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lonia and Ithaca. At the inland extremity of the mole is a sort of esplanade, the usual promenade of the inhabitants. Here is a monumental bust of Sir Thomas Maitland, correctly portraying his stern but penetrating and commanding features. In this island since its juncture with Greece two considerable establishments have been organized for pressing oilseeds.

As in Corfu and Cephalonia, there are Roman Catholic families in Zante chiefly descended from Italian settlers. Greek churches are numerous, and several of them are richly ornamented, particularly that containing the shrine of St. Dionysius, the patron saint of the island. The tutelar saint's festival is celebrated on December | 17, O. S. He was a native of Zante, where he died A.D. 1624, after having been for many years Archbishop of Egina. St. Dionysius of Zante must not be confounded with St. Dionysius the Areopagite, converted by the preaching of St. Paul at Athens, or with St. Dionysius the Martyr, who suffered under Decius in A.D. 250, or with St. Dionysius of Ephesus, all of whom have also festivals appointed in the Greek calendar.

and perhaps concealing from sight many a relic of antiquity.

The view from the Castle is very extensive and interesting, though inferior to the prospect from the Convent which covers the neighbouring Mount Skopos, and which is also accessible on horseback. To the E. spreads the long line of the coast of Greece from Mesolonghi to Navarino, backed by the lofty mountains of Acarnania and Ætolia, of Arcadia and Messenia. On the nearest corner of the Peloponnesus, and at the distance of little more than 15 m. from Zante, is situated the ruinous mediaval fortress and village of Clarenza; the harbour below it was the Kyllene of the ancients, the port of Elis. A little farther to the S. rises a round hill, crowned with another decayed fortress, Castel Tornese, the name again marking it as the work of one of the Latin nobles who dismembered the Byzantine empire in A.D. 1204. The French form of Clarenza is Clarence; the daughter of one of its lords married into the Hainault family; and Philippa, the heiress of that house, having espoused King Edward III. of England, brought the title into our royal family. So at least it was long and generally asserted and believed; but the story is discredited by Colonel Leake, who remarks (Peloponnesiaca,' p. 212) that Aan unfounded opinion has long prevailed, and has been repeated by some of the latest travellers, that the name of the English dukedom of Clarence was derived from Clarenza. But there can be no question that Clarentia or Clarencia was the district of Clare in Suffolk. The title was first given, in 1362, by Edward III. to his third son Lionel, when the latter succeeded to the estates of Gilbert, Earl of Clare and Gloucester."

Travellers should by no means omit the ascent of the Castle hill of Zante, which rises 350 ft. above the sea. winding road leads to the gate, and leave to enter is readily granted. The English garrison of this place usually consisted of the head-quarters of a regiment of the line, and of a detach ment of artillery. A rampart, chiefly of Venetian construction, and nowhere very strong, surrounds an area of 12 or 14 acres on the flat top of the hill. During the insecurity of former centuries, the residences of the principal Zantiots were in the castle; but they have long since removed into the town below, and their houses have been destroyed by earthquakes and military engineers. The whole eastern side of the Castle-hill-elsewhere a mass of groves, houses, and gardens, in the most picturesque confusion-has been Mount Skopos-a name corresponddisfigured by a vast landslip, caused ing to the Italian Belvedere-raises its some centuries back by an earthquake, | curiously jagged summit to the height

The traveller can easily procure a boat at Zante to cross over to Clarenza, or any other point along the neighbouring coast, whence horses can be taken on to Patras. In winter there is excellent woodcock shooting on the way.

of 1300 ft. above the eastern extremity | English traveller, "that your countryof the Bay of Zante. It is possibly of men may never lose this taste, for then volcanic origin-the extinct Vesuvius we should indeed be ruined." The of this miniature Naples. Its ancient name was Mount Elatus, whence it would appear to have been of old covered with pines. These have now disappeared, but its numerous groves of olives, almonds, and orange-trees still entitle Zante to the Homeric and Virgilian epithets of "woody." At the distance of about 10 m. towards the N., Cephalonia rises abruptly from the sea, with its gloomy Black Mountain, the Enos of Strabo, girt with pine-forests. The end of the bay opposite to Mount Skopos is formed by a line of broken and wooded cliffs, gay with villas, orchards, and vineyards, and called Akroteria ('Akρwτhpia), a name which recalls many impressions of classical times and language. But the great admixture of Italian words in the Greek spoken by the townspeople of the lower classes in Zante, and the other Ionian capitals, is provoking to a scholar, who seeks in the modern tongue the remains of the language of his early study and veneration, and who, in the country districts, will hear from every peasant phrases which have hitherto been known to him only in the society of the learned and in the writings of anti-along the whole coast from Patras to quity.

From the western ramparts of the Castle, we look down on the extensive plain, which, stretching from sea to sea, forms the most important and richest district of the island. It varies in breadth from 6 to 8 m., and is bordered on the E., as we have seen, by Mount Skopos, the Castle-hill, and Akroteria; -on the W., by a parallel range of hills, more uniform in their outline, and lining the W. coast of the island. Here are scattered small convents and villages, many of which are well worthy of a visit, from the beauty of their situations. The plain of Zante forms the principal support of the population, and is a source of considerable wealth to the island. In these parts John Bull is almost looked upon as an animal meant to eat plum-puddings:-"We pray daily," once remarked a fair Zantiot to an

entire plain has the appearance of an almost continuous vineyard of that dwarf grape (Vitis Corinthiaca) so well known in England under the name of Zante Currants-a corruption of the French term raisins de Corinthe, this fruit having been earliest and most extensively cultivated near Corinth. There are a few intervals of corn or pasture-land; but the island is supplied by importation with the larger portion of its grain and cattle. Besides currants, Zante also exports a considerable quantity of oil and wine. The olive-trees are pruned and cultivated regularly; and therefore, though not so picturesque, are at least more uniformly productive than those of Corfu. The white wine called Verdea is better than the best Marsala, and nearly approaches in flavour to Madeira. Zante and Cephalonia enjoyed an almost complete monopoly of the currant trade during the war of Independence in Greece, when the vineyards on the mainland were laid waste by the contending armies. But they have been replanted since the return of peace, and are rapidly increasing

Corinth. Hence the fruit trade of the Ionian Islands is now very much depressed in comparison with its state 40 years ago, and the prices have sunk to nearly one-third of their former amount.

Zante is especially delightful in spring, when the fragrance of the flowering vineyards, orange-trees, and gardens floats for miles over the surrounding sea. The vintage takes place in August and early in September; and the aspect of the plain is then very rich and beautiful, with the ripe fruit deliciously cooling to the taste, and in clusters, half grape, half currant, glowing purple-red among the russet foliage. It will not be inappropriate to conclude this account of the island with a short sketch of the mode of cultivating its staple produce. The currant-vine requires careful pruning and dressing during the winter and spring. The

vintage is a very interesting and im- | Leake to be a softened form of Tzerigo, portant period to the Zantiot; and the the name probably of a Slavonian rich proprietors then take up their chieftain, who may have seized this abode in their country villas to super-island at the period when the neighintend the crop, on which they prin-bouring Peloponnesus was overrun by cipally depend. Every vineyard is those barbarians. In remote antiquity carefully protected by an armed watch- it was called Porphyris, from a shellman, for whom a sort of guard-house fish, producing the red Tyrian dye, resembling a gigantic bird's-nest, is being found on its shores, or, according constructed of interlaced branches of to other authorities, from the existence trees, covered with leaves or thatch, and of porphyry among its rocks. The sometimes elevated on poles. When name of Cythera is, however, at least the fruit is fully ripe, it is gathered and as old as the time of Homer. This spread out for three weeks to dry on island is celebrated in mythology as levelled areas prepared for this pur- having received Venus when she arose pose on every estate. Much depends from the ocean. It was to that goddess upon the process of drying; a shower what Delos was to Latona, and was of rain will often diminish by one-half fabled to be her favourite abode. Pauthe value of the crop, and a second ruin sanias (Lacon. 33) has recorded the it altogether. When dried by the sun magnificence of her shrine in Cythera. and air, the currants are transported Some slight remains of antiquity are to the city, and stored up in maga- still pointed out, but without any zines called Seraglie, whence they are certainty as to the situation of this shipped for exportation-chiefly to temple. England. Sir Charles Napier gives an amusing and instructive account of the frauds often practised on the peasants by the Seraglianti, as the proprietors of these magazines are called. (See Napier's 'Colonies,' &c., chap. 46.)

The Strophades (in Italian Strivali) are dependent on Zante, and situated in the Ionian Sea, about 40 m. to the S. of it. They are two low islets, the larger of which is rather more than 3 m. in circumference, and is inhabited and cultivated by about 30 Greek monks, who dwell in a Convent, the foundation of which is ascribed to one of the Byzantine Emperors, and which contains the tomb of St. Dionysius, the patron saint of Zante. These islets were celebrated in antiquity as the fabled abode of the Harpies (see Virg., En., iii. 209). The sons of Boreas, the story said, pursued the Harpies to the Strophades, which were so named because the Boreada there "turned" from the chase.

7. CERIGO (CYTHERA).

Cerigo, the Italian appellation of Cythera, is conjectured by Colonel

In historical times Cythera was generally a dependency of the Spartans, who classed its inhabitants with the Perioci, and sent thither yearly a magistrate, named Cytherodices, to administer justice. The possession of the island was held to be of great importance in the days of timid navigation; and so it would be again, did it possess a harbour fit to afford security to the vessels of the present day. In the middle ages it was called the "Lantern of the Archipelago." Herodotus informs us that Demaratus recommended Xerxes to occupy Cythera with a fleet during the Persian war, quoting the opinion of Chilon, the Lacedæmonian sage, who had declared that it would be a great benefit to Sparta if this island were sunk in the sea. These apprehensions were realised during the Peloponnesian war, when Cythera was conquered by the Athenians under Nicias; and the Spartans were greatly annoyed by the hostile garrison so near their coast. The island was surrendered to its former possessors at the peace of B.C. 421. In after ages its fortunes have been similar to those of the other Ionian isles.

The principal town also bore of old

the name of Cythera, and was situated, | medieval castle, which is accessible

as we gather from Thucydides and Pausanias, on the side facing Cape Malea, at the distance of about 10 stadia from the sea. The chief harbour was called Scandea, and is probably identical with that of St. Nicholas on the E. coast, where the best anchorage is now found, or with the port of Kapsáli. The port of Phoenicus, mentioned by Xenophon (Hell., iv. 8), answers possibly to the roadstead of Aulémona. The name Phoenicus was obviously derived from that Phoenician colony which (Herod., i. 105) imported into Cythera the worship of the Syrian Venus, by the Greeks surnamed Urania. The whole circuit of Cerigo being very deficient in harbours, there is no point on the coast at which it is so probable that the Phoenicians should have landed as in the sheltered creek of Aulémona, which may itself be an ancient term (avλńμwv from avλós, in allusion to its long narrow form, bordered by steep rocks). And the appearance of some steep rocks at Paleopolis, about 3 m. inland, is equally in agreement with the conjecture of remote antiquity.

The length of Cerigo, from N. to S., is 20 m.; the greatest breadth 12 m., divided into two electoral districts. The surface of the island is rocky, mountainous, and mostly uncultivated; but some parts of it produce corn, wine, and olive-oil. The honey of Cerigo is particularly esteemed. Numbers of the peasants resort annually to Greece and Asia Minor to work at the harvest, returning home with the fruits of their labour. They still deserve the character of industry and frugality assigned by Heraclides Ponticus to the natives of Cythera. In fact the character of the people is a necessary consequence of the rocky soil on which they dwell. The shores are abrupt; the neighbouring sea is much disturbed by currents; and severe storms are frequent, The chief town, or rather village, bears the same name with the island, and is situated near its S. extremity. It stands on a narrow ridge 500 yds. in length, terminating at the S.E. end in a precipitous rock, crowned with a

only on the side towards the town by a steep and winding path, but is commanded by a conical height at the opposite end of the ridge. On the shore below is a small village called Kapsáli. There is excellent quail shooting in spring and autumn; and the peasants here, as in Maina, are very expert in catching the birds on the wing in a sort of landing-net.

The principal curiosities of Cerigo are two natural caverns; one in the sea-cliff at the termination of the wild, and, in some places, beautiful glen of Mylopotamos, deriving its name from the stream flowing through it, which is made to work several small cornmills. The other is known as the cave of Sta. Sophia, from the dedication of a chapel at its mouth, and is situated in a valley about two hours' ride from Kapsáli. Both caverns possess some stalactites of singular beauty, and are well worthy of a visit.

was

The little island to the S.E. of Cerigo, called Cerigotto by the Italians, is now known as Liús to its inhabitants, though its ancient name Egilia, as we learn from Pliny (Hist. Nat., iv. 12). It is a dependency of Cerigo, and is situated nearly midway between that island and Crete, being about 20 m. from either. It contains 50 families, and produces good wheat, of which a portion, in favourable years, is exported. The port is bad, and open to the N. The small islet, named Porri by the Italians, lying to the N. of Cerigotto, is called Prasonisi by the Greeks.

The island of Sapienza (one of the ancient Enussæ) as commanding the harbour of Methone in Messenia, and that of Cervi as commanding the bay of Vatika, are both of some maritime importance; and especially the latter, owing to the difficulty and danger which now, as of old, so often attends the circumnavigation of Cape Malea. Cervi, or Stag Island ('EXapovýσi), so called, probably, from a fancied resemblance of its shape to the head and antlers of a deer, was anciently a promontory of Laconia, named Onugnathos ('Ovovyvalos, Ass's jaw), and is

now separated from the mainland only | Cerigo. To the E. on the mainland of Greece, is the bay and fertile plain of Vatika (Bolatikά), so called from a corruption of the name of the ancient Laconian town of Box, of which some remains may still be seen near its shore. The whole district was called in the Doric dialect BolaTIKά; and this name has been shortened into BATIKά.

by a shallow strait of about 400 yds. across, where the sea has gained upon the shore. Ships are often wind-bound here for weeks together, whence arose the proverbial expression of the ancient Greeks, "After doubling Cape Malea, forget your native country." (Cf. Strabo viii., Herod. iv. 179, Thucyd. iv. 53, &c.) Cervi is distant about 8 m. from the northern extremity of

[Grecce.]

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