. He came back
in a short time, and reported that he could gain no tidings answering to
the description of the _William_.

My own knowledge of Cephalonia is but slight; but Stallman, who had been
there before, gave me some information about it. It is one of the
Ionian Islands, under the protection of England, and had an English
garrison, at that time consisting of about five hundred of the rifle
brigade. Thanks to Sir Frederick Adams, the country appears to be in a
flourishing condition; the roads are excellent, and the inhabitants
cultivate not only the fertile valleys, but every inch of soil to be
found among its rocky heights. There is another neatly-built and
pleasantly--situated town, called Luxuria, about three miles from
Guardiana.

If we thought Cephalonia interesting, Zante, the next place at which we
touched, was far more so. Its citadel occupies a lofty hill, situated
at the head of a deep bay. The citadel, bristling with guns,--the town,
with its steeples and domes,--and the surrounding country, with its
groves of olives, its fields of waving corn, and its villas and hamlets,
presented to our eyes a scene of surpassing loveliness. Not a word of
information could we obtain of the objects of our search; so we again
weighed anchor and stood on towards Corfu, the most beautiful and
interesting of all the Ionian Islands, within sight of the lofty and
picturesque mountains of Albania. The citadel of Corfu, standing on an
island on the southern side of the town, may, from its lofty position,
surmounted by a lighthouse, be discovered at a considerable distance out
at sea. Its southern side is completely inaccessible, and art has
rendered the other sides equally difficult to ascend; so that it is
almost, if not entirely, impregnable. The island is connected to the
mainland by a bridge, at the end of which is the fine open place called
the Esplanade, extending from the west side of the bay, to the palace of
the Lord High Commissioner on the east. Most of the streets run at
right angles to each other; the principal, the Strada Real, runs to the
gate which forms the chief entrance to the town. The houses are for the
most part built in an irregular and slovenly manner; and even the public
buildings cannot boast of much beauty. The inhabitants, of the town
especially, are a mixture of Greeks and Venetians. In the country the
population is more purely Greek. The roads, constructed chiefly by
fatigue partie