who are distant 10 hours from Volo. I was very sorry for that. If I go back in December I shall try to see them. The scenery is beautiful in Thessaly. Olympus is very grand, Ossa is a very fine mountain & Pelion is picturesque. The moonlight nights are superb. Two I was out all night. A third I sat out till a late hour with some young fellows on the shores of the bay which was perfectly lovely & they sang in Greek remarkably well.

Sunday — Here I am in Messina. Strange how entirely different the whole physiognomy of the place is from anything I have seen yet. The streets quite unlike any I had seen in England or Germany are still more unlike those of Thessaly & those of Turkey. They are handsome & clean streets & the third story of the houses is always very high something like this.

Many balconies. Prices exhorbitant. General aspect of the place joyous. Especially the hand organs which are great things like cottage pianos wheeled about on a handcart by one man very rapidly while another walks by the side & turns the handle. A crowd of boys, dancing & turning somersaults accompanies it. It gives one some strange impression of the antique. The hotel where I am is extremely dirty. They have a wine here which strong resembles Tokay. It is called Muscato di Siracusa or Malvasia. If John Blake has it I think it would be the best thing for you. It is probably quite expensive for they charged one 6 cents for a large glass of it this morning. If I can get some cheap perhaps I shall send some home.

To go to Athens involved I found such a long stay at Volo that with deep regret I cut it. But I may perhaps return there yet. The difficulty is that time now presses sadly. If I do not go to Athens I am still a whole week behind my time, and I may of course be still further delayed. Moreover I desire to go to Geneva very much to see a pendulum there for determining the force of gravity. I begin now to feel the shortness of my time acutely at the same time that I am often quite homesick & long to be home & ordinary sights bore me dreadfully unless they are seen without any trouble. Moreover my conversation is now so extremely limited that I do long to get where I can talk. I hoped to find a letter here from Amy at least but there is none. I have sent to Naples by telegraph to have any letters forwarded inmediately & I shall then no doubt get one from father which will enable me to determine whether I ought to go back to Athens or not. The temptation is so great that I think I shall go yet the reasons for not going are also very weighty. I wanted dreadfully to go to Egypt but that was of course out of the question. In regard to the war I am quite as ardent a German as ever but I still continue to predict another year of war. Paris will not be so easily taken. All the time I have been travelling now 3 months. I have only lost 2 things. One was a German phrase book I left on the steamer Deutschland & the other a pipe-case on the boat coming from Volo to here. The boat was very pleasant & I approach civilization again with pleasure. When I get to Naples I suppose I shall be in comfort once more. There is nothing at all to see in Messina & I am delayed here a day only because being Sunday my banker wouldn’t give me any money. Tomorrow to Taormini. Next day Catania. Next 2 days Etna. Then Siracuse. Our rendezvous was to be Paris. If I am left to guess where it is to be now I shall guess Berlin & go there.