y employed themselves in constructing redoubt after
redoubt, as bad as they were useless, of the sort called by them
tambourias. We counted a dozen. Only the Suliots, the Candiots,
commanded by Demetrius Kalerdji, two hundred regular troops, under the
orders of Inglesi and D'aujourd'hui, and twenty-two Philhellenes, went
in advance. Without any hindrance, they reached within cannon-shot of
the Acropolis, towards Philippapus, so that, as I have heard, they could
even speak with the besieged; but, having received no orders to enter,
they waited until the day rendered their position hazardous. The enemy
thus had time to ascertain their weakness and to send against them eight
hundred horsemen. Thrice these troops were repulsed. Vasso and Notaras,
however, who covered the right flank, abandoned their posts, as they had
done in the affair of the unfortunate Bourbakes, and thereby they caused
confusion among the troops in the centre. The latter defended themselves
with renewed valour, but yielded at last to the sabres of the Dehli
cavalry. Then was exhibited such a panic as cannot be described. The
soldiers who occupied the redoubts in the rear, and near to the place of
debarkation, began to flee almost at the same time as those of Vasso,
and threw themselves into the sea at the risk of being drowned. I was at
this time with Lord Cochrane, who did not wish to mix himself up with
the affair, when the sudden flight forced us at once to rejoin our boat,
and even this was not done without great difficulty. General Church was
also on the shore, and he too was only saved by the sloop which was
waiting for him. The Turkish cavalry, after having killed or captured
all the advanced party, rushed into the plain and made terrible havoc
among the Greeks. Seven hundred of them were killed; and two hundred and
forty were taken prisoners. The rest, numbering about two thousand,
rushed down towards the sea, and would soon have been all destroyed by
the Turkish guns placed on the hills if the fire from the vessels off
the coast had not kept the enemy at a respectful distance. They passed
the day in a terrible uncertainty, but were sustained by the courage of
certain chiefs, especially of Nicolo Serva, a Suliot captain; and in the
following night they were embarked and carried back to Phalerum. While
this portion of the army was being thus troubled, the Greeks, under the
orders of Kisso Zavella, remained inactive. That chief quietly smoked
his pi