DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0133
108 THE ECHINADES.
several instances of these changes in nature, and particularly
mentions an island which rose between Thera and Therasia ; and it
is evident that the submarine volcano is still active, as a new island
rose from the sea in 1707, near Santorini j! a further proof of
the great vicissitudes which have taken place in this part of the
world.
I was assured by some Greek sailors, that two miles from Capo
di Scala, in Cephallenia, there is an immersed island, called Ka-
kaba, which extends seven miles out, and is generally only six
feet under the surface of the water, and that it is a very dangerous
shoal. They even pretend to see the ruins of buildings on it in
calm weather.
"--------------------------------et adhuc ostendere nautse
Inclinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis/'2
In my passage from Zakunthos to the coast of iEtolia, we sailed
over a shoal about eight feet below the surface of the water;
the captain pointed it out to me, and said, e$u llvcii AovXeixa, (here is
Douleicha). Surprised to hear him mention a name which I
conceived was unknown in the country, I inquired his mean-
ing. He told me that the island of Doulichion, so celebrated in
the time of Ulysses, was the same which we were then passing over.
Meges probably had large possessions on the neighbouring conti-
nent ; or his islands must have enjoyed a rich and extensive com-
merce, unless we suppose him to have been a pirate chief; for Douli-
chion and his sacred Echinades, without some exterior resource, could
not easily have furnished a contingent of forty vessels, when Ulysses
1 Or Sant'Eirene : the ancient island of Kalliste, or Thera.
5 Ovid. Metam. 15. v. 294.—
And boatsmeu through the crystal water shew,
To wond'ring passengers the walls below.
several instances of these changes in nature, and particularly
mentions an island which rose between Thera and Therasia ; and it
is evident that the submarine volcano is still active, as a new island
rose from the sea in 1707, near Santorini j! a further proof of
the great vicissitudes which have taken place in this part of the
world.
I was assured by some Greek sailors, that two miles from Capo
di Scala, in Cephallenia, there is an immersed island, called Ka-
kaba, which extends seven miles out, and is generally only six
feet under the surface of the water, and that it is a very dangerous
shoal. They even pretend to see the ruins of buildings on it in
calm weather.
"--------------------------------et adhuc ostendere nautse
Inclinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis/'2
In my passage from Zakunthos to the coast of iEtolia, we sailed
over a shoal about eight feet below the surface of the water;
the captain pointed it out to me, and said, e$u llvcii AovXeixa, (here is
Douleicha). Surprised to hear him mention a name which I
conceived was unknown in the country, I inquired his mean-
ing. He told me that the island of Doulichion, so celebrated in
the time of Ulysses, was the same which we were then passing over.
Meges probably had large possessions on the neighbouring conti-
nent ; or his islands must have enjoyed a rich and extensive com-
merce, unless we suppose him to have been a pirate chief; for Douli-
chion and his sacred Echinades, without some exterior resource, could
not easily have furnished a contingent of forty vessels, when Ulysses
1 Or Sant'Eirene : the ancient island of Kalliste, or Thera.
5 Ovid. Metam. 15. v. 294.—
And boatsmeu through the crystal water shew,
To wond'ring passengers the walls below.