tion of the houses. It may be said to end with February, when the traveller may commence his excursions in the lowland districts, advancing towards the mountainous regions as the heat increases. April and May are decidedly the best months, as being free from the burning heats of summer, and also, in a great measure, from liability to sudden and violent rains, which is the great objection to the winter, and also partially to March, October, and November, when the weather, though usually delicious, is uncertain. On the whole, therefore, let the traveller in Greece choose the period from the middle of March to the middle of June, when the deep blue of the sky and the sea, the genial but not sultry heat, the silvery asphodels glittering in the valleys, the flowering myrtles waving on mountain and shore; when the fragrance of the orange-groves, and the voice of the nightingale and turtle (Canticles ii. 12)-when, in short, all above and around him betoken the spring-time of the East. Those only who have " dwelt beneath the azure morn "of Hellas (Theocritus xvi. 5) can conceive the effect of her lucid atmosphere on the spirits in this delightful season, or realize the description of the Athenians of old by one of their own poets as ever lightly tripping through an ether of surpassing brightness" (Eurip. Med. 825). Let the traveller in Greece, we repeat, go forth on his way rejoicing- -as a Greek has sung (Aristoph., Clouds, 1008). ἦρος ἐν ὥρᾳ χαίρων ὅποταν πλάτανος πτελέα ψιθυρίζῃ. "All in the gladsome spring, when Plane to Elm doth whisper." e. MAXIMS AND RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTII; MALARIA ; QUARANTINE. The hottest months in Greece are July, August, and part of September. It is in August and September chiefly that danger is to be apprehended from sickness. Fevers are then prevalent in all parts, especially in the marshy districts and in the vicinity of lakes; and many natives, as well as foreigners, fall a sacrifice to them. In order to avoid such dangers the following brief directions should be strictly observed: not to sleep in the open air, or with open windows during those months; never to drink cold water when heated, nor to be exposed to the burning sun in the middle of the day; not to indulge in eating or drinking too freely; raw vegetables, such as cucumbers, salads, and most fruits, ought to be eschewed. The abundance of fruit is a great temptation to foreigners, but nothing is more pernicious, or more likely to lead to fatal consequences. Indulgence in fruit, and drinking too freely of the country wines, were the chief causes of the mortality among the Bavarians on their first arrival in Greece. Whatever may be their plans, and to whatever part of the East they may bend their steps, travellers should steadily keep in view the necessity of caution in avoiding all the known causes of sickness in countries where medical aid cannot always be procured in time. The appendix to the Reports of the Parliamentary Committee on the Western Coast of Africa contains much valuable information relative to the causes of the unhealthiness which prevails in tropical climates; and the following maxims for European travellers and residents in Africa, given in Dr. Madden's evidence before the committee, are in many respects applicable to other countries in hot latitudes and in unhealthy seasons: "1. That in hot climates we cannot eat and drink, or endure fatigue, as we have been accustomed to do at home. "2. That the tranquillity of mind in those countries directly influences the health and strength of the strangers or settlers in them, and that the mental faculties and digestive functions, as this influence is exerted, act and re-act on each other. "3. That so far as regimen, exercise, and the regulation of time for meals and business, the prevailing habits of the natives of the countries we visit are not to be contemned. "4. That in all hot countries less food is requisite to support nature than in cold ones. "5. That in travelling, the 'feverishness' of the system, or its increased nervous irritability, so far debilitates the digestive organs, or impairs their action, that the quantity of food requires to be diminished, and the interval between meals to be regulated so as to avoid the sense of exhaustion that arises from long fasting. "6. That the traveller who drinks wine or malt liquor in moderation does well, and he who cannot do so in moderation would do still better to abstain from both. "7. That the languor occasioned in those climates makes the stimulus of wine or spirits more desirable than they can prove beneficial, being only temporary excitants, while the depressing influence of the climate is of a permanent nature. "8. That what is temperance in a cold climate would amount to an immoderate indulgence in a hot one. "9. That with respect to regimen in those countries, no general rules can be invariably applied, because there are no general laws that regulate the effects of food or physic on different constitutions, in different degrees of sanity or sickness. "10. That many things that are wholesome in one country are deleterious in another. “11. That there is no rule in life with regard to regimen of such general application as that of Seneca-namely, that all things are wholesome which are not only agreeable to us to-day, but will be convenient for us to-morrow.' “12. That cleanliness, cheerfulness, regularity in living, and avoidance of exposure to heat and wet, and especially to night air, constitute the chief means of preserving health in hot countries. "13. That fear, fatigue, and repletion are the ordinary predisposing causes which leave us subject to the influence of endemic and contagious maladies in hot countries. "14. That in tropical climates exuberant vegetation is productive of miasma, prejudicial to health; and as a general rule in selecting a locality for a settlement or any long-continued residence, that whatever influence is favourable to vegetable vigour is unfavourable to animal life. “15. That hypochondriasm and disquietude on the score of health, the frequent recourse to medicine for slight indispositions, and the neglect of timely precautions and early and active remedies in grave ones, are equally prejudicial to strangers in these countries. 16. That there is no dependence to be placed in the efficacy of medicine, or the observance of regimen, however strictly enforced, without a well-grounded confidence in the goodness of Providence, and the sufficiency of its power for our protection, in all places, and in all perils, however imminent they may be. "Rules for the Preservation of Health in Hot Countries. "1. To rise at 5 o'clock, and to retire to rest at 10. "2. To breakfast at 8 o'clock, to dine at 3, to sup at 8. "3. To repose, when travelling, from 11 o'clock A.M. to 3 P.M. "4. To allow not the time of meals to be broken in upon by visitors, or to be changed or retarded, on pretext of business. "5. To dine out of one's own house as seldom as possible. "6. To refrain from exercising immediately after eating. "7. To repose from considerable fatigue always before meals. "8. To use wine rather as a cordial than a beverage to allay thirst, and neither wine nor spirituous liquors ever before dinner. "9. To avoid the use of sour and acid wines at dinner, whether with water or without; and where wine is required, a couple of glasses of sound sherry or Madeira at the most after dinner. "10. To avoid the pernicious custom in hot countries of taking copious beverages at all hours of the day, whether of lemonade, sangaree, or malt liquor. "11. To eat the simplest food, to avoid a variety of dishes, to abstain altogether from confectionary, and at first from all kinds of fruit to which we have not been accustomed; melons, apricots, and at all times from sour fruits of every description. "12. To use the tepid or warm baths occasionally, and, as a general rule, the cold bath never, on the coast of Africa; not because, under some circumstances, it might not be salutary in itself, but because it in all cases demands precautions which strangers can seldom take. To all, except the sound, the acclimated, those perfectly free from all visceral obstructions, it is injurious, More fatal consequences to travellers have come to my knowledge from cold bathing in hot countries than had arisen from any other cause. "13. To wear flannel next the skin in all seasons; and never while perspiring or exposed to the breeze remove any part of one's clothing for the sake of coolness. "14. To be careful at night not to sit in the open air when the dew is falling. "15. Never to sleep with the windows of one's bed-room open. "16. To give up all idea of pursuing sporting amusements in this country; the exposure to wet and solar heat in going through jungles and marshy grounds in quest of game having proved fatal to hundreds of Europeans. "17. To refrain from all violent exercises and recreations requiring bodily exertion. σε 18. Never to travel between an hour after sunset and one before sunrise. "19. Never to sit down in wet clothes, or to shift wet clothes without the use of the flesh-brush. "20. To avoid sleeping on a ground-floor, or dwelling in a house contiguous to the sea-beach, or to wet and marshy grounds. 21. To take daily out-door exercise, either on horseback or on foot, either from 5 to -past 7 A.M., or -past 5 to -past 7 P.M. "22. To avoid acidulated drinks, acid fruits, and sour wines. "23. To make choice of large, lofty, and well-ventilated rooms, especially for bed-chambers, in all hot countries. "24. To avoid sitting in draughts. "25. To pester one's self with anticipated evils or possible occurrences that may be attended with difficulties as little as one can, but to follow one's course on the principle of first ascertaining that one is right, and then of pursuing one's route straight forward. “26. During meal-time to keep the mind disengaged from business, and seldom to devote the time of sleep to study or to society. "27. To look danger in the face, and in sickness to be determined (Deo juvante) to resist its pressure, and to recover from it. "28. To keep moving on one's journey, and once having set out, as seldom as possible to loiter on the way." Malaria.-In Dr. Watson's Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic, Nos. 40, 41, 42, will be found an excellent account of ague, or intermittent fever, and of the malaria which produces it. That subtle poison is thickly distributed over the fairest regions of the world; blighting human health, and shortening human life, more perhaps than any other single cause whatever. Known only by its noxious effects, this unseen and treacherous enemy of our race has yet been tracked to its haunts, and detected in some of its habits. It is useful, therefore, for travellers and residents in the East to learn how the malaria may sometimes be shunned, sometimes averted, and how its effects on the human body may be successfully combated. Swampy and confined situations, particularly where there is a quantity of vegetation in decay, are more likely than any other localities to produce malaria. A knowledge of this fact, combined with greater security from robbers, caused so many of the villages in the south of Europe to be built high above the plains. Over-exertion, fatigue, and anything bringing on debility, are calculated to assist the influence of malaria. We have already seen that it is more dangerous by night than by day, and in autumn than at any other season. Bishop Heber mentions that in some parts of India the noxious vapour making its appearance in the evening is called by the natives essence of owl; and Horace long ago has sung, "Frustra per autumnos nocentem Quinine, as is well known, is the grand specific: the doses to be taken vary according to the disease and the patient. No Eastern traveller should be without a small bottle of quinine pills, and a few simple directions for their use. Quarantine.-Detention in a Lazzaretto has been defined "imprisonment, with the chance of catching the plague;" and its length and frequency formed, until within the last few years, a serious drawback to the pleasures of an Eastern tour. Every former traveller in the Levant will recall with horror the purgatory of purification which was deemed necessary before he was re-admitted to the Paradise of civilized life : "Donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe, The duration of quarantine sometimes amounted of old to the full probation of 40 days, from which the term is derived; and it rarely was less than 10 days, even when the vessel arrived with a clean bill of health-i. e. when no plague or other contagious disorder existed in the place of departure. Recent alterations, in accordance with more enlightened views of the doctrine of contagion, have effected a complete revolution in this respect; and travellers are not now exposed to a tenth part of the vexations which formerly perplexed them. Indeed, almost in every port the quarantine has been reduced to an observation, as it is called, of 24 hours; and in most cases is practically abolished, as steamers, ships of war, and private yachts get credit for the number of days they have been on their passage, on the affirmation of the commander that he has had no communication with any ship at sea. The quarantine rules are, however, liable to constant fluc tuations, as they are regulated chiefly by the state of health in Turkey, or in whatever country the vessel has last communicated. Whenever plague, smallpox, or cholera rages in Turkey, Greece, &c., an additional quarantine from thence is immediately enforced at the ports of the Mediterranean States. If the traveller, therefore, should have the misfortune to sail in a vessel with a foul bill of health, it will be useful for him to remember that the best Lazzarettos in the Levant are those of Syra, the Piræus, Corfu, and Malta; the last being by far the least inconvenient and best regulated purgatory of them all. Here the rooms are large, and to each set a kitchen is attached; good dinners can be furnished from a neighbouring hotel, at a moderate price. In all lazzarettos each détenu is placed under the care of a guardiano, or health-officer, whose duty it is never to lose sight of him, unless when in his room, and to prevent him from touching any of his fellow-prisoners. Should he come in contact with any one more recently arrived than himself, he must remain in quarantine until the latter obtains pratique. Fees, more or less considerable, are everywhere exacted before permission of egress is granted. Violations of quarantine laws were once universally treated as capital crimes; and they are still everywhere severely punished. As Quarantine possesses an Italian phraseology of her own, which is puzzling to the uninitiated, it may be useful to specify that persons and things under her power are called "contumaci" and "sporchi " (literally contumacious and foul), until they obtain "pratica" (Gallicè, pratique), or permission of free communication. In the days of long quarantines, the term of detention could be much shortened by the traveller's going through what was called spoglio, i. e. taking a bath, and leaving every article of dress, &c., in the lazzaretto, and clothing himself afresh in garments purchased or hired for the occasion from the neighbouring town. This process was both agreeable and convenient, for, in a quarantine of fourteen days, it enabled the traveller to get pratique seven days before his effects, which were fumigated by the guardiano, and delivered to their owner at the expiration of his original term. (The whole quarantine question is sensibly discussed in the Edinburgh Review, No. 196, for October, 1852.) f. TRAVELLING SERVANTS; ROADS; HIRE OF HORSES, &c. It is very difficult to find in England a servant capable of acting as interpreter in Greece and the East generally, though a few such are to be had: Misséri, who now keeps the Hôtel d'Angleterre at Constantinople, was long well known in this capacity, and is celebrated by the author of Eōthen. Common English servants are, in general, rather incumbrances than otherwise, as they are usually but little disposed to adapt themselves to strange customs, have no facility in acquiring foreign languages, and are more annoyed by hardships and rough living than their masters. Indeed, it is not only troublesome and expensive, but entirely useless in a journey through Greece, to take any attendants in addition to the travelling servants of the country. Those who have them in their suite would do well to leave them at Corfu or Athens until their return. As we have already seen, the mode of travelling in the interior of Greece and of European Turkey is on horseback, the distances being calculated by an hour's march of a caravan, according to the custom established among all Eastern nations. One hour is, on an average, equivalent to about 3 English miles; though, in level parts of the country, and with good horses, the traveller may ride much faster. With the same horses, the usual rate |