Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/370

320 remarked the Hellenic wall. The fertility of this valley and the convenience of the harbour of Vathy would account for the choice of this site. Here probably stood one of the three towns in this island mentioned by Pliny.$144$

, March 20, 1855.

length I have succeeded in getting away from Calymnos, where I was detained so long that I got utterly weary of such a monotonous life. You cannot imagine any isolation more complete than that of an European compelled to sojourn in such an island in winter time. It is something like living at the bottom of a well and seeing the same bit of sky every day. The winter has been an unusually severe one. The house I lived in, though once the residence of a Greek archbishop, was a wretched squalid barrack with no glass in the windows. The roof being flat and covered with earth, the rain in wet weather dripped through on to my pillow. There being no fireplace, I could only keep myself warm by cowering over an earthen pan just 8 inches in diameter filled with charcoal.

After standing all day watching my workmen in the field, I was generally obliged to take an active part in the cooking of my own supper, in which I had the assistance of my trusty Albanian cavass.

To obtain every day wholesome food and fuel was