ort on
the opposite side of the creek, we might then take mules to [Castri the
ancient] Delphi, and if not able to proceed further on our way, the change
we hoped would be use to M.Y. We did make the effort, and were favored to
get to Scala, where we found only a few scattered mud houses; but on
landing, there was a change of feeling immediately experienced. We were
rescued from ship-builders and sailors, the vilest of the vile, and placed
among a simple country people.

The master of the custom-house, to whom we had a few lines of
recommendation, invited us to his house and gave us coffee. He provided us
with four mules; three for the interpreter and ourselves, and the fourth
for the baggage. It was about eight miles, or two and a half hours' ride,
to Delphi; and no sooner had we begun to feel the mountain air than my
dear M. began to revive. We had to climb precipices where nothing but
mules could have carried us. At the foot of the mountain we came in
company with two camels, which was a new sight to us.

The situation of Delphi is the most beautiful that eyes can behold:
mountains of rock, such as we never before saw, and in the back ground the
far-famed Parnassus, covered with snow. The village consists of about one
hundred cottages, some of them built in the rock. We were conducted to one
of the best of these rustic dwellings, and met with a very friendly
reception from the inmates. The house consisted of two rooms, and we were
offered the use of one of them; they furnished us with mattresses laid
upon a sort of dresser, where we slept much better than for many previous
nights; even the hen and her thirteen chickens under our bed did not
disturb us. The novelty of the visiters soon brought in several of the
neighbors, who did not leave us, even while we took our tea. As there was
a good feeling, we thought it well to improve the opportunity, and
inquired who could read. The master of the house, a sensible man, said
there were only about twenty in the village who know anything of letters,
but that he could both read and write, for his father was a priest.

After tea we produced a New Testament and the book of Genesis, and our
interpreter read aloud the first two chapters of Genesis. Our host had
never seen the Scriptures in his own language, and we think we never
beheld a countenance more full of delight and intelligence than his was
during the reading. After a short explanation of what had been read, and a
word