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144 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. at Constantinople; sometimes the sums de- manded were exorbitant. If a neighborhood happened to possess any natural peculiarity, this feature was taken advan- tage of for the benefit of the Turks. There is a spot near Kandelion in the Peloponnesus, where the snow lies long. "The mountain on the left," says Leake, "has a remarkable cavern, or a shady hollow, an unlucky circumstance for the poor Kandeliotes, who are obliged to supply the serail at Tripoliza from it, and carry the snow there at their own expense." j Any Turk could with impunity maltreat a Ichristian. Colonel Leake saw a Turk kill a Greek peasant at the gate of Larissa, because the Christian had an ass loaded with charcoal, which he wished to carry for sale to the market place in hopes of a more certain, as well as a higher price for it, instead of letting the Turks have it. It is hardly necessary to add, says Bikelas, in whose lectures all the reports of travellers here enumerated are collected, that the Cadi declared the murderer guiltless. The only chance of a conviction would have been, if the family of the 'victim had had more money. However, it was not held to be a crime for a Turk to murder a Christian.