y, destitute of vegetation. But your eye falls at last on a sheet
of water--there is surely a placid lake giving beauty and fertility to
its neighborhood. No, it is a _katavothron_, or chasm, in which the
accumulated waters of the plain disappear. For as these Arcadian valleys
are so shut in by mountains as to leave no natural egress to the water,
it gathers in the lowest spot it can reach, and there stagnates, unless
it can wear a passage for itself, or find a subterraneous channel
through the limestone mountain, and come to light again in a lower
valley. Such a reaeppearance we saw near Argos, a broad, swift
stream--the Erasmus--rushing from under a mountain with such force as to
turn mills; it is believed to come from a _kalavothron_ in the northern
part of Arcadia. And not far from thence a fountain of fresh water
bubbles up in the sea a few yards from the shore; this is traced to a
similar source. In some parts of Greece the remains may still be seen of
the subterranean channels by which in ancient times the _katavothra_
were kept clear, and thus prevented from overflowing. In this way much
land was artificially redeemed to agriculture.

If, now, you seek for the dwellers in this paradise, behold them in yon
shepherd and his faithful dog--_Arcades ambo_--the shepherd muffled
against the searching wind in hood and cloak, under his arm a veritable
crook, while his sheep and goats are browsing about wherever a blade of
grass or a green leaf can be found. His invariable companion is--I was
about to say a tamed wolf; but in reality, an untamed animal of wolfish
aspect and disposition, always eager to make your acquaintance. These
creatures are the torment of the traveler throughout Greece, and most of
all in Arcadia. If on foot, he can pick up a stone, at sight of which
the enemy will beat a hasty retreat. Greece seems to have been
bountifully supplied with loose stones of the right size for this very
purpose, just as the rattlesnake-plant is said to grow wherever the
rattlesnake itself is found. If on horseback, he can easily escape,
although the animal will not scruple to hang to the horse's tail or bite
his heels. Such was Arcadia in March. No doubt, at another season it is
a delightful retreat from the overpowering heat of the Greek summer. It
may have a beauty of its own at that season; but there can be little of
that quiet rural landscape which we call Arcadian.

After crossing this plain, visiting by the way the