DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0147
128
a beautiful sfakian maid.
[chap.
they been fewer, it is plain that the beautiful young
girl whom I had first addressed, a native of the Sfakian
village of Haghios Ioannes or Yanni, would have run
away, and the others would not have ventured to come
out of their houses. The men, who are seldom found
at home except early in the morning and towards even-
ing, were all busied in the fields or were gone to the
city. On leaving this singular group, with whom I
staid some time, I confess I " cast a longing lingering
look behind1' on her whose features, once seen, could
hardly ever be forgotten :
Cose appariscon nello suo aspetto
Che mostran dei piacer di Paradise—
Elle sovercliian lo nostro intelletto:
Come raggio di sole un fragil vise:
E perch' io non la posso mirar fiso,
Mi convien contentar di dime poco!
In three quarters of an hour, continuing to follow
the course of this fine valley, we arrive at Plemmeliana,
one of the small villages which are comprised under the
common name of Kantanos. This place is on the western
bank of the river, both sides of which are thickly
covered with fine platanes : we see vines twining round
them, as in other parts of the island, to a height of
thirty or forty feet. I remain here to have all our
steeds shod: I had despatched Manias before us this
morning with my own horse; and now the same opera-
tion was performed on the mules. There are but few
villages in which one can find a blacksmith, and if a
horse or mule happens to lose a shoe, the traveller in
Crete will, in all probability, be obliged to continue
his journey for two or three days, before he finds
the means of replacing it.
We leave this village at twenty minutes past three,
and follow the river, with its platanes, to which I see
that ivy attaches itself still more closely than the vines,
for about half a mile, when we pass, for a few minutes,
a beautiful sfakian maid.
[chap.
they been fewer, it is plain that the beautiful young
girl whom I had first addressed, a native of the Sfakian
village of Haghios Ioannes or Yanni, would have run
away, and the others would not have ventured to come
out of their houses. The men, who are seldom found
at home except early in the morning and towards even-
ing, were all busied in the fields or were gone to the
city. On leaving this singular group, with whom I
staid some time, I confess I " cast a longing lingering
look behind1' on her whose features, once seen, could
hardly ever be forgotten :
Cose appariscon nello suo aspetto
Che mostran dei piacer di Paradise—
Elle sovercliian lo nostro intelletto:
Come raggio di sole un fragil vise:
E perch' io non la posso mirar fiso,
Mi convien contentar di dime poco!
In three quarters of an hour, continuing to follow
the course of this fine valley, we arrive at Plemmeliana,
one of the small villages which are comprised under the
common name of Kantanos. This place is on the western
bank of the river, both sides of which are thickly
covered with fine platanes : we see vines twining round
them, as in other parts of the island, to a height of
thirty or forty feet. I remain here to have all our
steeds shod: I had despatched Manias before us this
morning with my own horse; and now the same opera-
tion was performed on the mules. There are but few
villages in which one can find a blacksmith, and if a
horse or mule happens to lose a shoe, the traveller in
Crete will, in all probability, be obliged to continue
his journey for two or three days, before he finds
the means of replacing it.
We leave this village at twenty minutes past three,
and follow the river, with its platanes, to which I see
that ivy attaches itself still more closely than the vines,
for about half a mile, when we pass, for a few minutes,