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great flight was followed by others, numbering from 150 to 500 in each. In all, there could not have been less than 4000 or 5000 birds passing over our heads in the space of half an hour, out of gunshot, but so near that we could hear the sound of their wings in the still air. The well-known ornithologist, Mr Harting, was of our party; but, having remained longer than we in the wood, he saw only the last of the smaller nights at a considerable distance, and thought they were geese. But we examined the birds carefully through a telescope, and most clearly they were cormorants, bound for some definite and distant point. The number of fish consumed by such a multitude of these destructive birds must be prodigious.

It had been our intention to journey through the vale of Tempe to Salonike, about four days' drive, but every one whom we consulted warned us strenuously against the danger of such a proceeding.

Security, which is now absolute within the frontiers of Greece, is as far as ever it was from prevailing in Turkey. The passes of Olympus, and the whole of the Albanian mountains, are infested by brigands, who sustain themselves by levying blackmail on the farmers and villagers, and are always on the look-out for travellers whom they may hold at ransom. We asked if we could not obtain a Turkish escort. "Of course you may," was the reply, "but that would ensure your capture. The Turkish soldiers seldom receive any pay, and would certainly sell you to the brigands." We pointed to our arms and a plentiful supply of ammunition. "Useless," they said ; "you would never have a chance of using them. The first notice you would have would be a loud command to halt, from a band concealed in rocks and brush, and if you disregarded it you would be shot down."

So, reluctantly enough, we altered our plans. But it is exasperating that these beautiful highlands should remain inaccessible through the indolence and incapacity of a rotten Government. Where the will exists, the means of putting down brigandage are easy and inexpensive. They were adopted to good purpose in Greece during M. Tricoupi's first administration. He armed the peasantry, and set a price on every brigand's head. The peasants, hardy and warlike, were delighted at the chance of ridding themselves of their hated tormentors, and nothing has been heard of brigandage in Greece since the capture of Colonel Synge in 1881. That gentleman occupied a large farm on the borders of Albania. Relying on the fidelity and courage of his retainers, he laughed at the warnings of his friends, till one night his grange was surrounded and attacked. He made good his defence, till the marauders managed to fire the premises. Burnt and smoked out, he was captured; between twenty and thirty of his Albanians were murdered on the spot, and he himself was carried off and held to ransom for the usual price asked for an Englishman, £15,000, coupled with the conditions of indemnity for the band, and the release of some of their friends who were in prison. The English Government paid down the ransom, recovering it afterwards from the Turks by stopping it out of the revenues of Cyprus: the other conditions were agreed to, and it is said that the chief of the band retired to one of the islands, where he