the Turks, and it required considerable management to bring them under
the rule of Otho....

Starting at noon, we passed through the modern Sparta, which is well
laid out with broad streets. The site is superb, and in the course of
time the new town will take the place of Mistra. We rode southward, down
the valley of the Eurotas, through orchards of olive and mulberry. We
stopt for the night at the little khan of Levetzova. I saw some cows
pasturing here, quite a rare sight in Greece, where genuine butter is
unknown. That which is made from the milk of sheep and goats is no
better than mild tallow. The people informed me, however, that they make
cheese from cow's milk, but not during Lent. They are now occupied with
rearing Paschal lambs, a quarter of a million of which are slaughtered
in Greece on Easter Day. The next morning, we rode over hills covered
with real turf, a little thin, perhaps, but still a rare sight in
southern lands. In two hours we entered the territory of Maina, on the
crest of a hill, where we saw Marathonisi (the ancient Gythium), lying
warm upon the Laconian Gulf. The town is a steep, dirty, labyrinthine
place, and so rarely visited by strangers that our appearance created
quite a sensation....

A broad, rich valley opened before us, crossed by belts of poplar and
willow trees, and inclosed by a semicircle of hills, most of which were
crowned with the lofty towers of the Mainotes. In Maina almost every
house is a fortress. The law of blood revenge, the right of which is
transmitted from father to son, draws the whole population under its
bloody sway in the course of a few generations. Life is a running fight,
and every foe slain entails on the slayer a new penalty of retribution
for himself and his descendants for ever.

Previous to the revolution most of the Mainote families lived in a state
of alternate attack and siege. Their houses are square towers, forty or
fifty feet high, with massive walls, and windows so narrow that they
may be used as loopholes for musketry. The first story is at a
considerable distance from the ground, and reached by a long ladder
which can be drawn up so as to cut off all communication. Some of the
towers are further strengthened by a semicircular bastion, projecting
from the side most liable to attack. The families supplied themselves
with telescopes, to look out for enemies in the distance, and always had
a store of provisions on hand, in case of a siege. Altho