ead of re-embarking in
the galliot, they returned to Prevesa by land (November 11). As the
country to the north of the Gulf of Arta was up in arms, and bodies of
robbers were abroad, they procured an escort of thirty-seven Albanians,
hired another galliot, and on Monday, the 13th, sailed across the
entrance of the gulf as far as the fortress of Vonitsa, where they
anchored for the night. By four o'clock in the afternoon of November 14
they reached Utraikey or Lutraki, "situated in a deep bay surrounded
with rocks at the south-east corner of the Gulf of Arta." The courtyard
of a barrack on the shore is the scene of the song and dance (stanzas
lxx.-lxxii.). Here, in the original MS., the pilgrimage abruptly ends,
and in the remaining stanzas the Childe moralizes on the fallen fortunes
and vanished heroism of Greece.--_Travels in Albania_, i. 157-165.]

[166] {143} [The route from Utraikey to Gouria (November 15-18) lay
through "thick woods of oak," with occasional peeps of the open
cultivated district of AEtolia on the further side of the Aspropotamo,
"white Achelous' tide." The Albanian guard was not dismissed until the
travellers reached Mesolonghi (November 21).]

[167] [With this description Mr. Tozer compares Virgil, _AEneid_, i.
159-165, and Tasso's imitation in _Gerus. Lib._, canto xv. stanzas 42,
43. The following lines from Hoole's translation (_Jerusalem Delivered_,
bk. xv. lines 310, 311, 317, 318) may be cited:--

"Amidst these isles a lone recess is found,
Where circling shores the subject flood resound ...
Within the waves repose in peace serene;
Black forests nod above, a silvan scene!"]

[168] {144} ["In the evening the gates were secured, and preparations
were made for feeding our Albanians. A goat was killed and roasted
whole, and four fires were kindled in the yard, round which the soldiers
seated themselves in parties. After eating and drinking, the greater
part of them assembled round the largest of the fires, and, whilst
ourselves and the elders of the party were seated on the ground, danced
round the blaze to their own songs, in the manner before described, but
with astonishing energy. All their songs were relations of some robbing
exploits. One of them ... began thus: 'When we set out from Parga there
were sixty of us!' then came the burden of the verse--

'Robbers all at Parga!
Robbers all at Parga!'
[Greek: Kle/phteis pote\ Pa/rga!]
[Greek: Kle/phteis pote\