DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0468
430 DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF MOUNT OLIGYRTOS.
In thirty-seven minutes from Kalpaki we came to a fine kephalo-
brusi, or source, rushing in seven clear streams out of the rocks at
the foot of the mountain called Kokino-Bouno,1 which rises close to
the right. They soon form a single stream, which is the principal
supply of the lake of Orchomenos, which it enters, after a course
of a few hundred yards. This is the spring that Pausanias calls
Teneiai.
Half an hour from this source we saw a tumulus to the left, crossed
a rivulet running towards the lake of Orchomenos, and came to some
traces of the ancient paved way. In an hour and a quarter from Kal-
paki we reached the extremity of the plain, and observed the mo-
nastery of Kandelas, conspicuously perched upon a high rock. A
few minutes more brought us to the metochi of the monastery; a
short way beyond which is the scattered and deserted town of Kan-
delas. All the principal inhabitants, unable to support the vexa-
tious extortions of the pasha of the Morea, emigrated a few years
ao;o to the coast of Asia Minor.
We passed by some mills turned by a rivulet that is rolled from
the neighbouring mountains, and crosses the plain towards the lake
of Orchomenos. We here began to mount the precipitous and
difficult sides of the mountain, which is probably the ancient Oli-
gyrtos.2
The road formed a zigzag on the edge of precipices, and is not
difficult to pass in summer; but at this season it is completely in-
crusted with snow of a great depth. The road is seldom traversed
at this period; and, accordingly, no beaten track was visible; and
at almost every step we were in danger of falling down the precipices;
nor do I recollect ever to have been in a more perilous situation.
My Tatar, Salique, who had, according to his own confession, an
1 The red mountain.
' Polyb. b. 4. p. 280. In another part of his history he calls it Ligyrtos ; and says, that
the Macedonian army, which marched orer it after a battle they had gained against the
Eleians in the vicinitv, suffered greatly from the snow, b. 4. p. 333.
In thirty-seven minutes from Kalpaki we came to a fine kephalo-
brusi, or source, rushing in seven clear streams out of the rocks at
the foot of the mountain called Kokino-Bouno,1 which rises close to
the right. They soon form a single stream, which is the principal
supply of the lake of Orchomenos, which it enters, after a course
of a few hundred yards. This is the spring that Pausanias calls
Teneiai.
Half an hour from this source we saw a tumulus to the left, crossed
a rivulet running towards the lake of Orchomenos, and came to some
traces of the ancient paved way. In an hour and a quarter from Kal-
paki we reached the extremity of the plain, and observed the mo-
nastery of Kandelas, conspicuously perched upon a high rock. A
few minutes more brought us to the metochi of the monastery; a
short way beyond which is the scattered and deserted town of Kan-
delas. All the principal inhabitants, unable to support the vexa-
tious extortions of the pasha of the Morea, emigrated a few years
ao;o to the coast of Asia Minor.
We passed by some mills turned by a rivulet that is rolled from
the neighbouring mountains, and crosses the plain towards the lake
of Orchomenos. We here began to mount the precipitous and
difficult sides of the mountain, which is probably the ancient Oli-
gyrtos.2
The road formed a zigzag on the edge of precipices, and is not
difficult to pass in summer; but at this season it is completely in-
crusted with snow of a great depth. The road is seldom traversed
at this period; and, accordingly, no beaten track was visible; and
at almost every step we were in danger of falling down the precipices;
nor do I recollect ever to have been in a more perilous situation.
My Tatar, Salique, who had, according to his own confession, an
1 The red mountain.
' Polyb. b. 4. p. 280. In another part of his history he calls it Ligyrtos ; and says, that
the Macedonian army, which marched orer it after a battle they had gained against the
Eleians in the vicinitv, suffered greatly from the snow, b. 4. p. 333.