We returned to Larissa, while there was yet sufficient day – light to enable us to survey a part of the city. The only striking feature in its situation is derived from the Salympria; here a broad and deep stream, which, approaching the city through a tract of wooded valley, flows underneath a convent of Dervishes, two large Turkish mosques, and several groupes of lofty buildings; and, passing the sombre enclosure of a Turkish burying-ground, again disappears among the woods. The extent and population of Larissa are very considerable; and the estimate I received of 4000 houses, and 20,000 inhabitants, is probably not beyond the truth. The internal appearance of the city iw mean and irregular; the streets are ill-built, narrow, and dirty; and in the houses and inhabitants alike, there is a general indication of wretchedness. The Bazars, which form as usual the central part of the town, are indifferently supplied with manufctured goods. In walking through the streets in the suburbs of the city, I was surprized by observing the large amount of negro population, which was much greater than I have remarked in any other Turkish town. Many of these outer streets, from their situation, are exposed to the river floods of Salympria, and about a year before our visit to Larissa, some hundred cottages are said to have destroyed by this cause, the ruins of which were in many places still visible. The habitations in this quarter of the city are for the most part constructed of stones, wood, and clay, rudely compacted together.
Of the population of Larissa it is probable that three-fourths are entirely Turkish; the number of Greek and Jewish inhabitants conjointly not exceeding a thousand families. A certain proportion of the Turkish residents possess lands in the surrounding country, and derive their revenue from this source; but the greater number are dependants on these landed proprietors, and live that life of unvarying indolence which is the habitual characteristic of the nation.
