Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/94

Rh in /Etolia. The noted fortified hills of Greece were Acrocorinthus (1686 feet) which guards the isthmus, Ithome (2631 feet) at Messene, Larissa (900 feet) at Argos, and the Acropolis (150) at Athens.

Greece has few rivers, and these small, rapid, and, as a rule, turbid, as they could not help being in a country where they rise in high mountains and have no space to grow in before they reach the sea. They are either peren nial rivers or torrents, the white beds of the latter being dry in summer, and only filled with water after the autumn rains. The chief rivers (none of which are navigable) are the Hellada (Sperchius) in Phthiotis, the Aspro Potamo (Achelous) in ^Etolia, and the Ptoufia (Alpheus) and Yasiliko (Eurotas) in the Morea. Of the famous rivers of Athens, the one, the Ilissus, is only a chain of pools all summer, and the other, the Cephissus, though never absolutely dry, does not reach the sea, but is drawn off in numerous artificial channels to irrigate the neighbouring olive groves. The waters of both are clear and delicious to the taste. A frequent peculiarity of the Greek rivers is their sudden disappearance in subterranean chasms and reappear ance on the surface again, such as gave rise to the fabled course of the Alpheua under the sea, and its emergence again in the fountain of Arethusa in Syracuse. Some of these chasms&quot; Katavothras &quot; are merely sieves with herbage and gravel in the bottom, but others are large caverns through which the course of the river may be easily followed. Floods are frequent, especially in autumn, and natural fountains abound and gush out even from the tops of the hills. Aganippe rises high up among the peaks of Helicon, and Peirene flows from the summit of Acro- corinthus. It is surprising that there are no waterfalls in Greece, the only one worth mentioning being the famous Styx in Arcadia, which has a fall of 500 feet. During part of the year it is lost in the snow, and it is at all times almost inaccessible. Lakes are numerous, but few are of any size, and many merely marshes in summer. The largest are Trichonis in ^Etolia, Copais in Bceotia, and iStymphalus in Arcadia.

The valleys are generally narrow, and the plains small in extent, deep basins walled in among the hills or more free at the mouths of the rivers. The principal plains are those of Thessaly (which is not in modern Greece), Boeotia, Messenia, Argos, and Marathon. The bottom of these plains consists of an alluvial soil, the most fertile in Greece. In some of the mountainous regions, especially iu the Morea, are extensive table-lands. The plain of Mantinea is 2000 feet high, and the upland district of Sciritis, between Sparta and Tegea, is in some parts 3000 feet.

Strabo said that the guiding thing in the geography of Greece was the sea, which presses in upon it at all parts with a thousand arms. From the Gulf of Arta on the one side to the Gulf ot Volo on the other the coast is indented with a succession of natural bays and gulfs. The most important are the Gulfs of ^Egina (Saronicus) and Lepanto (Corinthiacus), which come in between the Alorea and the mrthern mainland of Greece, the first from the vEgean, the second from the Ionian Sea, and are only prevented from joining their waters by the high land of the narrow isthmus of Corinth (3| miles wide). The outer portion of the Gulf of Lepanto is called the Gulf of Patras, and the inner part the Bay of Corinth, and a narrow bay on the north side of the same gulf, called the Bay of Salona, penetrates northwards into Phocis so far that it is within 24: geographical miles of the Gulf of Zeitoum on the north east coast of Greece. The width of the entrance to the gulf of Lepanto is subject to singular changes, which are ascribed to the formation of alluvial deposits by certain marine currents, and their removal again by others. At the time of the Peloponnesian war this channel was 1200 yards broad ; in the time of Strabo it was only 850 ; and in our own day it has again increased to 2200. On the coast of the Morea there are several large gulfs, that of Arcadia (Cyparissus) on the west, Kalamatia (Messeuiacus) and Kolokythia (Laconicus) on the south, and Nauplia (Argolicus) on the east. Then between Eubcea and the mainland lie the channel of Talanti (Euboicum Mare) and the channel of Egripo, which are connected by the strait of Egripo (Euripus). This strait, which is spanned by a bridge, is 120 feet wide, and is remarkable for the unex plained eccentricity of its tide, which has puzzled ancients and moderns alike. The current runs at the rate of 8 miles an hour, but continues only for a short time in one direction, changing its course, it is said, ten or twelve times in a day.

There are no volcanoes on the mainland of Greece, but Volci everywhere traces of volcanic action and frequently visita- actio tions of earthquakes, for it lies near a centre of volcanic agency, the island of Santorin, which has been within recent years in a state of eruption. There is an extinct crater at Mount Laphystium in Bo30tia. The mountain of Methane, on the coast of Argolis, was produced by a volcanic eruption in 282 B.C. An earthquake laid Thebes in ruins in 1853, another destroyed every house in Corinth in 1858, and a third filled up the Castalian spring in 1870. There are hot springs at Thermopylae and other places, which are used for sanitary purposes. Various parts of the coast exhibit indications of upheaval within historical times. On the coast of Elis four rocky inlets are new joined to the land, which were separate from it in the days of ancient Greece. There are traces of earlier sea- beaches at Corinth, and on the coast of the Morea, and at the mouth of the Hellada. The land has gained so much that the pass of Thermopylae, which was extremely narrow in the time of Leonidas and his three hundred, is now wide enough for the motions of a whole army.

The whole chain of the Pindus and some of the mountains of the Morea are composed of Primitive rocks, granite, serpentine, porphyry, mica, and other schists, but greater part of the country consists of Secondary forma tions, especially of a compact grey limestone, which hardens often into the purest marble. All Parnassus and Helicon consist of this rock, In the vicinity of Athens the lime stone rests on mica schist, which prevails also in other parts of Attica, and in Eubroa, Laconia, and the Cyclades. Clay slate is found in some districts, and coal, equal to two-thirds of an equal weight of Newcastle coal, is found at Kuini in Euboea, and of an inferior quality at Marco- poneo in Boeotia. Greece is not rich in minerals. Gold exists, but not in sufficient quantity to cover the expense of working. Copper is abundant, and silver, lead, iron, emery, antimony, cobalt, manganese, sulphur, and salt are found. Gypsum and porphyry are quarried. Marble is abundant, the chief kinds being the white marble of Pentelicus, of which the Parthenon was made, the blue marble of Hymettus, the green and red marble of the Morea, and the green and white of Caryste. In Mount Taygetus are beds of verd-antique jasper.

The scenery of Greece excites the warmest admiration Seem of all travellers, mainly from three causes: (1) its un usually rich variety ; (2) its exquisite sensibility to every modification of the light of the sky; and (3) the graceful and almost severely classical outline of its hills.