DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0278
258
THE PATHS OF SFAKIA.
[CHAI'.
a little to the west of the chasm which we had crossed
before reaching Aradhena. The slope of the mountain
is here covered both above and below us with pevki.
We do not proceed a mile before we fall in with some of
Manias's innumerable Syntekni and cousins at a sheep-
cote. Meat, new cheese, and wine are produced and
partaken of by my talkative and amusing guide, as if
he was determined to make up, in this single week, for
the abstinence of the whole Lent from which he has just
escaped.
Soon after this our course changed to the south-west,
and we began to approach nearer to the shore. At a
quarter past five, Selino-kasteli became visible. The
paths which we followed were over rugged rocks, and
none of them, I should think, had ever received any
labour from the hand of man. Here my horse, though
very sure-footed, fell, and made two unsuccessful attempts
to rise, each of them followed by a fresh fall, before he
recovered himself. On dismounting, to see what hurts
he had received, I was surprised to find that they con-
sisted only in some flesh wounds, which bled consider-
ably, inflicted by sharp edges of the rock, on two of
his legs.
The only animal which one can ride with pleasure
in these regions is a mule. The mere size of a horsed
hoof makes it a difficult matter for him to pick his steps
in many places; and the very art of picking his steps
is but little known to any horse, while every mule is a
proficient in it.
Soon after my horse's roll, and my sufficiently narrow-
escape from what would have been, at least, a very
disagreeable fall, we arrived at the summit of a precipice,
the zigzag descent down the face of which is so steep,
rocky, and dangerous, that I was greatly disposed to
send Manias back with my horse, and to proceed with
his mule. It was now, however, late; and, since I
might perhaps be benighted before reaching Haghi'a
Rumeli, and was also totally unacquainted with the
THE PATHS OF SFAKIA.
[CHAI'.
a little to the west of the chasm which we had crossed
before reaching Aradhena. The slope of the mountain
is here covered both above and below us with pevki.
We do not proceed a mile before we fall in with some of
Manias's innumerable Syntekni and cousins at a sheep-
cote. Meat, new cheese, and wine are produced and
partaken of by my talkative and amusing guide, as if
he was determined to make up, in this single week, for
the abstinence of the whole Lent from which he has just
escaped.
Soon after this our course changed to the south-west,
and we began to approach nearer to the shore. At a
quarter past five, Selino-kasteli became visible. The
paths which we followed were over rugged rocks, and
none of them, I should think, had ever received any
labour from the hand of man. Here my horse, though
very sure-footed, fell, and made two unsuccessful attempts
to rise, each of them followed by a fresh fall, before he
recovered himself. On dismounting, to see what hurts
he had received, I was surprised to find that they con-
sisted only in some flesh wounds, which bled consider-
ably, inflicted by sharp edges of the rock, on two of
his legs.
The only animal which one can ride with pleasure
in these regions is a mule. The mere size of a horsed
hoof makes it a difficult matter for him to pick his steps
in many places; and the very art of picking his steps
is but little known to any horse, while every mule is a
proficient in it.
Soon after my horse's roll, and my sufficiently narrow-
escape from what would have been, at least, a very
disagreeable fall, we arrived at the summit of a precipice,
the zigzag descent down the face of which is so steep,
rocky, and dangerous, that I was greatly disposed to
send Manias back with my horse, and to proceed with
his mule. It was now, however, late; and, since I
might perhaps be benighted before reaching Haghi'a
Rumeli, and was also totally unacquainted with the