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)

319

mersion in the heat during the summer months:
indeed this inconvenience has something even more
positive in it, viz. the cold arising from the neigh-
bourhood of the snowy Albanian mountains, and
the stormy and rainy weather of winter. So that
it behoves a pampered invalid to consider well
with what fortitude and resignation he can bear
all these little abstractions, before he changes his
comfortable fire side at home, for visionary expecta-
tions of health and happiness abroad.
Yet the climate, with the exception of these
changes, is, upon the whole delightful, and to one
in the full enjoyment of health, superior to most
others. The variable winter weather is but short,
and the cold, although occasionally severe, is not
excessive ; it usually commences about Christmas,
when the Albanian mountains have collected their
winter covering of snow. The thermometer now,
during the prevalence of the easterly winds, often
sinks as low as 45° and even 40° of Fahrenheit, but
seldom falls so low as the freezing point: this often
alternates with a delightful spring temperature,
while the southerly and westerly winds prevail.
In February, the early fruit trees, as the almond,
apricot, and peach, shoot forth their blossoms;
and in March follow the pears, apples, and cher-
ries. When the spring is mild, the cherries ripen
early in April. Abundance of vegetables now pour
in, in quick succession; cauliflowers, artichokes,