LEAR'S JOURNALS IN ALBA.NIA..

Mn. LEAD is a landscape-painter, who appears to have been making a long and studious pilgrimage in search of the beautiful, and in regions beyond the usual field of artists. In September 1848 he found himself at Constantinople, convalescent from severe at-. tacks of Greek fever. Thinking motion and change of air might improve his health, he started in an Austrian steamer for Saloniki, at the head of the gulf of the same name, with rather undeter- • Journals of a Landscape-Painter in Albania, arc. By Edward Lear. Published

'by Bentley. _

mined purpose as to his future course. Circumstances however determined for him. Cholera had been raging at Saloniii.; a panic had spread through the neighbourhood; and a cordon was drawn towards Mount Olympus and the South, which it was said to be impossible to pass. The best route open was to the North- west ; and in that direction Mr. Lear proceeded, through the ancient Macedonia to Monastir, a town which commands the pass through. the Candavian mountains. Through this pass he advanced into Albania, going Northward as far as the lake and town of Skedra ; and returned partly inland, partly along the coast of the Adriatic through Albania and the ancient Epirus, till he reached Prevyza. After a winter passed in Cairo and a journey to Mount Sinai, Mr. Lear made another attempt on Mount Olympus in the ..spring of 1849; starting from that part of Epirus which formed the limit of his first journey, and traversing the boundary-mountains and the plains of Thessaly. But again he was baffled. The weather was unfavourable, rain frequently pour- ing in torrents; and premonitory symptoms of fever forced him to return when he was within reach of the seat of the gods.

The regions which Mr. Lear traversed in search of the pic- turesque have been visited by few Englishmen • and their ac- counts, if not forgotten, are scarcely popular, hidden in quartos forty years old ; in some parts even a travelling Englishman has only been seen once in a way, or not at all. The generality of the places have interest in their associations, ancient or modern; the country is striking'; the beauty of Greece, the magnificence of the Alps, and the full verdure or stern grandeur of the North, com- bine in different proportions to form a character unique and na- tional. The people are unsophisticated and singular • wild, reck- less, bloody, and superstitious, often with much of surface bigotry, yet with a liberal feeling at the bottom, and apparently little changed from What they were in the middle ages, save in ale pre? dominance of Mahoraetanism.

The object of Mr. Lear was to study and to draw landscape ; and perhaps scenery too much predcrminates in his narrative. At the same time, it is not mere description; the criticism of the artist gives purpose to his picture, and it may be said infuses information on art. There is, however, a good deal besides land- scape. The region is not one where you can travel in a carriage, or take your ease in your inn. You must have an interpreter, you must have a soorudji (guide e or Tartar) ; you put up at a khan, where you are found in no h. but stlioor, or part of one if there are other travellers ; as a matter of course you visit the governor of the place ; and if you fall in with a Christian, as our ancestors phrased it—that is, a civilized man—you may take up your abode with him;' though Mr. Lear was fortunate enough to find some hospitable Mussulmans. The purpose of the author was a means of eliciting the ideas and feelings of the people. Among Christians, and those Mahometans whom the march of mind in the form of many strangers or the Sultan's innovations have reached, the gra- dual creation of objects on the artist's paper was a subject of won- der and interest. In more bigoted places, the attempt at sketching often gave rise to scenes of embarrassment and hinderance, which required the presence of authority in the person of a police-soldier to remove. The following is one at Elbassiln, a town of Albania.

"No sooner had I settled to draw—forgetful of BelcIr the guard—than forth came the populace of Elbassfin, one by one, and two by two, to a mighty host they grew, and there were soon from eighty to a hundred spectators collected, with earnest curiosity in every look ; and when I had sketched such of the principal buildings as they could recognize, a universal shout of SWUM ! ' burst from the crowd ; and, strange to relate, the greater part of the mob put their fingers into their mouths and whistled furiously, after the manner of butcher-boys in England. Whether this was a sort of spell against soy magic I do not know ; but the absurdity of sitting still on a rampart to make a drawing, while a great crowd of people whistled at me with all their might, struck me so forcibly, that come what might of it, I could not resist going off into convulsions of laughter ; an impulse the Gheghe.s seemed to sympa- thize with, as one and all shrieked with delight, and the ramparts resounded with hilarious merriment. Alas, this was of no long duration' for one of those tiresome Dervishes (in whom, with their green turbans, ElbassOn is rich) soon came upand yelled, Shahan scree! Sheitin ! ' ['The Devil draws! the Devil !'] in my ears with all his force ; seizing my book also, with an awful frown, shutting it, and pointing to the sky as intimating that Heaven would not allow such impiety. It was in vain after this to attempt more ; the Shaitan ' cry was raised in one wild chorus; and I took the conse- quences of having laid by my fez for comfort's sake, in the shape of a hor- rible shower of stones, which pursued me to the covered streets, where, find- ing &kir with his whip, I went to work again more successfully about the walls of the old city."

Even where no superstitious dread of the drawing existed, the least circumstance sufficed to arouse the fears of the unsophisticated people. At A.vlona, on the coast, two Mussulmans were induced to come to a sitting.

"No sooner were these good people squatted in the little wooden gallery, with their garments, faces, and pipes in complete arrangement for my drawing, than a bit of India-rubber fell from my book ; and, making two small hops on the ground, as is the wont with that useful vegetable substance when dropped accidentally, caused indescribable alarm to the two orthodox Gheghes, who jumped up and hissed at it, saying, Shaitan, Shahan !' and trembling with horror as the little imp remained close to their feet. Nor did my taking it up calm their fears; and when I put it in my pocket their dis- gust was increased at such ostentatious truckling to the comforts of a fami- liar firemen. So as I found they could not be again induced to remain tran- quil enough to be sketched, I seized a moment when they were not looking at me, and bounced the offending caoutchouc on the planked floor ; when up It flew to such a degree that the unhappy and tormented Mohammedans screamed aloud, and shrieking out, Shaftan, Shaitan !' jumped off the ac- cursed platform and fled away." Even with persons of more extended knowledge of the world and its affairs, and who moreover are accomplished enough to un- derstand Italian, the artist runs a risk of giving offence. The killawing pleasant sketches are from SkOdra. " The Consul and his wife are in great distress about the ways and man- ners of Skeidra, as to face-hiding; for, since Christian as well as Mo- hammedan women conceal their faces, no woman can stir out unroaRked without receiving some insult, as indeed to appear barefaced marks total loss of character. Consequently, Mesdemoiselles Bonatti do not like to go out under such risk of reproach • while, on the other hand, their mother will not allow them to wear the yaahmack ; for she says, 'Are you not Chris- thins? and why should you be ashamed of showing your face ? ' "Their being one of the few families here professing the Greek form of Christianity, probably makes this objection stronger ; and the result of this difference of opinion is, that the young ladies never leave the house at all, from one year's end to another. Bitter complaints of Skddra as a residence may be heard on all sides. The clashing of various races, religions, and castes, must render it an odious abode; while alarms and feuds, nek of pro- perty and life, hatred and petty warfare, prevail among all. " At one p. tn. dinner was served at the Vice-Consular table, the only guest being Antonio Seim= the merchant., a very good specimen of his order. Of the host and hostess it would be difficult to speak too favourably. The eldest daughter alone is wedded tO Skialra fashions ; and the being obliged to appear in the company of men was evidently a great pain to the unfor- tunate girl, who with difficulty refrained from crying if looked at or spoken- to : so strong is the force of habit.

"At four we adjourned to the house of Antonio Sfimma—a substantial building in a large court-yard, all the appurtenances about which indicated opulence and comfort. The usual compliments of pipes, coffee, and lemonade were gone through, and I made a drawing of the worthy merchant in his Skodra costume ; but on his younger brother coming in, (both were men of about forty years of age,) and requesting to be sketched also, I, for want of paper, was obliged to make a small though accurate portrait of him on the same page as that on which I had drawn his eldest brother on a larger scale.

"0, sante ciao t' said the younger, in a fury of indignation, when he saw the thawing ; why have you done this? It is true I am the youngest, but I am not smaller than my brother ; and why should you make me so diminutive ? What right have you thus to remind me of rily inferior position ? Why do you come into our house to act so insultingly ?

"I was so amazed by this afflicting view of my innocent mistake, that I could hardly apologize, when the elder brother took up the tale. " 4 1 too,' said ee. am vexed and hurt, 0 Signora! I thought you meant well ; but if you think that you win my esteem by a compliment paid me at the expense of the affection of my brother, you are greatly mistaken.' "What could I say ? Was there ever such a lesson to unthinking artists in foreign lands ? I had made two enemies by one sketch, and was obliged to take a formal addio, leaving the injured brothers bowing me out with looks of thunder."

By means of the companionship of Anastasio, a domestic of his host at Avlona, Mr. Lear was able to make an excursion through the .Aeroceraunian mountains as far as Khimara. This excursion, from its novelty both as regards scenery and manners, forms one of the most interesting sections of the book. This is one of its scenic views.

"About nine we left Draghiadhes, and began to ascend towards the hill of Dukadhes, first through a tract of low wood, and then by an uninteresting gorge, down which the wind came with frightful force, making it very diffi- cult to keep a footing on the loose stones of the watercourse, which was our road. Higher up in the pass the violence of this sudden and furious moun- tain storm was such that both Anastasio and myself were knocked down more than once, and towards the summit we could only advance by clinging from rock to rock.

"At the highest part -1' the pass a most singular scene opens. The spec- tator seems on the edge of a high wall, from the brink of which giddy eleva- tion he looks down into a fearfully profound basin, at the roots of the moun- tain. Above its Eastern and Southern enclosures rises the giant snow-clad Tchika in all its immensity, while at his very feet, in a deep dark green pit of wood and garden, lies the town or village of Dukadhes, its !muses scattered like milk-white dice along the banks of a wide torrent, which finds its way to the gulf between the hill he stands on and the high Western ridge divid- ing valley from the sea.

To this strange place, perhaps one of the most secluded in Europe, I be- gan to descend, and as we slowly proceeded, halted more than once to sketch and contemplate. Shut out as it stood by iron walls of mountain, surrounded by sternest features of savage scenery, rock and chasm, precipice and tor- rent a more fearful prospect, and more chilling to the very blood, I never beheld, so gloomy and severe, so unredeemed by any beauty or cheerfulness. After a weary ride over rugged places in the bottom of this hollow land of gloom, we stopped at length at one of the houses of the village."

The Khimariots, like most mountaineers, are addicted to blood- feuds, and have other customs that do not argue a high value for human life. But they are a hospitable and rather jovial though an ungallant race.

Throughout the whole of the day's journey I have seen numbers of wo- men carrying burdens of incredible size and weight : from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty pounds, I am assured, is no unusual loading. These poor creatures arc indeed little like women in appearance, for their faces are worn into lines and furrows of masculine hardness by excessive and early toil; and as they labour pitifully up the rooky paths, steadying their steps with a staff, or cross the stony torrent beds, bent nearly double beneath their loads, they seem leas like human beings than quadrupeds. A man's blood boils to see them accompanied by a beast of a husband or brother, generally on horseback, carrying—what ?—nothing but a pipe! and when he is tired of smoking, or finds -himself over-clad, he gives the woman his pipe to hold, or throws his capote over her load. The ponderous packages of wool, grain, sticks, &c., borne by these hard-worked creatures, are hung to their neck by two strong straps; their dress is dark blue, with a blue handkerchief on the head, dark full trousers, no petticoat or apron, and red worked wool- len gaiters. They are short and strongly made in person, with very light hair ; their eyes are almost universally soft grey, and very pretty; but the rest of the face, apart from the worn and ground-down expression, is too broad and square in form to be prepossessing."

The volume is illustrated by some score or so of tinted litho- graphs, which show that Mr. Lear's travels have not been lost on him for the purposes of his art. The views are free and spirited, and, though slight, convey the character of the scenes.