DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0324
270 NIGHTLY INMATES OF A PATAs's DWELLING. [('.HAP.
place lived, nothing could be more meagre than our
fare in the house of the Papas. With considerable
difficulty three eggs and an oke of milk were found in
the village.
After this sorry meal we tried to sleep. The Papas,
his wife49, two tall daughters, two full-grown sons, some
younger children, two asses, two cows, and a young calf
were the ordinary nightly inmates of the single apart-
ment of the cottage; and to their number my party
was now added. We seem to be transported back
more than three thousand years, to the time
Cum frigida parvas
Praeberet spelunca domos, iguemque laremque
Et pecus et dominos communi clauderet umbra.
The presence of four-legged animals was far from
being the only source of discomfort which we found in
the priest's cottage. I might speak of other innu-
merable companions of our couch " from dewy eve till
morn,'" who probably thought us entitled, as strangers
and guests, to their peculiar and unceasing attentions
throughout the live-long night50.
city, are still seen. In the following week I discovered vestiges of other
ancient cities, in the district of Mirabello, the names and situations of which
are laid down in my map. In the subsequent month of June I spent two
days at Lytto, where 1 copied a great number of inscriptions. I am compelled
to leave my travels in these parts of the island undescribed, at all events at
present; and shall resume my personal narrative, in the next chapter, at
Hierapetra.
49 Whose appellation is always jj TLcnra&id..
50 Surely the Greeks must be hardened against such attacks by their
habitual exposure to them. Woe betide the traveller, in these countries, if
his skin is not made of "impenetrable stuff;" for his arrival in a Greek
cottage acts like a talisman, and he at once sees many of his dark-coloured
and active enemies spring upon him, even in the broad light of day.
place lived, nothing could be more meagre than our
fare in the house of the Papas. With considerable
difficulty three eggs and an oke of milk were found in
the village.
After this sorry meal we tried to sleep. The Papas,
his wife49, two tall daughters, two full-grown sons, some
younger children, two asses, two cows, and a young calf
were the ordinary nightly inmates of the single apart-
ment of the cottage; and to their number my party
was now added. We seem to be transported back
more than three thousand years, to the time
Cum frigida parvas
Praeberet spelunca domos, iguemque laremque
Et pecus et dominos communi clauderet umbra.
The presence of four-legged animals was far from
being the only source of discomfort which we found in
the priest's cottage. I might speak of other innu-
merable companions of our couch " from dewy eve till
morn,'" who probably thought us entitled, as strangers
and guests, to their peculiar and unceasing attentions
throughout the live-long night50.
city, are still seen. In the following week I discovered vestiges of other
ancient cities, in the district of Mirabello, the names and situations of which
are laid down in my map. In the subsequent month of June I spent two
days at Lytto, where 1 copied a great number of inscriptions. I am compelled
to leave my travels in these parts of the island undescribed, at all events at
present; and shall resume my personal narrative, in the next chapter, at
Hierapetra.
49 Whose appellation is always jj TLcnra&id..
50 Surely the Greeks must be hardened against such attacks by their
habitual exposure to them. Woe betide the traveller, in these countries, if
his skin is not made of "impenetrable stuff;" for his arrival in a Greek
cottage acts like a talisman, and he at once sees many of his dark-coloured
and active enemies spring upon him, even in the broad light of day.