manners of the inhabitants.' At no great distance from Tripolitza (the capital) he found the temperature, at six in the morning, down to 16° of Fahrenheit. 'In short,' he adds, the degree and continuance of the cold were such as I scarcely recollect to have experienced in England, and this in the very centre of Arcadia ;'— but this was in 1813, a winter remarkable for its severity over every part of Europe. In summer, however, the blooming vales of Arcady' assume a very different aspect, and present a continual succession of scenery equal to any thing which has been described or imagined in poetic song. Luxuriance and beauty may be pronounced to be the general characteristics; flowering vallies, winding streams, and hills shrouded nearly to their summits with wood, are the objects which commonly awaken our admiration.** In the lower region of Attica the atmosphere is more moderate and equable than in most other parts of Greece; the air being generally clear, dry, and temperate; the cold less severe, the heat less oppressive, and the fall of rain less copious. To this difference in the state of the atmosphere was ascribed, as we all know, the difference of character between the Boeotian and the Athenian. The temperature of Athens seldom exceeds 88° or 90°, and as seldom descends to the freezing point. Athens is generally healthy; many parts of Greece are just the reverse during the heat of summer, especially the marshy grounds and rice-fields. 'The whole coast of Achaia,' says Mr. Haygarth,' is very unwholesome, abounding in marshes; and the sickly appearance of the natives whom I met is very striking. It is the most depopulated part of Greece.' The peaked summits of the central chain of mountains are covered with snow for nine months of the year, and in the caverns and recesses of some of them patches of snow may always be discovered. The ascent of Parnassus was supposed to be impracticable on account of its perennial snow; but Dr. Sibthorp crossed the summit in the month of July, when he found it perfectly free.+ *Haygarth. Notes, p. 252. The + Dr. Clarke, who asserts that he reached the summit of this mountain at the wintersolstice, most assuredly labours under some mistake. We find it as difficult to follow him here as in his discovery of the Corcyrian cave which he did and did not see. This celebrated cave, however, was explored by Col. Leake and Mr. Hamilton, and is thus described by Mr. Raikes. The narrow and low entrance spreads at once into a chamber of 330 feet long by nearly 200 wide; the stalactites from the top hung in the most graceful forms the whole length of the roof, and fell, like drapery, down the sides. The depth of the folds was so vast, and the masses thus suspended in the air were so great, that the relief and fulness of these natural hangings were as complete as the fancy could have wished. They were not like concretions or incrustations, mere coverings of the The general produce of the plains of Greece is wheat, barley, rice, maize, millet, and tobacco. Of wheat, eight different kinds are cultivated. Mr. Hawkins found that the mavrogano or black-bearded wheat, in the plains of Argos, gave ten for one; in the best parts of Megara and Eleusis, twelve; and near Corinth, fifteen. Another sort of wheat, called greneas, in the rich plain of Pheneus in Arcadia, yields twelve for one, and the devedeshi, in the plains of Thessaly, in extraordinary seasons, fifteen for one. Upon the whole,' says Mr. Hawkins,' I am disposed to estimate the produce of good soils in Greece, in favourable seasons, at from ten to twelve for one, and in the very best soils and remarkably favourable years, at from fifteen to eighteen for one. It must be observed that the wheat in Greece is generally sown in unmanured ground.' In Boeotia the soil is very rich, and produces wheat, Indian corn, barley, kidney beans, rice, and sesamum, all of excellent quality, with a considerable quantity of cotton. The lakes of Boeotia still supply, as formerly, Athens and various parts of Greece with eels, water-fowl, rush-baskets, mats, and lampwicks. On the plains of Thessaly are cultivated extensive groves of mulberry-trees for the silk-worm, which is there an object of considerable attention; the trees are cut down to pollards, carefully watered and hoed. But the Morea (supposed to derive its modern name from the Mulberry), is celebrated for the excellence of its silks; and all the accounts given by the ancient Greeks of the fertility of Messenia are realized at this day in every species of produce, more especially in corn, wine, and figs; wheat being said to yield here thirty fold, and two crops a year. The plantations are frequently fenced in with the Indian fig (cactus), whose thorny coats form an impenetrable barrier, Yet with all the rock; they were the gradual growth of ages, disposed in the most simple and majestic forms, and so rich and large as to accord with the size and loftiness of the cavern. The stalagmites below, and on the sides of the chamber, were still more fantastic in their forms than the pendants above, and struck the eye with the fancied resemblance of vast human figures. There was a narrow passage leading into a deep vault at the end of this chamber, at the entrance of which the stalagmitic formations were as wild as imagination can conceive, and of the most brilliant whiteness; a fancy less lively than that of the Greeks might assign this beautiful grotto as a residence for the nymphs. The stillness,' adds Mr. Raikes, which reigns through it, only broken by the gentle sound of the water, which drops from the point of the stalactites, the ùdar' devάovta of the grotto of the nymphs in the Odyssey, the dim lights admitted by its narrow entrance, and reflected by the white ribs of the roof, with all the miraculous decorations of the interior, would impress the most insensible with feelings of awe, and lead him to attribute the influence of the scene to the presence of some supernatural being.'Walpole's Memoirs on Turkey. the the fertility of the Morea, Dr. Sibthorp says, a face furrowed with care, a body lean with hard labour and scanty diet, represent the portrait of a modern Arcadian. The residence of a number of hungry Turks, the vermin of the Pasha's court, continually oppress this hapless people; and they seem to exist only to furnish food for their lazy masters.' This melancholy picture, we presume, applies only to the agriculturists in the neighbourhood of towns; for, from another author, we have a very different account of the shepherd peasantry in this part of the country. Every thing presented the appearance of pastoral tranquillity. The peasants, habited in their picturesque dress, a coloured turban, a linen jacket and petticoat of snowy whiteness, and carrying in their hands a wooden crook, were quietly employed in following their large flocks of goats and sheep; or watched them as they fed, reclining under the shade of an ancient tree, and playing on their pipe of reed the rude airs of their country. The scenes forcibly recalled to my mind the passages of the poets who have celebrated the beauties of Arcadia, and I acknowledged at every step the justness of the taste which fixed upon it as the residence of rural happiness, and the abode of the sylvan gods.'* The cotton plant is in general cultivation. The plains of Trikala in Thessaly alone are said to produce 600,000 pounds of cotton wool. The sides of the hills, and especially those in the vicinity of towns or large villages, are planted with vineyards and olive groves; and the fig-tree and the orange are every where common and abundant. Considerable attention is paid to the culture of the fig-tree. The flowers of the wild fig-tree (EpIVOS). are still used for the caprification of the cultivated fig in various parts of Greece. At Athens,' says Mr. Hawkins, they take the wild figs in June, when the insect shews itself in them, string a few, and suspend them on the branches of the domestic figtree, without which it is believed all the fruit would drop.' The lands in Greece are generally open; inclosed, however, in some parts with hedges of the cactus opuntia, and sometimes separated by trenches. The plough is a rude and simple machine. A wheel-carriage of any kind is unknown in the southern parts of Greece; but in Thessaly they have a sort of cart which Mr. Haygarth says is truly Homeric. It has two wheels, each of which is composed of one piece of wood; it is open behind, and supported in front by a pole yoked to the necks of two oxen.' A large proportion of the surface of Greece is appropriated for the pasture of sheep, goats, and horses. Cows are not much esteemed except for the breeding of oxen; their milk is not used, * Haygarth. Notes, p. 254. and and that of goats and sheep serves only for making a poor saltish cheese or a little bad butter. Greece may be considered as the country of the vine. Thirtynine different sorts of grapes, besides the currant-vine, are enumerated by Dr. Sibthorp; but none of the wines produced from them can be called good, with the exception of that which is made on a few islands of the Archipelago. The modern Greeks, in imitation of their ancestors, mix turpentine (drawn from that particular species of fir called by botanists pinus maritima,) with all their wines; a practice which Lord Aberdeen thinks may, in some degree, account for the connection of the fir-cone (surmounting the Thyrsus) with the worship of Bacchus.* This is one of the most useful trees of Greece. It not only serves to preserve their wine from becoming acid, but with the ITU (pinus pinea) furnishes the tar and pitch for all maritime and domestic purposes. The resinous parts being cut into small pieces serve for candles, and the cones are put into the wine casks; the wood is employed by carpenters, and the bark by tanners. The richest produce of Attica, however, is that of the olive. Of this fruit Greece can boast of not fewer than eight or ten different sorts. Those intended for food are preserved either in salt and water, in oil and vinegar, or in the juice of the grape boiled to a syrup. From the rest the oil extracted is computed at 20,000 measures, or about 30,000 gallons. The plain of Athens, if we except the olive tree, is extremely destitute of wood; but this is by no means the general character of Greece. Hymettus has for time immemorial been celebrated for the excellence of its honey. It is still in such esteem that presents of it are annually sent to Constantinople. The satureia capitata and the satureia thymbra are the favourite plants of the bees, and it is to them that the honey of Hymettus owes its celebrity.† Fourmont, who however is not implicitly to be trusted, asserts that the honey of Hymettus produces on those who eat it the same effect as wine; and Dr. Chandler pretends that its odour of thyme prevents flies from settling upon it. The Athenians are particularly fond of honey; they use it in most of their dishes, and, like their ancestors, conceive that it renders them healthy and long lived. The mountains of Greece, being chiefly of limestone formation, have nothing remarkably grand or picturesque in their * Walpole's Memoirs on Turkey. By a strange perversion the modern name is Texλoßouvo, or the mad mountain. From Hymettus came the Venetian appellation of Monte Imetto, and the further corruption of Monte Matto, which retranslated into Romaic gives the present name. shapes, shapes, but many of them are well wooded and yield abundance of timber for the purposes of ship-building and carpentry; and few countries, in its milder features, exhibit a more choice collection of elegant flowering shrubs. The laurus nobilis (Aápvn), whose berry supplies the Greeks with an aromatic oil to anoint the hair, fringes the skirts of every hill. The nerium oleander (Ixgodάpvn) borders the banks of the Ilyssus and every torrent bed; its flowers are used to deck the hair, and at Athens its branches to cover the Bazar. The arbutus unedo (xopapià) abounds on the mountains of Pendeli, and its fruit is esteemed a delicacy: of its wood are made the pλóvgia, or flutes of the Greek shepherds; and in Zante a spirit is drawn from it, and a vinegar of a bright gold colour. The arbutus andrachne is everywhere abundant. The vitex agnus castus (xavaitra) the constant companion of the oleander, grows on the borders of the Ilyssus and the margins of mountain torrents; baskets and beehives are made of the twigs, and the leaves give out a yellow dye. It is reported,' says old Gerard in his Herbal,' that if such as journey or travel do carry with them a branch or rod of agnus castus in their hand, it will keep them from merrygals and weariness.' So thought the ancient, and so still think the modern Greeks. The cistus creticus yields the ladanum, an aromatic substance whose fragrance is considered as a preservative from the plague. The pistachia lentiscus furnishes gum-mastic; and the ashes of the wood are used by the soap-boilers. The common myrtle and the manyflowering heath are everywhere met with on the hills. The hedera helix hangs like a curtain in the picturesque scenery of the marble caves of Pendeli, where also grows wild the beautiful salvia arborea. The wild olive, the phyllyrea and carob tree, the flowering ash and the fraxinella, the coronilla, the colutea and the Spanish broom, adorn the sloping sides of the mountains. Most of the plants of Greece, whether useful or ornamental, still retain their ancient names with more or less of purity. Dr. Sibthorp, in relating his ascent of Parnassus, observes, 'After dinner, I walked out with a shepherd's boy to herborize; my pastoral botanist surprized me not a little with his nomenclature; Í traced the names of Dioscorides and Theophrastus, corrupted indeed in some degree by pronunciation and by the long series annorum which had elapsed since the time of these philosophers; but many of them were unmutilated, and their virtues faithfully handed down in the oral traditions of the country.'* The climate, the soil, and the various products of Greece, generally speaking, may be considered as superior to those of most * Walpole's Memoirs on Turkey. countries |