DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1755#0164
I
W
122
RIVERS AND PLAINS
their steep rocks, and browse upon their meagre herbage, -while the brush-
wood furnishes fuel to the inhabitants of the plain.
While such is the character of the mountainous districts of the province,
its plains and lowlands cannot lay a much better claim to the merit of
fertility. In many parts of them, as in the city of Athens itself, the calca-
reous rock projects above the surface, or is scarcely concealed beneath a light
covering of soil : in no instance do they possess any considerable deposit of
alluvial earth.
PLAIN 01' ATHENS, 1'KOM THE AREOPAGUS.
I
The plains of this country are irrigated by few streams, which are rather
to be called torrents than rivers; and on none of them can it depend for a
perennial supply of water. There is no lake within its limits. It is unnecessary
to suggest the reason, when such was the nature of the soil, that the Olive
was the most common, and also the most valuable, production of Attica.
Such, then, were some of the physical defects of this land. But these
disadvantages, for such in fact they were when considered in themselves, were
abundantly compensated by the, beneficial effects which they produced.
The sterility of Attica drove its inhabitants from their own country. 1[
carried them abroad.' It filled them with a spirit of activity, which loved to
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W
122
RIVERS AND PLAINS
their steep rocks, and browse upon their meagre herbage, -while the brush-
wood furnishes fuel to the inhabitants of the plain.
While such is the character of the mountainous districts of the province,
its plains and lowlands cannot lay a much better claim to the merit of
fertility. In many parts of them, as in the city of Athens itself, the calca-
reous rock projects above the surface, or is scarcely concealed beneath a light
covering of soil : in no instance do they possess any considerable deposit of
alluvial earth.
PLAIN 01' ATHENS, 1'KOM THE AREOPAGUS.
I
The plains of this country are irrigated by few streams, which are rather
to be called torrents than rivers; and on none of them can it depend for a
perennial supply of water. There is no lake within its limits. It is unnecessary
to suggest the reason, when such was the nature of the soil, that the Olive
was the most common, and also the most valuable, production of Attica.
Such, then, were some of the physical defects of this land. But these
disadvantages, for such in fact they were when considered in themselves, were
abundantly compensated by the, beneficial effects which they produced.
The sterility of Attica drove its inhabitants from their own country. 1[
carried them abroad.' It filled them with a spirit of activity, which loved to
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