1795] GREEK ISLAND TOWNS 219 All the inhabitants live in one single town situated on a high rock, and surrounded with a high wall. The largest streets are not above eight feet broad. The staircases, which in Greece are always on the outside of the houses, take up three feet on each side; the middle is taken up by a gutter without water, which seems the general receiver of all the filth in the neighbourhood. In this, however, we were undeceived, as we found in the first house we entered a chamber without a door adjoining, and open to the parlour, contained that of one family at least. Beds were brought for us, and we sat with patience during their making, till we had counted fifty bugs, but when we advanced upon the other half-hundred our courage failed us, we hurried down to the shore, and slept again very happily on the sand. Early the next day we set off and arrived safe and well at Cos. What a change! Cos is certainly by much the finest island we have seen. The view of it from the sea is as charming as the view of any town I have seen. It is Turkish, and the whole is varied, and enriched with orchards, spires of cypress, palm trees, and the tall pillar of the mosques that rise up from a bed of foliage, the whole town being full of gardens. The plain all round is covered with a forest of oranges, lemons, pomegranates, almonds, and figs. The large trees are planes, and nothing can be more beautiful. The Greek towns are by no means so beautiful: they are generally a flaring heap of white houses; and they are too idle to have the luxuries of the climate. A Turkish town is, on the contrary, full of fountains, and of shade where a tree will grow; they are very susceptible of these luxuries, and spare no pains to have them. I have seen them sit under a tree in the streets for near a day together, and enjoy the open air sheltered from the sun. HALICARNASSUS (Now BOUDRoun), We got here yesterday with a passage of four or five hours; the distance is about fifteen miles, but we had no wind. The present town here is a poor Turkish village, much scattered, but has, notwithstanding its poverty, a pretty appearance from the entrance of the port, as it is full of trees and gardens. We are eating apricots and figs by thousands, and you will imagine fruit is in plenty here. At Naxia, lemons are in such plenty they are sold for about ninepence the thousand; in one garden belonging to a convent, the annual product is 150,000 oranges, 25,000 lemons, and 10,000 citrons. We have found fewer remains here than we expected six Doric pillars stand near, half buried in the ground which has accumulated, and support their entablature. It seems they have belonged to some portico, the ruins being longer than any temple, and not in that shape. Some broken ones mark the continuation of the line. We saw the theatre, in which many rows of seats remain; the ancient wall is traceable behind the town, enclosing with the sea a space of near six miles circumference at least. A report is come here from Constantinople that we have peace with France. I suppose it is owing to its being concluded with Spain and Prussia, and the Turks know no difference. We, however, parade these seas, the English flag flying at our mast-head, in perfect security, as the French have no vessels out. The constant north winds that reign in the Archipelago during this season have made our voyage very good, since we could take advantage of them; and we hope to get to Candia very well. Our short tour on horseback threatens the most fatigue. You have not a notion of the heat we now are exposed to, which increases every day. We must conform to the plan of the country, and sleep during all the 1795] SEARCH FOR THE MAUSOLEUM 221 middle of the day, travelling only very early and very late. We have been seeking in vain for the Mausoleum here; it has entirely vanished, or exists only in some inconsiderable and irrecognisable ruins.' June 17. My prophecy was right-we are at Boudroun another day; at this rate when we shall arrive at the end of our pilgrimage I do not know; we have been so sulky, as very near to order our boat and sail to Cnidus and Rhodes in a pet, leaving Mylassa and Stratonicea for other people; we have, however, thought better of it, and shall, I suppose, get off to-morrow. Indeed, if there had been a favourable north wind it might have changed our expedition; but one good reason for not taking our boat is there being a dead calm just at present. The day is again hotter than you can imagine; and if I walk five yards I melt, like Sir John Falstaff in the buck-basket. My long letter is full, so I must take this little scrap of room to bid you adieu, and say how sincerely and affectionately I am yours, J. B. S. MORRITT. Sent from Rhodes by Leghorn July 1. Dear Anne, I begin my letter from Rhodes, where it will very possibly be almost finished, as we seem rather to be fixtures here, and in no very agreeable manner, from our party's falling ill. Stockdale and I are, thank God, now well. On our first arrival here, our voyage in Asia had been so extremely fatiguing, and our living so bad, that even I was at last knocked up, 1 It was not till 1857 that Sir Charles Newton discovered in situ the remains of the Mausoleum, of which the more important are now in the British Museum; and from these and the descriptions in ancient writers established with tolerable certainty the form and character of the building. and for four or five days was laid up with a slow fever, which has now left me. The day after I fell ill, my poor draughtsman and my servant both followed my example, so we were a pleasant travelling party. They are both now better, but as they were worse than me they mend slower. In this climate, and at this time of the year, a fever is not an illness that trifles. Our tour in Asia (though, as I tell you, it made us all ill) repaid us for our fatigues in some measure by the monuments we saw and found; and few parts of our tour have been more interesting. I finished my mother's letter from Halicarnassus; it is a two days' ride to Melasso-that is, when one can only ride mornings and evenings, and go on the beasts of the country, which are never suffered to go out of a slow foot's pace. The country is in parts rather pretty, in general hilly and uninteresting. We were in a caravan composed of Jews, Turks, and Greeks; so the different ceremonies in the party were sometimes ridiculous enough. At Melasso we stayed a whole day besides the evening of that we arrived on, and were very busy the whole time. It was anciently Mylasa, one of the principal cities of Caria, and belonged, amongst others, to the famous Artemisia; and on the wall of a large square marble building here, which is now built up into Turkish houses, we found a dedication inscribed by Mausolus to his father Hecatomnus. We made here a famous harvest of inscriptions, and this was not all. About a quarter of a mile from the town we saw one of the prettiest little bijoux of a temple that you can imagine. It is most like a square summer-house; the lower part is a plain marble cube with a door into it, and a bold, plain cornice. On this, as on a pedestal, is an airy Corinthian colonnade of four columns on each front, that support a marble ceiling carved on the inside with a richness and delicacy I cannot give you an idea of, The compartments of it are in lozenges, the largest in |