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Not only have the Italians occupied Valona and its hinterland, but they have passed a long way to the south of the boundary between Greece proper and northern Epirus at Cape Stylos and have extended in a northern direction as far as the river Kalamas, opposite the south end of Corfu, which was intended by the thirteenth protocol of the Berlin Congress of 1878, and by the Berlin Conference of 1880, to have been the northwestern frontier of Greece, but which, since the last Balkan wars, has been well within the enlarged northwestern boundary.

Protocol 13 had recorded the opinion of the Powers that the northern frontier of Greece should follow the courses of the Rivers Salammaria and Kalamas; but they finally decided to offer their mediation to the disputants only in case no agreement could be framed. The Sublime Porte, as we shall see, improved on the procrastinating methods of the Nestors of European diplomacy .

In the end, the Powers induced the Sultan to sign the Convention of May 24, 1881, whereby the course of the River Arta was substituted for that of the Kalamas.

The Congress of Berlin had recommended the extension of Greek rule over the purely Hellenic districts of Thessaly, assigning as the new boundaries the course of the Rivers Salammaria and Kalamas, the latter of which flows into the sea opposite the Island of Corfu.

The Acheron, which they crossed in this route, is now called the Kalamas, a considerable stream, as large as the Avon at Bath but towards the evening they had some cause to think the Acheron had not lost all its original horror; for a dreadful thunderstorm came on, accompanied with deluges of rain, which more than once nearly carried away their luggage and horses.