1789.

summit of the lofty cliffs that rise above the A.D. bed of the Acheron; and here, in a fortress impregnable by nature, and accessible only by tortuous and precipitous passages,* they

designates Sollion a town of Acarnania, whilst the modern settlement is in Epirus. The work of Perevos and some passages in the Survey of Mr. Eton, are almost the only original and authentic documents which we possess on the subject of this interesting and singular people; and M. Pouqueville, though he has added a few new facts, has been chiefly indebted to the former for his voluminous information respecting the wars of the Suliots.

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The position and natural defences of Suli are well described by Mr. Hughes. "Their abode was like the dwelling of a race of genii, upon a kind of natural citadel, amidst the wild Cassopœan 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 mysterions 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 their lawful property.

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

1789.

A.D. founded, in a few years, the four villages of Suli, Gkiafa, Avarico, and Samoniva, whence their community subsequently extended over upwards of seventy hamlets in the adjoining

The

Acheron; a grand natural breast-work descended precipitously to the river; whilst behind them rose a towering 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 Kaxolio 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 Paraskevi, 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 Glyki, 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."-Hughes' Travels, v. ii. pp. 122, 123.

1789.

districts.* Its united population, at the period A.D. of the first war with Ali Pacha, was estimated at upwards of 7000; and of these the number who appeared in arms amounted to 1000 of the descendants of the original colonists, and 1500 of those who had subsequently fled to them for protection. † The families of the entire confederacy were divided into numerous clans or Pharæ, submitted to their peculiar chieftains, whose united voices formed in time of war the council of the people. They were likewise the sole legislators of the little state, which possessed neither tribunals nor written laws, but submitted its complaints to the decision of its Capetani. Debarred by their natural position and political circumstances from the exercise of commerce, and attached

Of these, seven, denominated the Hephtachorion to distinguish them from the Tetrachorion, or four principal villages, were colonized by Suliots, the original inhabitants being, at their own request, transferred to the mountain of Suli; thirty-three were wrested from the Agas of Margariti, and a like number from those of Paramythia, and Joannina. Perevos, v. i. c. iv. pp. 32, 36. Fauriel, vi. p. 228.

+ Perevos, v. i. c. 4. p. 34. Fauriel, v. i. p. 229. Pouqueville, Voyage, &c. v. ii. l. v. c. ii. n. p. 227. Eton says, with the alliance of the Chimariots they could bring 20,000 men into the field, (p. 389.) and Dr. Holland estimates their utmost force, in their wars with Ali, at 12,000. (p. 448.)

A.D. 1789.

to a barren soil, whose scanty produce was inadequate to their wants, the Suliots were compelled by necessity to subsist by violence and plunder, which they justified on the plea of merely snatching from their tyrants the produce of those lands which despotism had wrested from their fathers. It was too often, however, a matter of complaint that in these predatory excursions they neglected to discriminate between the persons of the Greeks and their masters, and that each was in turn a sufferer from their impartial visitations. They were acquainted with no trades or mechanical sciences, their sole study and occupation was that of arms and athletic exercises; and even their women were taught to share with their husbands the dangers and privations of war. On the approach of an enemy they were accustomed to evacuate their villages in the plains, and betake themselves, with their provisions and families, to the fortresses in the mountains. Here none were admitted save those who were distinguished for their valour; and the ordinary population were compelled to abide in the valleys, and provide stores and ammunition for their defenders above. The Suliot never parted from his arms; with his musket on his shoulder, his sabre by his side, and his dagger in his girdle,

1789.

he led his flocks to the hills, or knelt before A.D. the altar of his god; his laws, his education, his manners, and his religion, tended to the inculcation of the one powerful feeling of unbending courage; and his life was a perpetual turmoil of wars and expeditions, of defence or retaliation.*

This martial community had already manifested their passion for freedom in eight successive wars, which they had maintained against the Pachas of Albania;† in the commotions of 1770 they had been the first to obey the summons of Pappas Oglou, and take up arms in the cause of liberty; and at the moment when they were solicited to join the standard of Ibrahim, of Berat, they were on the eve of a fresh revolt, on the second summons from the emissaries of Russia.

The disastrous issue of the first expedition to the Levant, and the progress of Russia after the peace of Karnardji, had by no means induced Catharine to relinquish her "oriental

Perevos, c. iii. pp. 23, 26.; c. iv. p. 35. Fauriel, v. i. pp. 230, 235. Dr. Holland, p. 448. Villemain, p. 242. Pouqueville, Voyage, &c. v. ii. l. v. c. 2. p. 233.

+ Of these no details or memorials have been preserved; a list of them, but without dates, is given in the fifth chapter of Perevos' History, and in the second volume of Bartholdy's Travels, p. 256.