Life in Missolonghi was hard for Byron. The weather was dreadful; volleys of rain appeared out of nowhere and turned the streets into canals. But what made the situation even more difficult was the constant feuding and political maneuvering among the Greeks. The Souliotes he had hoped to employ as his personal military unit proved untrustworthy and quarrelsome. The politicians and the generals were selfish and cruel; Byron struggled to accept the cruelty of the Greeks towards the Turks that fell into their hands. His need to escape from all these troubles made him defy the elements, as he rode among the olive groves outside the walls or sailed the lagoon, even during stormy weather.