disias of Ptolemy was hereabout; the aspect of these rocks offers no objection to this conjecture, for the island of Cythera, and most of the places that were peculiarly sacred to Venus, are likewise remarkably sterile and rugged. The peninsula of Cape Cavaliere is the last and highest of the series of noble promontories that project from this coast, its white marble cliffs rising perpendicularly from the sea to the altitude of six or seven hundred feet Every accessible spot of this peninsula has been defended by walls. A few miles to the eastward of Cape Cavaliere" lies Provencal Island, which is high and precipitous towards the sea; but on the north-west side there is a profusion of ruined dwellings and churches, columns and sarcophagi. A citadel stands on the summit of the highest peak, and the whole island presents such means of natural and artificial defence, as to make it probable that it was once a station of great military strength. Vertot relates, that after the expulsion from Jerusalem of the Knights Hospitallers of St John, and during their settlement at Rhodes, they took possession of several islands and castles on the coast of Asia Minor." Kalendria, isolated as is its situation, can supply a few comforts for the table: the wine of Cyprus is often brought from the island by the passage-boats, and every crevice in the rocks and ruined fortress has its family of pigeons, which are as good as plentiful.

THE VILLAGE OF ZGARTI.

This village, about seven hours distant from Eden, and two from Tripoli, is finely situated, almost at the foot of Lebanon: the houses stand amidst olive groves in the valley. No people upon earth are so picturesquely lodged as those of the villages and hamlets in the range of Lebanon: the figures in the foreground are the peasants of the country: shepherds with their flocks, and others carrying silk, the staple produce of the territory. The road from Eden is rugged and precipitous, and for about five hours a continued and harassing descent, after which it improves, and the plantations of mulberry trees about the villages, and in the bottom of the narrow dells, are extremely beautiful. Welcome, most welcome, is it to halt at the delightful position of Zgarti, to ask the hospitality of the sheichs of Eden, who come here to enjoy, during the winter, the mild and soft air: the river Reshin, augmented by two tributary streams, winds around the village. The priests who live in these isolated domains are in manners and habits of living little distinguishable from their flock, who are much attached to them. Although there are two hundred convents in the region of Lebanon, many a village is situated out of their reach. These Maronite priests are allowed to marry, as in the primitive age of the church; but it must not be to a widow, and they are not allowed to marry a second time. They have not, as in Europe, benefices or fixed salaries, but live partly on the produce of their masses, on the offerings of their congregations, and by the labour of their hands: some carry on trades, others cultivate a little domain: whoever meets them, whether poor or rich, hastens to kiss their hand: each village has its chapel, and every chapel its bell, a thing unheard of in any other part of Turkey. The rites of the Romish church, which all the Maronites profess, are not performed in

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