Very fine & pleasant all through.

But I got little or no sleep, ― at least until 3.30: partly fleas ― partly noises. ― However, at 5.20 ― rose ― & G. had a regular breakfast by 6: & at 6.40 we were off ― Spiro Assoniti preceding as guide. Damp & low grounds ― olive woods with gt. Foots but meager arms, patches of green, ― & myrtle & prunum ˇ[cistus], & passed-away Asphodel. ― There were semi-dry ditches too & a tortoise or 2. Land & water. We went near Zigonò ― a Χαλασμειον Χωρι,1 & by 8 reached S. Mattià ― a finely placed village. The Head Police received Burr’s letter joyfully & gave a peasant to guide me, ― I decided first, ― to Pantoκρατώρα, ― a monastery high up. A very pretty & hot pull!― & welcome was a cup of coffee & some rakhi:2 ― after which I drew on a higher front still, ― the view of Lefkimo, Albanian, & other ‘islands’ ― very beautiful: & opposite ― Fares & St. Angelo &c. We got down to S. Mattià at 12 ― & then had eggs & beans at the []: ― & at 1.30 [sit solo] again. The scenery is very beautiful=broken rox ― & superb olives: & so round the S. Mattià mountain, to Goudiki,3 or Palaιόκαστρο ― a Castle like Bodin or any 12th century gray ivied walls ― but with immense olives about it. I drew on a hill till 3.30 ― the long plain & sea forming a beautiful scene, ― but the vast olives are for studies not sketches ― & I grew disgusted. ― We returned by another route, to the δημοσιαν4 road near Braganιότιca,5 ― & about a mile from Strongili I sent forth the S. Mattià Guide with 2/6 ― having given him his dinner also. Lord! [how]6 he talked! ― G.’s silent nature is no end of blessing. ― At “home” by 5.

& at 7.20 am about to dine.

Which the γεῦμα7 was surprising ― curry & Ps. G.’s assiduity is untiring.

Bed at 8.45.

[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3.]

  1. Ruined village (NB). Nina adds about Ζυγονό or Ζγονός: “This is actually quite interesting: It was a medieval village that was abandoned in the mid 18th/early 19th century, and there are many legends (of the folk-gothic horror kind) as to why — something about a village priest who became a vampire and infected the peasants with a fatal illness in connection to a feud between two rich families. There is no consensus about the real reason, it could be in fact some epidemic.” [↩]
  2. Raki is a Turkish unsweetened, anise-flavored hard alcoholic drink that is popular in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, and other Balkan countries as an apéritif. [↩]
  3. This should be Gardikiou, Choris Onoma, Agios Matthaios, in Corfu. [↩]
  4. Highway (NB). [↩]
  5. Nina suggests this is Vragkaniotika. [↩]
  6. Blotted. [↩]
  7. Dinner (NB). [↩]