of them were only
preparing to depart, when Ali gave leave to the Albanian soldiers yet
faithful to him to sack the town.

The place was immediately invaded by an unbridled soldiery. The
Metropolitan church, where Greeks and Turks alike deposited their gold,
jewels, and merchandise, even as did the Greeks of old in the temples of
the gods, became the first object of pillage. Nothing was respected.
The cupboards containing sacred vestments were broken open, so were the
tombs of the archbishops, in which were interred reliquaries adorned with
precious stones; and the altar itself was defiled with the blood of
ruffians who fought for chalices and silver crosses.

The town presented an equally terrible spectacle; neither Christians nor
Mussulmans were spared, and the women's apartments, forcibly entered,
were given up to violence. Some of the more courageous citizens
endeavoured to defend their houses and families against these bandits,
and the clash of arms mingled with cries and groans. All at once the roar
of a terrible explosion rose above the other sounds, and a hail of bombs,
shells, grenade's, and rockets carried devastation and fire into the
different quarters of the town, which soon presented the spectacle of an
immense conflagration. Ali, seated on the great platform of the castle
by the lake, which seemed to vomit fire like a volcano, directed the
bombardment, pointing out the places which must be burnt. Churches,
mosques, libraries, bazaars, houses, all were destroyed, and the only
thing spared by the flames was the gallows, which remained standing in
the midst of the ruins.

Of the thirty thousand persons who inhabited Janina a few hours
previously, perhaps one half had escaped. But these had not fled many
leagues before they encountered the outposts of the Otto man army, which,
instead of helping or protecting them, fell upon them, plundered them,
and drove them towards the camp, where slavery awaited them. The unhappy
fugitives, taken thus between fire and. sword, death behind and slavery
before, uttered a terrible cry, and fled in all directions. Those who
escaped the Turks were stopped in the hill passes by the mountaineers
rushing down to the rey; only large numbers who held together could force
a passage.

In some cases terror bestows extraordinary strength, there were mothers
who, with infants at the breast, covered on foot in one day the fourteen
leagues which separate Janina from Arta. But