DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0070
BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY. 63
difficult it is to identify the remains which are seen at present in
this country, with the descriptions of them which have been left us
by ancient authors.
The country as we proceeded received new charms from the
increasing height of the mountains, and the varied luxuriance
of the plains. The hand of man had not introduced any arti-
ficial accessaries; and. nature, wild and uncultivated, showed her-
self in all her glowing variety of hues and unrestrained profusion of
charms. On our left the long range of Mount Knemis united with
the distant Oeta towards Thermopylae; which celebrated pass we
thought, or rather wished to believe, that we now distinguished for
the first time.
Our constant companion, the Opuntian Gulf, and the mountain-
ous Eubcea, were still on our right, and the Thessalian rocks were
faintly visible beyond the Cenaean promontory. This impressive
scenery, through which we travelled, brought us to some ancient
but imperfect traces near the sea. A hill of deep verdure rose
upon the left, while a salt spring was seen issuing from its foot.
We crossed a rapid stream, and found the beauty of the landscape
increasing at every step of the way. The country was adorned
with platani, wild olives, and innumerable shrubs of odoriferous
powers and elegant forms.
We crossed some small rivulets, forming a marsh near the sea,
and soon after crossed another stream in a wide maeandering channel
of little depth, but which is large and rapid after heavy rains. We
met very few inhabitants in this now deserted, but once populous
tract of country. Some flocks of goats were seen at the foot of the
mountains, and some labourers with their oxen ploughing the rich
soil, which is almost spontaneously productive of exuberant har-
vests, as the climate is so happily tempered, that the crops are
never nipped by the frost nor blighted by the drought. The
.streams, which flow from the Knemidian mountains, quicken the
vegetation and enrich the land.
difficult it is to identify the remains which are seen at present in
this country, with the descriptions of them which have been left us
by ancient authors.
The country as we proceeded received new charms from the
increasing height of the mountains, and the varied luxuriance
of the plains. The hand of man had not introduced any arti-
ficial accessaries; and. nature, wild and uncultivated, showed her-
self in all her glowing variety of hues and unrestrained profusion of
charms. On our left the long range of Mount Knemis united with
the distant Oeta towards Thermopylae; which celebrated pass we
thought, or rather wished to believe, that we now distinguished for
the first time.
Our constant companion, the Opuntian Gulf, and the mountain-
ous Eubcea, were still on our right, and the Thessalian rocks were
faintly visible beyond the Cenaean promontory. This impressive
scenery, through which we travelled, brought us to some ancient
but imperfect traces near the sea. A hill of deep verdure rose
upon the left, while a salt spring was seen issuing from its foot.
We crossed a rapid stream, and found the beauty of the landscape
increasing at every step of the way. The country was adorned
with platani, wild olives, and innumerable shrubs of odoriferous
powers and elegant forms.
We crossed some small rivulets, forming a marsh near the sea,
and soon after crossed another stream in a wide maeandering channel
of little depth, but which is large and rapid after heavy rains. We
met very few inhabitants in this now deserted, but once populous
tract of country. Some flocks of goats were seen at the foot of the
mountains, and some labourers with their oxen ploughing the rich
soil, which is almost spontaneously productive of exuberant har-
vests, as the climate is so happily tempered, that the crops are
never nipped by the frost nor blighted by the drought. The
.streams, which flow from the Knemidian mountains, quicken the
vegetation and enrich the land.