Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/231

 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 2iJ mark themselves out as outlying peaks of the range comprehend- ing Pelion and Euboea. 1 By this brief sketch, which the reader will naturally compare with one of the recent maps of the country, it will be seen that Greece proper is among the most mountainous territories in Europe. For although it is convenient, in giving a systematic view of the face of the country, to group the multiplicity of mountains into certain chains, or ranges, founded upon Approxi- mative uniformity of direction ; yet, in point of fact, there are so many ramifications and dispersed peaks, so vast a number of hills and crags of different magnitude and elevation, that a comparatively small proportion of the surface is left for level ground. Not only few continuous plains, but even few contin- uous valleys, exist throughout all Greece proper. The largest spaces of level ground are seen in Thessaly, in JEtolia, in the western portion of Peloponnesus, and in Boeotia ; but irregular mountains, valleys frequent but isolated, land-locked basins and declivities, which often occur, but seldom last long, form the character of the country. 2 The islands of the Cyclades, Euboea, Attica, and Laconia, consist for the most part of micaceous schist, combined with and often covered by crystalline granular limestone. 3 The centre 1 For the general sketch of the mountain system of Hellas, see Kruse, Hellas, vol. i. ch. 4, pp. 280-290 ; Dr. Cramer, Geog. of An. Greece, vol. i. pp. 3-8. Respecting the northern regions, Epirus, Illyria, and Macedonia, O. Miil- Icr, in his short but valuable treatise Ueber die Makedoner, p. 7 (Berlin, 1825), may be consulted with advantage. This treatise is annexed to the English translation of his History of the Dorians by Mr. G. C. Lewis. " Out of the 47,600,000 stremas (= 12,000,000 English acres) included in the present kingdom of Greece, 26,500.000 go to mountains, rocks, rivers, lakes, and forests, and 21,000,000 to arable land, vineyards, olive and cur- rant grounds, etc. By arable land is meant, land fit for cultivation : for a comparatively small portion of it is actually cultivated at present (Strong, Statistics of Greece, p. 2, London, 1842). The modern kingdom of Greece does not include Thessaly. The epithet Kot/ld? (hollow) is applied to several of the chief Grecian states, nodi) 'H?.if, KOI^ AaKe6ai.fj.uv, KOIAOV "Apyoo, etc. K6ptvi?of bQpva re Kal Kodaiverai, Strabo, viii. p. 381. The fertility of Boeotia is noticed in Strabo, ix. p. 400, and in the valuable fragment of Diksearchus, B/of 'EAAuJof, p. 140, ed. Fuhr.
 * For the geological and miDj;alogical character of Greece, see the ranrof