WE cast anchor at the mouth of

the Ambracian Bay, or, as it is now
called, the Gulf of ARTA. On the right of

us is a low headland, on the left the modern
town of PREVYZA. The Roman Poet Propertius
calls upon the traveller to be mindful of Augustus
Cæsar in his voyages over the whole of the Ionian
Sea. Here, upon this coast, stood that Emperor when he had
just conquered the world.

Look at the appearance which this spot now presents. At the entrance of the Bay of ACTIUM are two mud-built forts, one on each side of it; on their battlements are mounted some rusty cannon, in whose mouths are fixed certain dingy implements employed to sweep the cobwebs from these crazy pieces of Turkish artillery; above them are gilded stars, and a tinsel crescent. You may see some children playing in the rotten hulk of a ship of war, and the waters themselves seem tired and languid, and as if wishing to sink into a sleepy lethargy on the shallow shore.

GG

On the southern promontory of which we have spoken, stood the Temple of the ACTIAN APOLLO. On the second of September, the famous fourth of the Nones of that month, in the year B. c. 31, the whole of the strait between this point and the opposite coast, as well as the basin to which they form the entrance, and which is as it were the outer court of the large area of the Ambracian Gulf, was filled with the vessels of Mark Antony, distinguished by their enormous size and the variety of their equipments. Bactria, India, and Armenia, furnished contributions to that vast armament. In the rear was Cleopatra in her gilded ship spreading to the wind its purple sail, and attended by an Egyptian fleet bearing the Gods of that country. At the sight of this spectacle the Galatian troops of Antony, consisting of two thousand horse, deserted to Cæsar, and some of his vessels retreated with their sterns foremost to the harbour on their left upon the Acarnanian coast.

The fleet of Augustus stretched from north to south, facing the entrance of the Bay. He at first attempted to draw out Antony into the open sea from his position in the straits, and having failed in this endeavour he advanced forward to the east, with the view of enclosing the enemy by the expansion and subsequent contraction of his own wings. Upon this, Antony moved

forward, and the engagement commenced. The latter was superior in the magnitude of his vessels, which bore a resemblance to moving castles or fortresses, and which not merely the Poet compares to Cyclades riven from their foundations, but which, in the sober language of history, are described as groups of islands, and as resisting the assault of the foe like Cities under a siege.

The fleet of Augustus was composed mainly of triremes, whose excellence consisted in their lightness and celerity. Several of them at once surrounded the large ships of Antony, which defended themselves by hurling missiles from the wooden towers which they bore. The battle lasted for several hours, and, in the language of Shakspeare's Soldier of Antony,

"-Vantage like a pair of twins appear'd

Both as the same, or rather ours the elder;"

when, unfortunately for his cause, a breeze from the land sprung up, as is not unusual upon this coast in the daytime, and Cleopatra, as represented by Virgil on the shield of Eneas, taking advantage of the favourable gale, was seen unfurling her canvas, and sweeping along with her sixty ships at full sail through the forces of the enemy into the main sea, and thence along the western coast of the Peloponnesus. Antony forthwith left his

fleet and army, and followed her. But notwithstanding his absence the battle lasted till evening, when the wind changed, and a heavy surf from the sea broke upon the large vessels, and rendered it impossible for them to resist any longer the attack of their assailants, who set them on fire by torches, flaming javelins, and combustibles discharged from their engines five thousand men were slain, and three hundred ships taken by the victorious army. N the angle at the southern side of the entrance of the Bay is a promontory now called PUNTA, and formerly ACTIUM. Here, as we have before noticed, stood the temple of the Actian Apollo.

From this point that Deity was imagined by the Poet as aiming his shafts against the foes of Augustus; and here games were celebrated in honour of the god, and in gratitude for the victory obtained by his aid.

We proceed across the straits to the town of Prevyza, on the opposite coast. The streets are narrow and roughly paved; no carriages and few women are to be seen there. In the summer season the shops exhibit supplies of tobacco, peaches, and figs, and other natural produce, but very little of manufactured goods. A wooden awning projects over their windows, under which their tenants sit in cross-legged indolence.

HE Pasha's Serail is on the north side of the entrance of the gulf. If the traveller should wish to pay his respects to his Highness, he will enter a court-yard, where he may see his horses ranged side by side, and will thence ascend by a staircase to the apartment of the Vizier. The floor is matted: a divan or sofa, covered with red embroidered Albanian cloth, runs round the

walls. There is a whitewashed fire-place, and the pannels of the room are unpainted. He will probably find the Pasha reclining on the divan near the window which looks towards the ruins of Actium and the Temple of Apollo. Several Turks stand before him with shoeless feet, and among them a dragoman wearing a dark red tunic and light-coloured sandals, who, when the Pasha, or Most Sublime Vizier, as he is called, has finished a sentence, puts his right hand to his heart and then to his lips, in order to intimate that the words of his lord and master have entered the one and will soon issue from the other. He then translates them to the party for whom they are intended. The visitors are invited to sit on the divan, and are presented with long cherry-stick pipes with amber mouth-pieces and brown clay bowls by the attendants, who then kneel and put small brass basins on the floor under the pipes for the reception of their ashes. This practice, devised for the sake of cleanliness and for the protection of his carpet, indicates that the Turk is not destitute of prudential principles in household economy, and that he has not carried his doctrine of fatalism (as what fatalist ever did?) into the smallest details,-into the pipe-bowls and brass basins of daily life.

At the close of day, the traveller returns to his night's lodging in the town of Prevyza. The mistress of the house is lighting the small lamps which hang before the pictures of the saints upon her wall; the voice of the Muezzin has ceased to call from the Minaret to evening prayer, and nothing is heard but the dismal howl of the jackal, which becomes more distinct as the darkness steals on.

On our route to NICOPOLIS, we pass through the northern gate of Prevyza. A few muskets of different fashions are ranged under its archway; some Albanian guards in motley attire doze or smoke on the drawbridge. Immediately beyond is the Turkish cemetery. The white tombs are overgrown with thistles, and the sentences of the Koran inscribed upon them are becoming illegible. The road crosses a wide sandy plain covered with low clumps of myrtle, fern, and bramble. In three quarters of an hour we arrive at the remains of Nicopolis.