Acarnania

Acarnania, the most westerly part of ancient Greece, separated from Epirus on the N. by the Ambracian Gulf, now the Gulf of Arta; from Ætolia on the E. by the river Achelous; and washed S. and W. by the Ionian Sea. Its inhabitants were brave, but rude and addicted to piracy and robbery. Along with Ætolia, it now forms one of the provinces of the modern kingdom of Greece. The western part of Acarnania is occupied by a mass of rocky and thickly-wooded mountains rising abruptly from the indented coast. Among the inhabitants, besides the Greeks, are bands of nomadic Kutzo-Wallachs called Karagunis ('black-cloaks'), who descend from the mountains at the approach of winter, and squat with their herds at the edge of the woods. The chief town is Missolonghi.