t their not indecent glee;
And as the flames along their faces gleam'd,
Their gestures nimble, dark eyes flashing free,
The long wild locks that to their girdles stream'd,
While thus in concert they this lay half sang, half scream'd.

"I talk not of mercy, I talk not of fear;
He neither must know who would serve the vizier;
Since the days of our prophet, the crescent ne'er saw
A chief ever glorious like Ali Pashaw.

CHAPTER XV

Leave Utraikee--Dangerous Pass in the Woods--Catoona--Quarrel between
the Guard and Primate of the Village--Makala--Gouri--Missolonghi--
Parnassus

Having spent the night at Utraikee, Byron and his friend continued
their journey southward. The reports of the state of the country
induced them to take ten additional soldiers with them, as their road
for the first two hours lay through dangerous passes in the forest.
On approaching these places fifteen or twenty of the party walked
briskly on before, and when they had gone through the pass halted
until the travellers came up. In the woods two or three green spots
were discovered on the road-side, and on them Turkish tombstones,
generally under a clump of trees, and near a well or fountain.

When they had passed the forest they reached an open country, whence
they sent back the ten men whom they had brought from Utraikee. They
then passed on to a village called Catoona, where they arrived by
noon. It was their intention to have proceeded farther that day, but
their progress was interrupted by an affair between their Albanian
guard and the primate of the village. As they were looking about,
while horses were collecting to carry their luggage, one of the
soldiers drew his sword at the primate, the Greek head magistrate;
guns were cocked, and in an instant, before either Lord Byron or Mr
Hobhouse could stop the affray, the primate, throwing off his shoes
and cloak, fled so precipitately that he rolled down the hill and
dislocated his shoulder. It was a long time before they could
persuade him to return to his house, where they lodged, and when he
did return he remarked that he cared comparatively little about his
shoulder to the loss of a purse with fifteen sequins, which had
dropped out of his pocket during the tumble. The hint was
understood.

Catoona is inhabited by Greeks only, and is a rural, well-built
village. The primate's house was neatly fitted up with sofas. Upon
a knoll, in the middle of the