TAKES KLISSURA, PREMETI, OSTANIZZA AND KONITZA. 119 tion he soon found a pretext for quarrelling with his neighbour the Pasha of Arta, conquered his territories, and annexed them, as well as the whole of Acarnania, to his own dominions. Thus he secured the free navigation of the Ambracian Gulf and gained possession of many valuable ports in those districts. His next step was to open a free and safe intercourse between Ioannina and his native territory of Tepeleni. To this end he attacked and took possession of the strong post of Klissura, where the Aous or Voïussa enters that deep defile called the Fauces Antigoneæ, or Stena Aoi, which was occupied by Philip in the first Macedonian war, where he stopped the advance of the Roman legions, until the key of his position being betrayed to Flaminius by a shepherd of Charopus he was driven from this strong post and obliged to evacuate Epirus*. The occupation of Klissura was followed by the reduction of Premeti, Ostanizza and Konitza, all capitals of most important districts which secured the whole course of the Voïussa from its source in Mount Pindus as far as Tepeleni. We have now traced the course of this extraordinary personage by that imperfect light which his early annals afford, from his infancy to the time when he fixed his seat in the Great Despotate of Epirus. One would have thought that this success might have satisfied the am *His occupation of this pass is thus described by Livy, lib. xxxii. c. 5. "Principio veris (Philippus) cum Athenagora omnia externa auxilia, quodque levis armaturæ erat, in Chaoniam per Epirum ad occupandas, quæ ad Antigoniam Fauces sunt (Stena vocant Græci) misit. Ipse post paucis diebus graviore secutus agmine, quum situm omnem regionis aspexisset, maxime idoneum ad muniendum locum credidit esse præter amnem Aoum: is inter montes, quorum alterum Æropum, alterum Asnaum incolæ vocant, angusta valle fluit, iter exiguum super ripam præbens." The mountains forming the defile are now called, those on the north side Trebechina and Mejourani, those on the south Melchiovo. The defile is about ten miles in length from Klissura (which from the remains of Cyclopéan masonry observable there I take to have been Antigonea) to the junction of the Aous with the river of ArgyroCastro, above Tepeleni. The precipices on each side are tremendous, being apparently more than a thousand feet in perpendicular height. The positions of Philip and Athenagoras must have been about mid-way in the defile, as Flaminius, when he arrived at the Aous with his army is said by Livy to have encamped at the distance of five miles from the Macedonians. (cap. 6.) Many persons have fixed upon Premeti, about twelve miles higher up the Aous, for Antigonea; but I am confirmed in my opinion of its being succeeded by Klissura, from a passage of Polybius, who speaks of these straights as being close to Antigonea: διὰ τῶν παρ Αντιγόνειαν τενῶν. 1. ii. c. 5. 120 SECURES THE COURSE OF THE VOIUSSA. bition of an Albanian kleftes! but ambition's path is deceitful as the mountain, which tempts the traveller's ascent to its false summit, and then exhibits to his view another equally precipitous and lofty, to which it served but as a base. The remainder of his history, when it became connected with European politics and important enough to engage the attention of his contemporaries, offers itself much more readily to historic elucidation. Account of the Suliots-Country, Government, Habits, Manners, and Customs-Ali's first Attempts against them-His Stratagem-How defeated-Anecdote of Tzavella and his Son-Ali attacks Suli-Desperate Resistance of the Suliots-Heroine Mosco—Ali's Defeat and Flight to Ioannina-Peace concluded-Ali's Policy with regard to foreign Powers, and his own Government-French Occupation of the Ionian Islands-Ali's Intrigues with Bonaparte-Attends the Grand Vizir against Paswan Oglou-War between Turkey and France-Ali takes Advantage of it-Ionian Isles pass under the Protection of Russia-Ali takes all the Continental Dependencies except PargaTerms on which these are conceded to the Porte-Ali, for his Services, is made Rumelie-Valisee, with the Title of Vizir-Commences a second War with the Suliots-Interprets the Prophecies of the Koran to encourage his Adherents-Leads his Troops against Suli-Joined by the Traitor Botzari-Bad Success in several Engagements-Turns the Assault into a Blockade. 122 ACCOUNT OF THE SULIOTS. WHILST Ali was extending the limits of his sway towards the north, the southern districts of his dominions were subjected to the incursions of a clan, contemptible to all appearance for their numbers, but impregnable in their mountain-holds, and capable, by their daring courage and enthusiastic love of liberty, of attacking him in his capital, and alarming him in the very recesses of his harem. These were the Suliots: a people which sustained the character of ancient Greece, and assumed the spirit of its independent sons. Their abode was like the dwelling of a race of genii, upon a kind of natural citadel, amidst the wild Cassopæan mountains, where the Acheron rolls down a dark and truly infernal chasm, overhung with rocks and woods of deepest gloom. The high peaks of precipices bounding this mysterious glen were surmounted by fortified towers, whilst the paths leading to the impending heights above scarcely admitted two persons to walk abreast. During the worst eras of Grecian slavery, the flame burned bright upon this hill-altar of liberty, and its worshippers breathing a purer air, and excited as it were by those stupendous energies of nature which they constantly had in view, preserved their physical and moral strength unimpaired, not only defying tyranny, but pouring down from their rocky fastnesses over the plains of the oppressor, and carrying off that booty which was considered as their lawful property. At Suli the rebellion was planned, under Lambro Canziani, to liberate Greece from the Ottoman yoke, and the conspirators had their headquarters in these impregnable fastnesses. Four large villages constituted the principal seats of this independent clan, in a situation so singular, as probably to be unique*. They lay upon a fine concave plain at the perpendicular height of about 2000 feet above the bed of the Acheron; a grand natural breast-work descended precipitously to the river; whilst behind them rose a tower The distance of Suli from Ioannina is 14 hours; from Prevesa 13; from Arta 14; from Parga 8; from Margariti 6; from Paramithia 8. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 123 The ing chain of mountains, at once an ornament and defence. Acheron, after passing through the valley of Dervitziana, first enters the Suliot chasm, where it is called the Gorge of Skouitias, from a small village of that name: a narrow path, which winds amidst the darkest woods upon the right bank, conducts the traveller in about two hours to a narrow cut across his path, called Klissura, admirably calculated to stop the progress of an enemy. This defile was commanded by a fort called Tichos, and near it was the first village of the Suliot republic, called Navarico or Avarico. From hence a gradual ascent leads to the deserted site of Samoniva; thence to Kiaffa, signifying a height, and lastly to Suli, the capital of the tribe, which was generally styled Kako-Suli, like the Kanoto of Homer, from the difficulties it opposed to a conqueror. Near the spot where the mountain-path leaves the side of the Acheron, to wind up the precipices between Kiaffa and Kako-Suli, a conical hill overhangs the road, called Kunghi, on which stood the largest of the Suliot fortresses, named Aghia Paraskevì*, or Saint Friday. At the same spot another small river, flowing from the Paramithian mountains, joins the Acheron, which, descending down the romantic defile of Glykì, enters the great Paramithian plain, and empties itself, after flowing through the Acherusian lake, into the Ionian sea, near the ancient city of Cichyrus or Ephyre. (See the plan at the head of this chapter.) Such was the situation of the Suliot republic: no vestiges of any ancient cities have been discovered within its boundaries, nor is it clear to what tribe of former ages they have succeeded, though the Selli of Homer apparently offer the fairest claim to pre-occupation of the soil. The date of the Suliot settlement on these mountains is * Пapaσkevǹ and Kuptakǹ, i. e. Friday and Sunday, are among the common names given to the Greek girls. Homer certainly places the Selli somewhere in this neighbourhood, in the 16th book of the Iliad, 1. 233. Ζέν, ἄνα Δωδωνάιε, Πελασγικέ, τηλόθι ναίων, And these very Selli appear to have taken their name, or given it, to the river Acheron, the identical |