The record-union., 1897-04-10
DEGENERATES.
So Traveller Denominates the IN
habitants of Hellas.

| 1t is a beautiful corner of the earth,
where every prospect pleases and only
man is-disappointing. He falls pain
fully below his surroundings and his
| name. The men do not inspire conf
dendence, especially when one meets
them on the lonely hillsides. They may
be all right, but appearances are
against them. They are tall and
swarthy, but without the fine features
characteristic of Arabs and Moors or
the dignified demeanor common to most
Orientals. And then, their dress! 1
often find English people refusing to be-
lieve that the Greeks really wear those
incredible petticoats, but it is a fact.
They are much more generally worn in
Greece than kits are in the Highlands,
and much more absurd. They consist
of a fabulous number of yards of some
white material which looks like highly
starched muslin, standing out stiff and
barely reaching to the knee, exactly
like a ballet-dancer's skirt. The lower
part of the leg is swathed in bandages:
on the body is worn short jacket, and
on the head a bright cap, with a long
tassel. The whole is an exact pre-
sentation of a stage bandit with all his
taWdry finery and melodramatic sug-
gestion; and when one encounters such
figure on the countryside armed with
rifle that looks like legacy from the
SaracenS, with various knives and pis-
tolls, one feels transported into a bar
barrie age, when human life was cheap
and murder the main business of the
day
To be honest, I was never lnolested
by any of these gentlemen; but one day
l had the greatest difficulty in persuad-
ing companion to turn his back on
pair of them. He was convinced that
they would plug us from behind, so
sinister was their appearance. The
fisher-folk are shade or two
worse than the rustics, and the
town rabble more villainous than
either. Of course, the educat-
ed people wear ordinary European dress
or uniform. AS for the ladies, doubt
less they are charming; but, alas for
the beauty of Helen, of Phryne, of AS
pasta, and the other legendary hero
ines. Looks are matter of taste, and
I have neither the wish nor the right
to say anything rude; but if anybody
goes to Greece expecting to see in the
face of man or woman anything re-
motely resembling what we have learn
ed from sculpture to call the Greek
type, he will most certainly be disap-
pointed. The common people appeared
to me neither clean nor Industrious and
have reason to know that many are
rank thieves. But, all the same they
are not wholly degenerate. Did not a
Greek win the long distance event at the
Olympian games. And in one thing at
least they excel. They are the finest
divers in the world. and exclusively en-
gagged for the most arduous and dan
gerous kind of sponge fishing, the
headquarters of which is on the island
of Aegina-pronounced Enigma, with
the ''i'' short. Classical scholars please
notice.
The degeneracy of the modern Greek
is shown in nothing more plainly than
in the wretched appearance and
Astounding dirt Of his towns Athens. of
course, is city apart, where classical
association swallows up all other inn
pressions. And Corfu presents a pleas
ant aspect on superficial survey. The
harbor, the citadel and the sea-front
are very charming, and the hotels we'll
slums, into which few travellers venture
to penetrate, are nothing less than pes
tilential. Yet Corfu is a show place
the Brighton of Greece In all the Ion
ian Islands it is melancholy to see the
signs of an absolute arrest of progress.
followed by decay, which fell upon the
people from the moment when the
stimulus of British civilization was re-
moved. There are the half-finished
houses, showing how enterprise ana
progress were at work, left as they
stood and rotting away. Petras, the
commercial capital, is mean and squat
i'd without redeeming feature The
disorder" of Greek finances needs no
explanation to any one who has seen
the Greek at home. He is good for
an empty and vainglorious excitement.
but Of real effort and progress, of any
thing approaching to Western cilviliza-
ton, he seems quite incapable when left
to himself.-St. James Gazette.