DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0194
INHABITANTS OF KASTRI. 16?
intrusion of the Turks. They are however governed by an Agha,
who bears a good character amongst them.
Our arrival excited the eager curiosity of the Kastriotes ; they
crowded into our cottage, where every thing we had was a matter of
astonishment! They were so much pleased with our sugar that every
one begged a little bit; and it is difficult to describe the surprise
which they manisfeted, when they saw me use Indian rubber, to
efface some pencil lines. The grown-up persons stared at each
other, and observed, that I was a " 7ro\vyvutrTixog uvOpcosros:" the children
ran away, and said I was the devil.
The Kastriote Avomen are distinguished by their native beauty,
and their unadorned elegance. To fine figures they unite handsome
profiles, good teeth, and large black eyes. We went one day to a
cottage to inquire for coins; and, making the woman of the house
a compliment on her good looks, she seemed highly pleased, and said,
she had been handsome, when young, but that it was now her sun-
set ; that however, she had five daughters, all as handsome as she had
been, and whom she would shew us, if we would dance at her cot-
tage the next day. During our conversation, two of her daughters
came in, with large pitchers on their heads, with water from the
Kastalian spring, and convinced us that she had spoken truth.
It gave us pleasure to find that most of the poor inhabitants of
Kastri could read and write, and could also speak both the Greek
and the Albanian, or Arbanitic languages : although Greece in
general is in a state of ignorance, several parts of Great Britain, as
well as of other civilized and enlightened countries, are in the same
situation; but the mind is more forcibly struck in the former case, by
the contrast between its ancient and its present state. When Greece
monopolized the learning of the world, our island was in a state of
barbarism : at present the case is reversed ; Apollo, and the Muses,
have fled from Greece to Hyperborean climes, and England is the
favoured seat of useful knowledge and elegant erudition. Yet Kas-
tri has its school, although the famous island of Iona, the boast of
Scotland, in her better days, and the seat of learning and religion,
intrusion of the Turks. They are however governed by an Agha,
who bears a good character amongst them.
Our arrival excited the eager curiosity of the Kastriotes ; they
crowded into our cottage, where every thing we had was a matter of
astonishment! They were so much pleased with our sugar that every
one begged a little bit; and it is difficult to describe the surprise
which they manisfeted, when they saw me use Indian rubber, to
efface some pencil lines. The grown-up persons stared at each
other, and observed, that I was a " 7ro\vyvutrTixog uvOpcosros:" the children
ran away, and said I was the devil.
The Kastriote Avomen are distinguished by their native beauty,
and their unadorned elegance. To fine figures they unite handsome
profiles, good teeth, and large black eyes. We went one day to a
cottage to inquire for coins; and, making the woman of the house
a compliment on her good looks, she seemed highly pleased, and said,
she had been handsome, when young, but that it was now her sun-
set ; that however, she had five daughters, all as handsome as she had
been, and whom she would shew us, if we would dance at her cot-
tage the next day. During our conversation, two of her daughters
came in, with large pitchers on their heads, with water from the
Kastalian spring, and convinced us that she had spoken truth.
It gave us pleasure to find that most of the poor inhabitants of
Kastri could read and write, and could also speak both the Greek
and the Albanian, or Arbanitic languages : although Greece in
general is in a state of ignorance, several parts of Great Britain, as
well as of other civilized and enlightened countries, are in the same
situation; but the mind is more forcibly struck in the former case, by
the contrast between its ancient and its present state. When Greece
monopolized the learning of the world, our island was in a state of
barbarism : at present the case is reversed ; Apollo, and the Muses,
have fled from Greece to Hyperborean climes, and England is the
favoured seat of useful knowledge and elegant erudition. Yet Kas-
tri has its school, although the famous island of Iona, the boast of
Scotland, in her better days, and the seat of learning and religion,