ISTENIA.       112

veiled women come and go with their earthen vessels in quest of the pure water of the village spring; the gay sounds of the zebec ring out from the coffee-kiosques; the channel-wind, as it sweeps along the ripple, awakens the mysterious music of the leaves which overhang it; the white sails of the passing vessels glimmer in the sun-light - the fruit-merchants heap up their luscious stores in tempting profusion, ready to be conveyed in boats to the markets of the city - and the whole scene is so cool, so shady, and so still, that it is not wonderful that the nature-loving Orientals should have selected it as a village site, even in a land abounding with pleasant glens, and nooks teeming with loveliness.

The broad street, opening from the shore, climbs the hill behind it; its irregularly gabled and many-coloured houses finally terminating in vineyards and olive-groves; while a mountain-stream, feeding the wheels of a mill, goes dancing in the light, now fully visible, and now buried beneath the dense vegetation upon its banks, until it throws itself into the Bosphorus. A very pretty, well-kept, and rather extensive garden, belonging to Ahmet Pasha, occupies a portion of the height behind the village; and is succeeded by a small forest, where groups of Turkish and Greek ladies are constantly to be seen during the summer months, enjoying the dolce far niente so congenial to the climate; forming gipsy-parties under the trees, or sauntering slowly along beneath the dense shadows of the boughs, collecting the beautiful wild-flowers which abound in that pleasant place.

Many of the Greek merchants have their summer residences at Mirgheun; and there is, consequently, an air of cheerfulness imparted to the village by the freshly-painted houses of these gentlemen, which adds much to its attraction; while, in its immediate neighbourhood, the traveller will look upon the castle-fortress of Mahomet, with the peaceful little cemetery of Isari sleeping at its foot.

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