After five days spent in viewing these and other curiosities of _Messina_, we set sail the thirtieth of October, and by the ninth of the next month were obliged by contrary winds to stand into the port of _Milo_. This isle, known to the antients by the name of _Melos_, and esteemed the largest of all the _Cyclades_, is deservedly famous for its fair and commodious harbour; which entring at a narrow chanel afterwards enlarges itself circularly into a lake, rather than a bay; being always calm, and spatious enough to receive a fleet of an hundred and fifty sail. I went ashore at this place with the greater satisfaction, considering that among other antiquities it lays claim to _Socrates_ and _Aristophanes_. It has a city of the same name, inhabited at present, like the other islands of the _Archipelago_, chiefly by Greek Christians, who have been burthened in the late war by a cruel tax of sixteen thousand dollars to the Venetians, as well as to the Turks; but by the benefit of the present peace, as its tribute to the former wholly ceases, so that to the latter is much mitigated. It is observable, that in every cultivated feild about the town, there stands a small Greek chapel, constantly adorned with the painted images of the _Virgin_ and _St. George_; and thither the zealous women of the place often retire with a priest, to say some supererogatory masses for the benefit of their private relations, whether dead or living. In a cave on the island there is a natural hot bath, which has proved very successful in many malignant maladies. Walking on the strand I observed another of the same nature, like that of _Licinius Crassus_, mentioned by Pliny, _Lib._ xxxi. _cap._ 2. The heat of this was so great, that I could not bear to keep my hand in it. The same shore affords a vein of black sand, of which we there gathered a quantity very clear and beautiful for the use of writing. After a stop of four or five days at _Milo_, we had a very entertaining passage thro the isles of the _Archipelago_, and on the nineteenth of the same month arrived, by God’s providence, in good health at _Smyrna_; where I often remember, how many ways I stand indebted to you, which will be always gratefully acknowledged by, _Reverend Sir_, _Your_ etc. E. CHISHULL. _Smyrna, June 13, 1700._ _FINIS._ [Illustration] FOOTNOTES [1] ΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ. [2] Deest forsan ΛΗΙΟΝ. [3] De _Venere Stratonicide_ vid. _Tacit. Annal._ _Lib._ iii. _cap._ 63. [4] Vid. ἱερὰ ὁδὸς, apud _Harpocrat._ [5] ΚΛΕΙΜΑΞ, _scalare_, de quo vide _Reines. Inscript. antiq. Class. sept. num._ xvi. [6] _Tartalée_ seems to be the _Mastusia_ of the antients, well describ’d by _Pliny_, _Lib._ v. _cap._ 29, to lie _a tergo Smyrnae_. [7] The _Two Brothers_ are two eminences of _Mons Corycus_, concerning which see _Strabo_, _Lib._ xiv. p. 670.