THE VLACH VILLAGES NEAR SAMARINA
175
summer was attacked on the road by Greek bands
and, in a strong escort of Turkish soldiers, was scattered and plundered, several of the troops and Avdheliats being killed. Later in the same year a political band from Greece spite of
raided the village, killed some of the nationalist leaders and some of the houses. In the conflagration the principal
fired
church then used by the nationalists was burnt, whether intentionally is not known for certain. After 1908 when affairs were for a time quieter many families returned and the village began to increase, a circumstance which was especially due to the inflow of money from America, but by 191 1 only a portion of the destruction wrought by the Greeks had been repaired.
In appearance Avdhela
is a typical Vlach village standing on and contains about three hundred and fifty houses, most of which stand in a small garden. There are several churches in the village, but none are of any great age or of any interest except the big church that was burnt. The
the side of a
hill,
dated to 1751 or perhaps 1721, for the lettering is not clear, and a slab on the wall of the burnt one records its erection by Greek masons from Zhupan, There are two schools in the village, one Greek and one Roumanian, and at the time of our last visit in 191 1 the latter had by far the best attendoldest
ance.
is
The boast
of
Avdhela
in recent years
success in education, for in this point the
has been
its
Roumanian
great
schools
have an advantage over the Greek in using a script which is of more than strictly local use. Further not so much time ancient history is wasted in teaching which is the great curse of nearly all Greek village education. Not much over an hour from Avdhela is Perivoli, situated like its neighbour on the slope of Pindus, but in a more exposed position. In situation, appearance and history the two vilPerivoli according to tradition was lages are very similar. founded some two hundred years ago by the union of three villages, Bithultsi, Karitsa and Baietan. At first the united village was not on the site of the modern Perivoli, but lower down the valley by the monastery of Ayiu Nikola where the inhabitants cultivated corn fields and vineyards. When the