saw a country-house of Aly just built, in the midst of Oudessovo, a village destroyed by him in 1798. The impression made by that destruction seemed unabated in the mind of a papas or Greek priest, who spoke to us on the subject. From this place we mounted four miles south by east, to the summit of a mountain, where we found a fountain, and a portion of a paved road, ascribed by the peasants to Bajazet Ilderim, but which may with greater probability be regarded as a work of the Romans; being a continuation of the way which, traversing Acroceraunia from north to south, passed by Phanoté and Cassiopia to Nicopolis, on the gulf of Prevesa, founded by Augustus, in memory of his final victory over Antony and Cleopatra. Four hundred yards farther we arrived near the ruined village Agios Vasili (Saint Basil). On the hill behind the village ruins are said to be discovered near the chapel of Panagia Kronia, (the Virgin of Cronia) a name which perhaps bears some allusion to a temple sacred to Saturn. There we found a sort of fortress, regarded by the Albanians, and for some time by Aly himself, as the key of the Ceraunian mountains. Seating ourselves in the sun against a wall, we dried our clothes, and took our repast, whilst our horses were refreshed. Round the fort a new village of fifty Christian families promised to become a place of importance. Two miles beyond St. Basil we saw on the right Nivitza-Bouba, a vil |