DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65890#0061
25
there the scene where despotism still more horrid
erects her bloody throne, and with the sceptre of
desolation sweeps the circle of her drear dominions.
Of this great chain of mountains, the ancient Pindus,
are, first the Chimariot or the old Acroceraunians,
next the Cassiopaean, and the Suliot ridges, that
last refuge of Grecian * liberty, which terminating
to Santa Maura, where the country is impassable in the coverts,
excepting through the devious passages made by the half-wild
cattle, and wild beasts with which they abound. His object was
chiefly to discover if there were any traces of the city of Neritos,
which, according to Strabo, was abandoned by the inhabitants,
to settle in Leucate. In this search he failed, although from the
many accounts given by different persons, of ruins in that neigh-
bourhood, a more diligent inquiry might be attended with success.
t The Suliots were the last people who fell, after a most gallant
resistance, under the despotic power of Ali Pacha; and the
remnant of their little band found protection ultimately upon
the rock of Parga, after a struggle of fourteen years. In this war,
Ali was obliged to bring an army of 25,000 men again 6000 Suliots,
before he could conquer them, and was then only enabled to
succeed by building a chain of forts through the mountains, by
means of which he dislodged them from post to post.—Vide Vau-
doncourt, Holland, St. Sauveur, &c. for the romantic history of the
Suliots.
Whatever was the policy which allowed the surrender of Parga,
the event, however to be deplored upon the account here stated,
viz. its connexion with the struggles of the Greeks for liberty, was
not attended with those exaggerated circumstances with which
interested malcontents attempted to falsify and discolour it. The
Pargonots collecting and burning the bones of their ancestors
before their departure, and their being dragged from their homes
to inhabit an uncultivated rock, are mere fabrications. The fact is,
that this people are at present happily and contentedly situated,
being identified with the population of each island, where fancy
there the scene where despotism still more horrid
erects her bloody throne, and with the sceptre of
desolation sweeps the circle of her drear dominions.
Of this great chain of mountains, the ancient Pindus,
are, first the Chimariot or the old Acroceraunians,
next the Cassiopaean, and the Suliot ridges, that
last refuge of Grecian * liberty, which terminating
to Santa Maura, where the country is impassable in the coverts,
excepting through the devious passages made by the half-wild
cattle, and wild beasts with which they abound. His object was
chiefly to discover if there were any traces of the city of Neritos,
which, according to Strabo, was abandoned by the inhabitants,
to settle in Leucate. In this search he failed, although from the
many accounts given by different persons, of ruins in that neigh-
bourhood, a more diligent inquiry might be attended with success.
t The Suliots were the last people who fell, after a most gallant
resistance, under the despotic power of Ali Pacha; and the
remnant of their little band found protection ultimately upon
the rock of Parga, after a struggle of fourteen years. In this war,
Ali was obliged to bring an army of 25,000 men again 6000 Suliots,
before he could conquer them, and was then only enabled to
succeed by building a chain of forts through the mountains, by
means of which he dislodged them from post to post.—Vide Vau-
doncourt, Holland, St. Sauveur, &c. for the romantic history of the
Suliots.
Whatever was the policy which allowed the surrender of Parga,
the event, however to be deplored upon the account here stated,
viz. its connexion with the struggles of the Greeks for liberty, was
not attended with those exaggerated circumstances with which
interested malcontents attempted to falsify and discolour it. The
Pargonots collecting and burning the bones of their ancestors
before their departure, and their being dragged from their homes
to inhabit an uncultivated rock, are mere fabrications. The fact is,
that this people are at present happily and contentedly situated,
being identified with the population of each island, where fancy