This is the Turkish method of terminating a rebellion, which they say is only to be done by destroying the seeds: but, to palliate their inhumanity, they allege, that, whenever the Greeks have gained any advantage, they have been still more barbarous; that they have spared neither age nor sex; but that, after being guilty of every other brutality to the women, so sacred among Mahometans, not satisfied with slaying them, they have even carried their revenge so far as to expose their naked corpses to be devoured by dogs and birds of prey.
Heaven forbid that such cruel barbarity should exist. But I cannot pretend to give you a just account of the manners and dispositions of these two people on so slight an acquaintance, especially as the light in which they represent each other, is very different from that in which they appear to us.
Nestor's kingdom was in this district. I have found no antiquities worthy notice; and time does not permit me to take a journey in search of Pylos.
A small castle projects into the sea off Modon; and the town has walls round it; but they are much out of repair. The Governor lives in a wretched hovel, which refuses admittance neither to the wind nor to the rain. He is civil enough, and all his people seem glad to see us.
The harbour is formed by a set of little islands, which lie off the town, at some miles distance; the most western is the famous Spactaria, the taking of which is one of the most noted events in the Peloponnesian war. It is now called the Isle of Wisdom; but for what reason I cannot guess, as it is totally uninhabited, and produces nothing but brushwood.
The passages between the different islands make this a charming port for cruizers, since they can be confined neither by wind nor by an enemy. Captain Moore, of the Fame privateer, often put in here during the war, and has impressed the people with very favorable ideas of the English.
Convinced that you will be happy to hear of our arrival in Asia, I take advantage of the first courier to send you a letter.
Independent of the satisfaction of being in a region so noted in history, and of traversing scenes which one has so often contemplated in the page of antiquity, we have the happiness of finding a society we did not expect in this lost country--a soil where the iron hand of Despotism checks every generous sentiment in the vanquished Greek, and where the conqueror Turk, proud in his ignorance, scorns the refinements of more enlightened people, and looks down with insolence or contempt on every nation but his own. He has, however, many good qualities; and his true character, I perceive, is not easily delineated. I shall consider him attentively, and from time to time send you those traits I discover. In the mean while, I will conclude this letter with my Journal from our leaving Modon to our arrival at this city.