a diftance, and wanted to fell part of i t ; but, feeing me in the
long drefs with a white towel round my head, the 'meffenger
miftook me for a Turk, and ran away. He was prevailed on
to return, and we went with: him, k
T he water was weedy, and fo feallow, that our bark anchored
afar off from the feore. In the evening the air flunk
abominably j and frogs croaked in chorus without ceafing.
We anchored again, the following afternoon, hear a very large
trad o f low land overfpread by the fea and encompafled with
reed-fences. Thefe flats have, been formed chiefly by the mud
o f the river Achelous, which was deferibed to us as of great
fize, and as flooding the country in winter.
T he Achelous is flyled by Homer the prince of rivers, The
ftream defeended from the .north and mount Pindus into the
plain o f Acarnania, and, dividing that country from ^Etolia,
entered the fea by the city CEniadas, creating continually new
land. Alcmaeon fettled hear it, when diredted by the Delphic
oracie.to fly from the Fury, which haunted him as "the murderer
o f his mother, to feme fpot manifefted by the fea-after his
pdjhifloh. The two nations, their boundaries fhifting, engaged
in many bloody conflicts for the region about the mouth* called
the Parachelbitis.
Before the Achelous lay. the iflcts named Echinades, many
in number, barren and rugged. Several o f thefe had been
added' very.early to the continent, and, in the opinion' o f an
antient hiftorian, it was eafy to foretell the fate of the remainder.
In the time o f Strabo, the water flagnated in a large'
lake about CEniad® j, and, he. obferves, feme of the iEtolian
promontories had been iflands. Auguftus Csefar removing the
inhabitants into Nicopolis, the city which he founded near
A<ftium, the country- was nnfown,' and the quantity' of flime
decreafed. This'.is affigned by Paufanias as the reafon why the
• junction
jundioii of the Echinades with the .main land had not been
completed. Depopulation has alfo fince retarded its progrefs.
T he rAfchel6;us was' among the rivers moft noted for fhoals
o f fife, which entered from the fea, efpecially id ipring. It
was particularly frequented by mullet, which delight in foul
afid muddy/ water. The multitudes now taken yearly at that
feafopfdsn the fe allows furpafs belief. Thefrows are made into
BottargU and Gaviarc; a ipecies o f food, which the antients
efteemed as a delicacy. The.finall feeds, erected eadh on a
fingle poflr,' extended as far as we could’ fee, and appeared innumerable.
They are defigned for watchmen, Who obferve the
finny fqaadrons, and by-clofing the avenues of the fences, fdcure
them in prifodi;; -
O n a knoll within th e ; inclofiires was a fm a llth a tc h e d h u t,
which we .endeavoured to- reach in our boat,-■*butjwe*g|ou’nded
at- the: diftande o f h a lf "a* mile,' A man waded to it, and procured
for;;us..a unonoxylo or-t-ray*’ fthe trunk-' o f :a tr^e-'niido
hplldW^. T h is us/ th e common fla ts; capable
oft containing a very few perfons V‘ lo n g ,' narrow, and unfteadyl; {
b u t refpddtafele / for - its -antiquity; being’’ oh fecdrdwahS00g. the
veflels in priimtiv#itt|e.’i fiiiting the feallows, on which’navi’g'f—
tion‘ reCeiyed its firft rudiments. A boy, who efpied usj'fted in
extreme cOnfternation, punting with all h is m ig h t toward the
hut, jum p in g into the water, and pufeing his fk iff before h im ,
when impeded by the-vyeed«,. which fpring up from th e bottom.
We purchafed feme dried fife, and returned in the monoxylo to
our boat. * ~~ ’ t '.
W ecouIcI fee many- veflels lying at a diftance off'MfefFa'dongia
and Nathaligo,two?toWns inhabited chiefly by Greeks,, on ^little
iflands amid the flats. | The'mqhoxyla or fkifts- carty evety ‘thihg
to and fro,- and in 'calm weather1 are emplb^d’ ir; lading them,
principally with fife, fpreading over the feining' feiYabe/of the
water,- innumerable. -