Goodisson, William: A historical and topographical essay upon the islands of Corfu, Leucadia, Cephalonia, Ithaka and Zante: with remarks upon the character manners and customs of the Ionian Greeks : descriptions of the scenery and remains of antiquity discovered therein, and reflections upon the Cyclopian ruins, illustrated by maps and sketches (London: Thomas and George Underwood, 1822)

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square shape, its mouth opening to the east. Upon
the summit of Aito are the cyclopean walls which
are supposed to be the remains of the castle of
Ulysses. There is yet another hill to the westward
of Neritos, to which it is connected by an isthmus,
and upon which are the ruins of a city to be described
hereafter; this is a small mass at the northern ex-
tremity of the island : might this be the /Egylips of
Homer? Palmerius de Antiq. Graec. b. 4. c. 23.
conjectures that zEgylips and Crocyleum were parts
of Ithaca.
The whole of this island, like the others, consists
of a mass of secondary limestone. The structure
of the rock is here very rugged. The soil is so
scanty and superficial as to admit of the production
of hardly four month’s consumption of corn for the
inhabitants, and even this small portion is raised
only by means of great labour. The declivities are
So great where the vine and currant are cultivated,
that the earth requires to be supported in terraces
raised one above another, so as at a distance to re-
semble the benches of a theatre.
The stony nature of the soil is, however, highly
favourable to the production of the currant and vine.
Both produce excellent fruit, and from the black
grape is made a red wine, much superior in flavour
to that of the other islands, but of inferior strength,
for which reason it requires careful management in
order to preserve it.