Patras is a town of some consequence, containing nearly 10,000 inhabitants, and having a considerable commerce in currants, grain and oil, the produce of its own luxuriant plains. The article of currant is the most important, the annual export from this district and the adjoining one of Vostitza amounting to more than 5,000,000 bbs. The most remarkable object in the town is the castle, which however has greatly suffered from an explosion of gun powder three or four years ago. A small chapel in the environs, dedicated to St. George, serves to commemorate the assistance this saint visibly afforded to Don Juan of Austria, in the celebrated naval battle of Lepanto, which took place near Patras in 1571. Several European consuls reside at Patras. We were hospitably lodged by M. Strani, the English consul.
