them; and this was construed by the position is alleviated the result must be fanatical women into a distinct prophecy; fatal.

and then his church is built over a cave, and this has saved it from the earthquake."

In short Father Procopios had asserted an unpalatable superiority.

II.
SAMOS.

THE steamer which plies between Chios On my return to the Chora a personage and Samos only takes eight hours, and in shabby garments expressed a desire to stops first at the Karlovassi, a nest of speak to me; his name was Constantine villages under the shadow of Mount Prochides. Twenty years ago he estab- Kerki. lished the first and only Greek printingpress in Chios; he printed schoolbooks for the gymnasium, he printed lists of the subscribers to charities. Six months ago his permission to print was taken away from him by the government, and now the schools of Chios can only get books by sending to Smyrna; they cannot print the names of the subscribers to their charities. In short, the Sciotes have no means of publishing anything now, and Prochides is a ruined man.

war

A weird mountain, honeycombed with caves, and esteemed by the inhabitants as the abode of all sorts of unearthly horrors - Nereids, as they call them for the most part in the island. The Nereids of the mountain are at constant war with the Nereids of the sea; if the former win the mountaineers are prosperous, if the latter, luck attends those on the seashore. The Samiotes are right in attributing to the mountain their prosperity, for amongst the heights and caves of Mount Kerki The object of this peremptory suppres- the Samiotes kept up a constant sion of the press is obvious. The Turks against the Turks long after the settledo not wish anybody to know what is ment of the Greek war of independence, going on in the island, and how can any- which allotted the island, together with thing be known? An English yacht or the rest of the Sporades, to Turkey. two may stop at the Chora for a few hours After years of determined resistance, now and again; the occupants get off to France, England, and Russia gave the see the ruins of the place; they think it Samiotes leave to have a prince of their sad, perhaps, and are glad to leave so own a Greek sent from Constantinople mournful a spot. But since the officers -a parliament of their own-in short, of the Thunderer distributed relief after entire self-government on payment of an the earthquake scarcely a European has annual tribute of four hundred thousand passed through the ruined villages, and piastres to the Porte. "So the Nereids now the printing press is stopped nothing of the mountains," say the Samiotes, can be known except what the govern-"have put to rout the Nereids of the ment chooses to tell.

sea.

From the antecedents of Chios we may These mountaineers show the spirit of fairly argue that if the island were left to independence common to their class. itself it would recover, for there is a sur- The Samiotes who cross over to the opprising amount of commercial vitality posite mainland make the best brigands, about a Sciote. Of all Greeks, a Sciote and are the dread of the Turks; the Greek is the most astute; the names of Samiotes who stop at home make the best most successful Greek merchants in En- citizens, and are the most law-abiding gland and elsewhere point to a Sciote race to be found in the Greek islands. origin. Even as far back as the days of Samos, with the exception of the plain Herodotus they were celebrated as a cen- around the ancient Greek city, now barely tre of commercial activity. During the inhabited, is all mountainous, and the Middle Ages the Greeks of Chios under mountains are fertile, many of them with Italian rule grew rich and prospered. forests up to the top; hence a typical Before the terrible slaughter of 1821, the Samiote is a shepherd from the mountainwealth and luxury of Chios were prover-side, and a fine fellow he is. This forms bial throughout the East. Even after that disaster, which would have ruined any other place, Chios recovered, and before the earthquake, though badly governed, the island was prosperous. Unfortunately now their struggle for recovery is coincident with the final struggle of Turkey for existence, and unless in some way their

the difference between Chiotes and Samiotes; the former live principally on the coast, and are a timid, shrewd, mercantile race, the latter brave and hardy, and in a contest with Turkey the latter qualities are the most valuable, as the result shows. Throughout Samos every village we visited—and we visited nearly all-was

prosperous; an element of security for life | hundred thousand piastres of his tribute, and property seemed to render enterprise on condition that roads are made with the hopeful, and contentment in the existing order of things prevailed.

We land at Karlovassi, and are at once cheered by the sight of a flag-red and blue with a white cross thereon, the emblem of independence. On the shore of the little harbor soldiers in exceedingly gay uniform meet us; they wear the Greek costume, only their petticoats, or fustanelli, instead of being white cotton are of blue cloth; their coat is blue, with long, flapping sleeves, their waistcoats are richly embroidered with red, and so are their gaiters; they carry a sword by their side. These are the Samiote guards. On inquiry we were told that this costume was only adopted two years ago; originally it was the dress of the villagers in MarathoCombo, a colony in Samos from Epirus, and consequently Albanian.

money. "He thinks," said a cynical inhabitant of the slopes of Mount Kerki, "that in case of a disturbance arising, when good roads are made, he will be better able to subdue us than he was before."

As we wait for our mules, the smart guards come to us, and ask where we are going and our object; when satisfied as to our innocent intent they encourage us by saying we may travel all over their island without fear, "very different from over there," they add, pointing contemptuously at the mainland. The truth of this we realized, for nothing but the greatest civility attended our wanderings.

We stroll into the church; perhaps the most interesting thing for us who have just arrived at Samos is the throne of the prince therein, with 5ʼnrw(let him live) written over it, and then there is the invaria ble richly carved tempelon or rood-screen, which we see in every church in these islands. In fact carving is quite a spe cialty about here.

Modern Samos in fact is a mass of little colonies, for the island was uninhabited for a century after the Turkish inroads, until a pasha in 1550 went to hunt there one day and recognized its fertility, as the poet Menander did centuries before, when The mountain scenery of Samos is truly he applied to it the Greek proverb that at gorgeous, surpassing all things in the Samos" even hens give milk." On rep- Greek islands in loveliness. Through resenting this fertility to the sultan, colo- peeps in the fir forests you get glimpses nists from all parts of the empire were of olive groves, of distant sea and islands; induced to go there by promises of gifts through peeps in the olive groves you get of land; consequently each Samiote vil glimpses of fir forests, craggy mountains, lage has a different type of countenance, blue distances and bluer sea. Every though I am inclined to think from their shade is blue, and then sometimes these dialect and physiognomy that the Ionian olive groves reach to the summit of lofty type prevails-probably Ionians from the hills, giving to each peak certain peculiar neighboring mainland. At the same time tints of blue, resembling stamped Utrecht many villages claim relationship with the velvet in softness; tall, gaunt cypresses Peloponnese, Macedonia, Lesbos, etc. stand out by way of contrast, and poplars Doubtless this mixture of blood has had without leaves, when we saw them — a beneficial effect on the Samiote of to- called λevкù by the Greeks from the whiteday; only hardy and energetic men would ness of their bark and then the foreundertake to colonize an island which ground beneath you is gay with various had run to waste; at all events the off-colored anemones spread out like a carspring are finer Greeks than you meet elsewhere.

As in Chios mule-riding is the only mode of progression; roads are being made, and an excellent one from the capital Vathy to the ancient capital Samos, or, as it is now called, Tigani, is actually finished, but the islanders have as yet à distrust in the merits of carts and carriages, and the road is grass-grown save for a mule track in the middle. The prince told me that the Parliament had extensive schemes for road works all over the island, only money is wanting at present for the various enterprises. The sultan in consideration of this fact has remitted one

pet, amongst the bushes. We turn a corner, and look down on a village climbing the mountain-side, of a curious rich orange color, which harmonizes wonderfully with the scenery. On the flat roofs they place soil of a certain yellow marl, which, when soaked with rain, imparts its color to the walls, and hence the curious effect.

This was the village of Maratho-Combo on the southern slopes of Mount Kerki, where we arrived on the third day. It is the chief town of one of the four districts into which Samos is politically divided, and in point of size is second only to the capital, Vathy. Here we learned more

Vandals, received countless Greek pil-
grims from the neighboring islands and
coasts!

enough instrument in a house, but exceedingly quaint amongst the wild hills. It consists of an inflated pig-skin, with a Greek religious history is apt to repeat cow's horn at one end with holes for the itself, for up on the hill slopes above the fingers and a hole to blow in. Then anHermon an annual Christian pilgrimage other pastoral instrument is the ovpaúhov, still takes place; three thousand go there a veritable pan-pipe, an Ionian instrument from Asia Minor and the neighboring made out of a simple reed, with six holes islands with their blind, their paralyzed, for the fingers down on one side and one and their lame. Miracles are on record, for the thumb on the other. A small but the sceptical say the same people are shepherd-boy played this for us with wonkept to be cured year by year. Undoubt-derful precision and taste, rambling on edly the monks are very rich, and they from one tune to another. have chosen the spot for their monastery of the Holy Cross with judgment; it is out of the reach of pirates, and near enough to the Heroon to carry on the idea of a religious centre.

A parallel case is before us in the panegyris to the shrine of the Madonna of Tenos, called by the Greeks the Queen of Queens. It is a sort of panhellenic festival, whither twice a year from twentyfive to thirty thousand pilgrims will assemble. Now Tenos is an island only a few miles from Delos, and the miraculous picture of the Virgin was conveniently discovered just after the war of independence, when the idea of panhellenism was rife; so to the Cyclades, close to the ancient centre of Delos, flock Greek devotees from every corner of the Greek world at this very time.

As we approached the old capital after our sojourn in the mountains traces of antiquity grew around usa statue let in here and there, an inscription on a church tower, and so forth. At the vil lage of Maurodei they still make a sort of ugly, quaintly colored pottery, and ingenious cups which, if you fill them above a certain point, become entirely empty. This is all that is left of the once celebrated Samiote industry. We saw many specimens of plates let into houses and churches by way of mural decoration, and in some villages a few were still existing amongst the household crockery. When we reached the Chora, however, the old Turkish capital, we were at once steeped in antiquity: every house boasts of a treasure let into the walls - some statue, some carving, or some column Samiote shepherds are quaint, simple which has come from the ancient town men, the back-bone of their country. You two miles distant; but the glory has demeet one; he says, "pa kahǹ, “Good hour parted from this southern side of the to you." Practice alone teaches the appro-island, and is now centred in Vathy. The priate replies, Πόλλα τὰ ἔτη, σε Many years Chora still possesses a palace for the to you; "Well met." And never shall I prince, and it may be gay when the parforget the effect produced by a shepherd liament meets in its church. who related his adventures to us with a Nereid. There he sat in his skin cloak, his crook in his hand, his red fez jauntily placed on one side of his head, as he told us how one night a goat followed him all the way from Karlovassi to Pyrgos with a tinkling bell; at each village he came to the goat left him as he entered, to rejoin him on the other side. At length at a well near Pyrgos his mule stopped, and no power of his would urge him on. At the same time a bright light in the shape of a figure came out of the well; the goat ran off and was seen no more. Three days afterwards he was sick. "Surely," he added, with excitement, "there was no doubt about it; it was the ravayía (Virgin) herself who came as a Nereid to drive away some evil spirit that was following

Vathy, which takes its name from its deep (Batùs) harbor, must be the seat of government until better days dawn on Tigani, and they can restore the old harbor of Samos to its ancient value. Vathy is built in a basin surrounded by lofty hills; it reminds one of a Riviera town. There is the higher Vathy struggling up the hillside, house above house; and there is the lower Vathy on the shore with a well-appointed quay, and the prince's square, substantial-looking palace in the middle. The lower Vathy has all been built since Turkish days, and a very flourishing little place it is, attesting more than anything else can do to the soundness of the new government.

Forty years have elapsed since Samos was definitely free, and this space of time has wrought a wonderful difference in the island. There are now schools in every village and paid masters, whereas thirty

years ago there were only schools in the principal villages, and the masters in many cases scarce able to live.* These schools are very tidy specimens indeed — well built, all of them, and adorned internally with maps, and mottoes all round the walls, such as "Success to the Principality, and freedom of Samos."

Every child is brought up by its parents and masters to revere the very word of freedom, and the prince has no power to infringe their hard-won liberties; for Greek though he is, he has lived at Constantinople all his life, and is a nominee of the sultan, and might be tempted, as Greek hospodars of the Porte used to be, to gain credit to himself by infringing the liberties of those under them. The first princes of Samos tried to do this, but one day the Samiotes drove Prince Vogrides, his agents, and his caïmacan, out of the island; and in 1850 the sultan by a firman granted the complete liberty of self-government which is now enjoyed.

From Nature.

EARTH PULSATIONS.

FOR many years philosophers have speculated as to whether the surface of the earth is really so stable as it usually appears. With the sudden and violent motions of our soil which we call earthquakes man has been familiar since the earliest times, and the origin of these disturbances has always formed a fruitful source of speculation. With the help of properly constructed instruments, our knowledge of the nature of these movements has during the last few years been greatly extended, and we are brought to the conclusion that these natural vibrations are propagated through the surface of our earth in a manner very different to that which we should have anticipated from our knowledge of elastic solids. An. other order of earth movements which, in the hands of Timoteo Bertelli of Florence, M. S. di Rossi of Rome, and other The prince lives at Vathy, and receives Italian investigators, have recently retwelve thousand five hundred piastres perceived considerable attention, are earth annum; he has a steam yacht provided for him, and he has a very grand guard to attend upon him, the facings of whose uniform are of gold, where that of the others is only red; he has a good house, and a large garden, divided from it by a street. He walks about the town with an easier step than most princes would do, for in point of fact he is only the sultan's agent there, to see that the three hundred thou sand piastres are paid regularly, and to see that the Samiotes don't quarrel amongst themselves, in which way his presence is beneficial, for they know that the least misconduct on their part would be at once reported, and made the most of at Constantinople.

As we steamed out of Vathy harbor I could not help wondering how long this rope of piastres would bind Samos to Turkey, and thinking that the coins would be better spent in converting mule-tracks into roads than in swelling the coffers of the sick man. We touched at Chios again on our way to Smyrna, and the contrast was still more forcibly brought be fore us we had left prosperity and peace, we saw around us ruin and desolaJ. THEODORE Bent.

tion.

M. Guérin's account of Samos, 1854.⚫

tremors. From observations carried on during the past ten years it would appear that the soil of Italy is practically in a perpetual state of vibration, even in districts far removed from volcanic centres. On account of the smallness in the amplitude of these motions they are only to be observed with the aid of specially constructed instruments. Messrs. George and Horace Darwin, in connection with their experiments on the disturbance of gravity caused by lunar attraction, have shown that these movements are common to the soil of Britain. Like observations have been made in Japan, and it does not seem improbable that after further experiments have been carried out we shall be brought to the conclusion that the surface of the whole globe is affected with similar microseismical disturbances.

In addition to these minute movements, which escape the attention of the ordinary observer on account of the smallness of their amplitude, theoretical investigation has shown that there may be existing in the soil on which we live movements which have escaped our attention on account of the slowness of their period. These motions for want of a better term I call earth pulsations. Mr. George Darwin in his last report to the British Association has shown that movements of that nature may be produced by barometrical variation. A rise of the barometer over an area is equivalent to loading that area with a weight, in consequence of which it