THE GREEKS UNDER TURKISH BONDAGE. 1 39 "AH," says Leake, "makes a tour round this part of his territory, he never fails to visit this place. The archons generally meet him in the plains, and offer perhaps twenty purses, beg- ging him not to come into town. He receives the present with smiles, promises that he will not put his friends to inconvenience ; afterward comes a little nearer, informs them that no pro- visions are to be had in the plain, and, after being supplied upon the promise of not entering the town, quarters on them, in the course of a day or two more, with his whole suite, perhaps for several days, and he does not retire until he has received a fresh donation. In these rounds he expects something from every village, and will ac- cept the smallest offerings from individuals. His sons, in travelling, do not fail to follow so great an example. . . . Neither pestilence nor famine is more dreaded by the poor natives than the arrival of these little scraps of coarse paper scrawled with a few Greek characters, and stamped with the well-known seal which makes Epirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia tremble." The people of Galaxidi had taken flight be- cause Ali Pasha wished to compel them to serve as sailors on board the fleet which he was equip- ping.
