io had specially in view,
was exceedingly uninviting to an observer from the sea; where it
seemed to be only a mass of rocky cliffs and mountains, gradually
rising from the sea to St. Elias, the highest peak of Taygetus. Yet
among these rocks were upwards of a hundred villages, containing
from thirty to forty thousand souls. Many of these were probably of
true Spartan descent, and they had always maintained a degree of
independence. The old Bey of Mane had prepared the way for the two
brethren by letters from Athens, where he then resided, and they
were gladly received, and soon decided on removing their families to
Ariopolis; situated on the western slope of the mountain ridge, and
the chief town of the province of Laconia. The two families arrived
in May, 1837, and were soon joined by Dr. Gallatti, who had been a
faithful friend and helper at Scio. A large house was immediately
erected for a Lancasterian school; but no teacher for such a school
could be found, since no one was allowed to teach in Greece, except
in Ancient Greek, without a diploma from the government; and all was
under the superintendent of public schools, who would allow no one
to serve the mission. Yet there were hundreds of boys playing about
in the streets, who at a moment's notice would have rushed in for
instruction, and whose parents would have rejoiced to see them
there. A teacher was not obtained until October, 1839, and then only
with the aid of Mr. Perdicaris, the American consul; but before the
end of the year, the pupils numbered one hundred and seventy,
filling the house. Among them was a youth named Kalopothakes, a
native of the place, who afterwards became the bold friend and
efficient helper of Dr. King. A school for teaching ancient Greek
with thirty scholars, had been in operation a year or more. King
Otho visited the place early in 1838, and commended the school. The
descendants of the ancient Spartans boasted that he was the first
monarch they had ever permitted to tread their soil.

Mrs. Houston being threatened with consumption, her husband took her
to Alexandria, and afterwards to Cairo, where she died peacefully,
on the 24th of November, 1839. After depositing her remains in the
Protestant burying-ground at Alexandria, the bereaved husband and
father returned, with his child, to his station in Greece, and in
the following year visited his native land.

The Greek mission was always affected more or less by the changes of
poli