kimintenia

«The Morea had been devastated by the troops of Ibrahim Pasha (Ο Μοριάς ερημώθηκε από τόν Ιμπραήμ πασά) in almost every direction. All Messenia, part of Arcadia, Elis (Ηλεία), and Achaia, presented a scene of utter devastation; it would sεem as if the Siroc (καυτός άνεμος πού έρχεται από την Αφρική) had blown over it for years, destroying every vestige of vegetation, and had been followed by pestilence (λοιμός) in its train, which swept away every living thing that had once inhabited it. Those delightful plains, which poets in all ages have sung, but whose beauties have not been overrated; which, two years ago, were chequered with pleasent little villages, surrounded by groves of lemon and olive, and filled with a busy and contented peasantry, were now barren wastes; where the roofless and blackened walls of the houses, the scathedand leafless trunks (πληγωμένοι χωρίς φύλλα κορμοί) of the olive trees, and here and there, the whitening bones of human beings, remained to tell that the fire and sword (φωτιά και σπαθί) had passed over and blasted them.

This was the situation of at least one half of the Peloponessus; of its inhabitants many had been slaughtered, others, carried off into slavery in Egypt; (οι περισσότεροι κάτοικοι σφαγιάστηκαν, άλλοι έγιναν σκλάβοι στην Αίγυπτο) and the rest, where were they? Oh, God! it is an awful question to answer, but it is a question which must one day be answered to Thee, by this generation, who left thousands, and tens of thousands of their fellow beings, to be hunted like wild beasts to the mountains; (χιλιάδες κυνηγήθηκαν σαν τα θηρία στα βουνά) to dwell in the caverns of the rocks; to wander about, year after year, seeking for the roots of the earth; giving to their ragged and emaciated children (ισχνά παιδιά), sorrel (χόρτα λάπαθα) and snails (σαλιγκάρια) for food; unable to get enough even of this, and pining and dying – ay! absolutely perishing from want (ένδεια), while the rest of the earth was foil of fatness.

There were about a hundred thousand persons in the Morea, in this destitute situation; (εκατό χιλιάδες ζούσαν σε εξαθλιωμένη κατάσταση) some suffering more, others less; all had fled from their burning houses and devastated fields (καμμένα σπίτια και έρημα χωράφια); but some had saved their effects, while others were utterly destitute. They took refuge in the recesses of the mountains, in caverns, in the centre of swamps; in every situation which afforded them security from the enemy’s cavalry, were seen collected crowds of old men, women, and children, suffering all that misery which the want of houses, or sufficient covering, or regular food, must bring: they lived in little wigwams (καλύβες) or temporary huts, made by driving poles in the ground, and thatching them with reeds (καλάμια). In these hovels dwelt a once prosperous family, without chair, or table, or bed; they had no blankets, they had no clothes to change, and their own had become dirty and tattered; they were obliged to wander about in quest of food, and their naked feet were lacerated by the rocks; their faces, necks, and half exposed limbs, were sunburnt, and their hollow eyes, and emaciated countenances, gave evidence that their suffering had been long endured.

Yet, amid all this misery, strange as it may appear, the light and volatile Greek was not always depressed; the boy sang as he gathered snails on the mountains, and the girls danced around the pot, where their homely mess of sorrel and roots was boiling; the voice of mirth was often heard in those miserable habitations. But there were others, from whose bosoms misery had banished mirth; there was the orphan who ran about bareheaded and barefooted, with only a ragged shirt to cover him; there was the houseless widow, to whose breasts clung the half famished orphan, whose ragged children hung around her, begging for more food, after she had given them her last morsel, regardless of the hunger that was gnawing her own entrails; there was the wretch whom sickness had overtaken, and who had sunk down by the roadside, and lay parched with fever, without a blanket beneath, him, or other covering than the shadow of an olive tree.

Such were the scenes of woe and misery (σκηνές θλίψης και δυστυχίας), which presented themselves to the foreigner at every turn, and reminded him of the dreadful price Greece was paying for her liberty (θύμιζαν σε κάθε ξένο την τρομακτική τιμή που πλήρωνε η Ελλάδα για την ελευθερία της). And among them, too, were seen many who had escaped from captivity, and who bore about them marks of Turkish barbarity; (σημάδια της τουρκικής βαρβαρότητας) their ears had been shaved off close to their heads; their noses had been cut off, or their eyes had been put out, (αυτιά κομμένα σύριζα, μύτες κομμένες, μάτια βγαλμένα) or their bodies mutilated, in some way or other. Such were the scenes which attested the long struggle and great exhaustion of Greece. The number of these sufferers had been increasing every year, till it had now arrived to a frightful magnitude, and bore a large proportion to those who still had the means of livelihood».

Samuel Gridley Howe, «An historical sketch of the Greek revolution»

Misery at Ankistri

As soon as the catalogues were finished, we had those whose names were written set down in tribes, and then commenced delivering out the meal, giving to each person four okas, equal to ten pounds. As there were many soldiers in the place, we had rather a troublesome time of it, as they would often come and demand flour. The sight of misery around us was one that might well wring the hardest heart (Η αθλιότητα γύρω μας μπορούσε να συντρίψει και την πιο σκληρή καρδιά.)

To see two thousand people assembled, in rags, with haggard countenances, eagerly watching the little we had to give them, and on receiving it, raising their hands to Heaven in thankfulness for this unexpected assistance; while the poor creatures who had not yet received, were raising their hands in supplication to us, and begging for God’s sake not to forget them.

Mr. Stuyversant was often overcome with grief, and, shed tears abundantly at such sights of human woe and wretchedness. We distributed ninety six barrels of Indian meal, and four tierces of rice, to rising sixteen hundred souls; and divided three boxes of clothing among those who were nearly naked. We spent two very fatiguing days in the midst of as much misery as human nature is capable of supporting».

Jonathan Miller, «The condition of Greece in 1827 and 1828»