Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/232

 216 HISTORY OF GREECE. and west of Peloponnesus, as well as the country north of the Corinthian gulf from the gulf of Ambrakia to the strait of Eub, present a calcareous formation, varying in different localities as to color, consistency, and hardness, but, generally, belonging or approximating to the chalk : it is often very compact, but is dis- tinguished in a marked manner from the crystalline limestone above mentioned. The two loftiest summits in Greece 1 (both, however, lower than Olympus, estimated at nine thousand seven hundred feet) exhibit this formation, Parnassus, which attains eight thousand feet, and the point of St. Elias in Taygetus, which is not less than seven thousand eight hundred feet. Clay-slate, and conglomerates of sand, lime, and clay, are found in many parts : a close and firm conglomerate of lime composes the Isth- mus of Corinth : loose deposits of pebbles, and calcareous breccia, occupy also some portions of the territory. But the most impor tant and essential elements of the Grecian soil, consist of the diluvial and alluvial formations, with which the troughs and basins are filled up, resulting from the decomposition of the older adjoining rocks. In these reside the productive powers of the country, and upon these the grain and vegetables for the subsis- tence of the people depend. The mountain regions are to a great degree barren, destitute at present of wood or any useful vegeta- tion, though there is reason to believe that they were better wooded in antiquity : in many parts, however, and especially in JEtolia and Akarnania, they afford plenty of timber, and in all parts, pasture for the cattle during summer, at a time when the plains are thoroughly burnt up. 2 For other articles of food, undertaken by Dr. Fiedler, by orders of the present government of Greece, in 1834 and the following years (Reise durch alle Thcile des Konigreichs Griechenlancl in Auftrag der K. G. Regierung in den Jahren 1834 bis 1837, especially vol. ii. pp. 512-530). Professor Ross remarks upon the character of the Greek limestone, hard and intractable to the mason, jagged and irregular in its fracture, as having first determined in early times the polygonal style of architecture, which has been denominated (he observes) Cyclopian and Pelasgic, without tbe least reason for either denomination (Reise in den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 15). 1 Griesebach, Reisen durch Rumelien, vol. ii. ch. 13, p. 124. to-.vads Elateia, Fiedler observes the striking change iu the character of the
 * In passing through the rallcy between CEta, and Parnassus, going