uperb plain of the Eurotas
burst upon us, stretching, in garden-like beauty, to the foot of the
abrupt hills, over which towered the sun-touched snows of Taygetus, we
saw, close on our right, almost the only relic of the lost ages--the
theater. Riding across the field of wheat, which extended all over the
scene of the Spartan gymnastic exhibitions, we stood on the proscenium
and contemplated these silent ruins, and the broad, beautiful landscape.
It is one of the finest views in Greece--not so crowded with striking
points, not so splendid in associations as that of Athens, but larger,
grander, richer in coloring. Besides the theater, the only remains are
some masses of Roman brickwork, and the massive substructions of a small
temple which the natives call the tomb of Leonidas....

We spent the night in a comfortable house, which actually boasted of a
floor, glass windows, and muslin curtains. On returning to the theater
in the morning, we turned aside into a plowed field to inspect a
sarcophagus which had just been discovered. It still lay in the pit
where it was found, and was entire, with the exception of the lid. It
was ten feet long by four broad, and was remarkable in having a division
at one end, forming a smaller chamber, as if for the purpose of
receiving the bones of a child. From the theater I made a sketch of the
valley, with the dazzling ridge of Taygetus in the rear, and Mistra, the
medieval Sparta, hanging on the steep sides of one of his gorges. The
sun was intensely hot, and we were glad to descend again, making our way
through tall wheat, past walls of Roman brickwork and scattering blocks
of the older city, to the tomb of Leonidas. This is said to be a temple,
tho there are traces of vaults and passages beneath the pavement which
do not quite harmonize with such a conjecture. It is composed of huge
blocks of breccia, some of them thirteen feet long.

I determined to make an excursion to Maina. This is a region rarely
visited by travelers, who are generally frightened off by the reputation
of its inhabitants, who are considered by the Greeks to be bandits and
cut-throats to a man. The Mainotes are, for the most part, lineal
descendants of the ancient Spartans, and, from the decline of the Roman
power up to the present century, have preserved a virtual independence
in their mountain fastnesses. The worship of the pagan deities existed
among them as late as the eighth century. They were never conquered by