ons," says our traveller, "present generally an
indiscriminate mass of ruins; they were originally erected in haste, and
being often cemented with mud instead of mortar, the rains of autumn,
penetrating between the outer and inner faces of the walls, swell the
earth, and soon effect the ruin of the whole"--it must be confessed, but
sorry structures for the _triple_ fires of an enemy. Sir William, on his
visit, found the commandant in a state of misery not exceeded by the lot
of his meanest fellow-citizens, except that his robes were somewhat in
better condition. He received him "very kindly in a dirty unfurnished
apartment," into which he "climbed by a tottering ladder from a court
strewed with ruins;" here he gave him "coffee," after which he took his
leave. What would a first lord of the Admiralty say to such a reception?
and it must have been somewhat uncourtly to our traveller.

The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarkable for the
production of an infinite quantity of squills, which are used in
medicine. The rocks, which show themselves in every direction through a
scanty but rich soil, are limestone, and present a general appearance of
unproductiveness round the castle of Navarino; and the absence of trees
is ill compensated by the profusion of sage, brooms, cistus, and other
shrubs which start from the innumerable cavities of the limestone.

The remains of Navarino Vecchio, or ancient Navarino, consist in a fort
or castle of mean construction, covering the summit of a hill sloping
quickly to the south, but falling in abrupt precipices to the north and
east. The town was built on the southern declivity, and was surrounded
by a wall, which, allowing for the natural irregularities of the soil,
represented a triangle, with the castle at the apex or summit--a form
observable in many of the ancient cities of Greece.

The foundation of the walls throughout the whole circuit remains entire;
but the fortifications were never of any consequence, though they present
a picturesque group of turrets and battlements from below, and must have
been very imposing from the sea,--an effect which those of the modern city
have recently failed to produce. From the top is an extensive view over
the island of Sphacteria, the port, with the town of Navarino to the
south, and a considerable tract of the territory anciently called Messenia
on the east, with the conic hill, which, though some miles from the shore,
is used as