the water. The tracks worn by those who have from time to time passed over them, follow all the contortions and fissures of the strata. Our horses would occasionally come to a narrow ledge, which, with all our confidence in their sure-footedness, seemed rather perilous. At length we beheld, on the crest of a neighboring hill, the remains of the ancient Temple of Minerva, which we had come so far to visit.

The view from the summit well repaid us for the difficulty of the ascent. We had reached the end of the Attic peninsula. The Ægean Sea, unruffled by a single breath of air, presented a glassy appearance, which the ocean never exhibits. Beyond were the islands of the Archipelago, seemingly but a few miles distant. But more impressive than all was the unbroken silence that reigned around us. Not a living thing had we encountered for nearly three hours. In fact, no one permanently inhabits this vicinity. The temple is better known by the seamen than by the natives; and the Italian sailors have given the promontory its present designation of Cape Colonna. Only twelve out of twenty-four columns remain. The order is that most commonly employed in the existing edifices of Greece-the simple and chaste Doric. Yet, in some respects, the Temple of Sunium differs from all other examples of this style. The flutings of the columns are wider and less numerous than in the Parthenon; while the shafts are so tall and slender as to present a marked contrast with those of the other temples, and especially with those of the Peloponnesus. At a short distance they appear to vie in lightness with pillars of the Ionic order. Sheltered by its situation from depredations on the part of the peasantry for building purposes, the temple is exposed to the full violence of every tempest that blows over it, and of every earthquake that rocks its foundations. But the more insidious agency of the saline exhalations from the sea has corroded its pillars, destroyed its sharp outlines, and obliterated every trace of its marble sculptures. The platform upon which the edifice stands is yet remaining entire. The walls of ancient Sunium may be traced through their whole circuit. It was evidently a place of some note as the chief town in the mining district of Mount Laurium.

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Returning to Keratia, we pursued a route less rocky, passing by Thoricus, the modern Therico. The only objects of interest in this little hamlet are a gate of unusual construction, a ruined colonnade, and the remains of a small theatre. An hour later we were in the carriage returning to Athens. On our way we stopped for a few minutes in the vicinity of a chapel dedicated to St. John, to examine a marble lion of colossal size; but the execution was feeble, and the monument too much defaced to be worthy of notice.

PHYLE.

Professor B. was my companion on a pleasant excursion to the fortress of Phyle, situated in the very midst of Mount Parnes, which played a prominent part in Grecian story. Before we got under way, the sun was well up, and pouring his almost insupportable rays upon us. We were provided with books, maps, and provisions; and each carried, besides, an umbrella, without whose protection scarce any one ventures out during the warm season. The weather soon, however, underwent a favorable change; and the sky being over

cast, we were not long exposed to great heat. As we left the thoroughfares of the city, we struck upon an ill-defined road leading to the northwest; and, after making a slight descent, found ourselves approaching the little River Cephissus, which, in its course of twenty miles from the mountains, scatters fertility and verdure around. Great was the contrast between its banks and the rest of the plain, which in the month of October is dry, parehed, and dusty. The whole valley, in its width of six miles, had been stripped of nearly every vestige of vegetation; for not a drop of water had fallen during the previous four or five months. The Cephissus, in truth, makes but a poor show as to extent. At no time does it equal a moderate creek. Its waters are drawn off by canals, and let out by the government to the neighboring land-owners in measured quantities, and at a fixed price. What is not absorbed by the ground, finds its way to the vicinity of the Bay of Phalerum, where it loses itself in the midst of the fields; and but little, after all, reaches the sea. The equally famous Ilissus, on the eastern side of Athens, is still more unfortunate, as, during the warm months, its bed becomes entirely dry.

The olive grove lining the banks of the Cephissus forms a belt of verdure for half a mile or more on either side, and is one of the most flourishing in all Greece. The trees are old, and twisted into the most fantastic shapes imaginable. The locality acquires additional interest from the fact that the Academy was situated in this vicinity, that garden where Plato was wont to teach his disciples, where the principles of a morality superior to that of the times were inculcated, and popular fallacies were refuted. But, alas for the reverence of the antiquarian, the precise spot can scarcely be determined with certainty. The two low hillocks of Colonos, a short distance to the right, are more certainly known. Here was the birthplace of the great poet Sophocles, who, in his tragedies, has represented Edipus as on this spot lamenting his misfortunes. On one hillock stands the simple monument of Müller the Philhellene, who, after spending a lifetime in the study of Grecian history, begged that he might be buried here in sight of some of its most glorious monuments. Half an hour later we saw the Queen's Tower, a sort of country house, to which

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the royal couple may frequently be seen riding. Queen Amelia is passionately fond of equestrian exercises, and is esteemed the best rider in the kingdom. What with riding and dancing, her time is pretty fully occupied, and she finds little leisure to attend to the concerns of her subjects. Her non-interference, probably, quite as much as her reputed gentleness and beauty, has won the good-will of a people who certainly esteem themselves quite capable of managing their own affairs.

An hour or two more brought us opposite Mount Pentelicus and Cephisia, on the other side of the great plain of Athens. Here we turned into a valley between the hills, and began ascending to the village of Khassia. More properly the assemblage of houses we reached was merely the calyvia, or summer residence, of the inhabitants of Khassia. The real village lay out of sight. During the summer season the inhabitants abandon their villages, either because their position is unhealthy, or because they possess lands in a more elevated situation. These they must visit to plough and sow with grain during the early spring, and to reap the crops in the month of June, after the termination of harvest in the plains. Let not the reader imagine here one of those smiling villages of New England, whose regular streets are shaded by long rows of old elms, or adorned with lofty poplars; whose neat white houses testify alike to the industry and the success of the inhabitants. We found ourselves entering a confused mass of huts, built of stone or mud, and huddled together without regard to order or symmetry. The streets-often not eight feet wide-were unpaved and dirty. There did not seem to be a single tree or bush in the place. As we dismounted to rest our horses a while, some ragged boys in Albanian costume came to earn a few lepta by holding them; while three or four grown men, who might have been profitably employed in the cultivation of their fields, sat under an adjoining shed smoking their pipes and watching our movements. We walked a short distance through the neighboring lanes, but discovered nothing worthy of notice. Here and there the eye was met by the tottering wall of a cottage, whose tiled or thatched roof had fallen in. It was the very picture of desolation. We were heartily rejoiced when our horses had been

sufficiently refreshed to allow of our proceeding. A few rods beyond the village there was a clear spring of water, where we found all the women of the village engaged in washing. This operation did not consist in rubbing the clothes with the hand or upon a board. Instead of this, the articles were alternately dipped in water, and pounded between two boards or two flat stones until they acquired the necessary degree of whiteness. What seemed to give the washers most trouble, however, was the fustanella, or white shirt, worn by the men, which any one who has ever seen an Athenian in native costume can not fail to remember. A strip of linen, a yard or three quarters of a yard wide, is wound in a loose manner, sometimes a dozen or more times about the body, and fastened by a long sash tightly drawn around the waist. This, too, gives the pallecaris a wasp-like figure, on which they are wont to pride themselves beyond measure. The white skirts, when stretched upon the grass, cover a great space. The whole female population paused for a moment in their occupation to reconnoitre us as we approached. Altogether they formed a picturesque group. With a freedom that might have shocked fastidious eyes, they had tucked up their dresses above the knee, and stood ankle deep in water.

From Khassia to Phyle the winding bridle path more than doubles the direct distance. We followed during much of the time the sides of a narrow ravine. At the bottom the dry bed of a torrent, which during the winter pours its waters into the plain of Eleusis, left no room for a road. Accordingly, we were obliged to make frequent ascents and descents before coming in sight of the fortress. The sides of the hills were covered with pine-trees wherever the rocky nature of the soil did not preclude their growth. The inhabitants put them in requisition, not only to furnish the fuel they need, but also to flavor their wines.

The fortress of Phyle at length came in sight. It occupies the summit of a somewhat isolated hill, that stands in the middle of the principal pass leading over Mount Parnes from Attica into Boeotia. On two sides it is protected by almost perpendicular rocks. There no walls were necessary, and none seem ever to have existed. On the other sides it was