Cotton is cultivated from one extremity of Greece to the other, but on the greatest scale in the district of Seres in. Macedonia, a rich and populous plain watered by the ancient Strymon, and containing 300 villages, so near one another as to present the ap pearance of one large straggling'town: It is a more profitable, but more precarious crop than corn ; re quiring clear sunshine, copious dews, and light rains, to make it succeed. An arpent of good soil produces from 200 to 300 okes C550 to 825 libs.) of cotton, which, valued at a piastre the oke, is worth from 200 to $00 piastres. But the price varies from 310'1 piastres. The plain of Seres alone produces 70,000 balei, or seven millions o£ okes of cotton, of which -50,0Q0 bales are exported. Considerable quantities are also raised in the ancient Chalci,dice /another dis trict of Macedonia), in Thessaly, Beeotie, and the Mo rea. The annual produce of the last, according to Pouqueville, is only 59,000 okes, excluyive of two cargoes exported. § • • Tobacco, though introduced into Turkty• about the middle of the seventeenth century, is now a luxury in universal. use. " It is cultivated on a very narrow scale in the south of Greece, but to a consi derable extent in Albania and Macedonia, and of a quality much esteemed. The Turkish plant is not, however, so pungent as that of America, and latterly the produce seems to be diminishing. The quantity annually raised in Macedonia was estimated by Beaujour (betweeh 1787 and 1797) at 100,000 bales, or 10,000,000 okes, valued at 4,000,000 pie sieves. It occupied about one-eighth of the Cultivated soil, and afforded suppbrrto 20,000-Turkish &milks. One half of the quantity raised was exported to Jgypt, Barbary, and Italy., 1812, the annual produce, as stated to Dr Holland, was' only froip 35,000 to 40,000 bales. (Beaujour, Let. Holland, 329 ; Hobhouse, 15.) The olive is cultivated throughout Greece gene rally, but that of Attica is still distinguished as in ahcient times by its superior excellence. It requires a dry' soil, a sheltered situation, and a warm expo sure ; and is therefose not adapted to the rich, moist plains of &raja and Thessaly. The tree gives, fruit the twelfth year, -arrives at full vigour about the twentieth, anti, Whim not exposed to frost, is so du that the present olives of Palestine are believed to date from the Crusades.' An argent of ordinary olive ground will nourish 120 teees, each of which yields in good years 20, but in average years 10 French pounds 41 of oil, and as this sees at 6 or 8 paras the pOund, the whole value of the produce is about L. 12 Sterling. Attica yields annually of this oil 2,400,900 pounds, of which three-foirths are ex ported. It is at present, as it was in ancient times; the staple produce of the country ; the tree was in deed considhred as a special gift from the gods ; and ia cultivation was favoured by peculiar ptotection• and encouragement, as far back as the reign of Ce crops.. The Morea, according to Pouqueville, yields 5,570,600 pounds of, oil. Tbe,amount of the ,pro *duce of Albania and other districts is not known. If the opinion of the ancients is well founded, that the olive does not thrive at a great distance from the sell, it may be presumed that the plantations in the interior of the country are less numerous than on the coast. t Vines are cultivated on a 'small scale in Attica, Albania, Thessaly, and in most of the districts' of Greece, but without the skill and refinement which the ancients had introduced into this branch of rural economy. Dr Clarke, however, observed some vine yards on Parnassus, which were managed with m,nch care and neatness, and afforded excellent wines. In general, the Greek wine, owing to the resin and lime mixed with it, has an unpalatable harshness. ,Pouqueville estimates the produce of the Mores, in wine and brandy, at 32,300 barrels, of 50 okes each, Or about 550,000 galldna. If the vineyards are not more extensive in other quarters, the whole produce of the country must be inconsiderable. 1: , The species of grape called the Coripthian grape, or-the currants of commerce, is &linnet peculiar to • the Morea'and the Ionian isles, though believed not to be indigenous in these countries. It is found in the greatest perfection along the southern shores of the Corinthian Gulf; on some points of the opposite coast, and in Cephalonia, Ithaca, and Zante. Beau jour.thinks it was brought from Naxos about 1580; and it , must therefore have been unknown to the ancients on the continent. It succeeds best in plains near the sea, with a western exposure, and prefers a dry light strong soil. The mean annual produce of the Morea is estimated at 10,000,000 „pounds, of which 8,000,000 areexported to the western parts of Europe, chiefly to Britain.. They are sold at 80 piastres the thousand pounds, including duties and expellees, which add 60' or 70 per cent. to the first cost. Patrass' is the centre of this trade. (Beaujour, Let. viii:) Madder growti wild in abundarice,•ut is an object of Cultivation in the moist plains of Boeotia, where 1200 sacks (of 275 lbs. eac11) are raised, of which 700 are consumed.in Greece in dyeing spun cotton, and the other 500, are exported. The prOduce of vermilion from tf Kermes insect is considerable. The canton of Liradia furnishes 6000 okes, and the Morea'22,000 okes, valued from 6 to 8 piastres the oke. A part is exported. § The mulberry tree is becoming an object or in creaaing inniortance in Greece, and the produce of silk is considerable. The districts thit take the . lead in this branch of industry are Ells, Thessaly, and Magnesia; now Zpgora. It is chiefly conducted by tile women. The annual produce of the Mores in silk iA about 79,000, okes; that of Zagora 25,000 okes; which sells at 15 or 18 piastres the oke. A. part of the silk of Thessaly 'sent across the mountains to Albania. II The manage pent of bees if an object of consider.. able attention. This branch of industry is even so far, favoured by the Turks, that hives, under a regu. lation of Soliman H. are -not seizable in payment of taxes. Honey is abundantin every part of Greece and Albania, but.- that of Mount Hyinettus still maintains its ancient It is remarkably transparent, and, hi the opinion' of Beaujour, is superior to, the best Money in France. There are about 3000' hives on this menntain, and 12,000 in the whole of Attica, which yield 360,000 pounds of honey, and,24,000 pounds of wax. About one-tenth is consumed within the country ; the rest is export ed. The honey Os at 8 or 10 pares the pound ; the wax at a piastre. The produce of the Mores in honey, judging from Pouqueville's table, does not much exceed one-half of that of Attica. II The fruit trees which grow in the fields or gardens of Greece, besides the vine and tip olive, are the al mond, pomegranate, orange, lemon, citron, banana, fig/with the peach,.apricot, quince, plum, and others of a more common kind. The date grows, but does not bear fruit. The process of caprification, or ex posing the fig to be punctured by insects, which is minutely described by Pliny, is still in use, and is thought to improve the fruit greatly. The garden ing of the Greeks is badly conducted, and many of their fruits want the rich flavour, which might be given them by the art of engrafting. Their melons, water melons, and gourd's, are excellent, and form a considerable part of the subsistence of the inhabit ants. Their culinary vegetables, of which they have no great variety, are spinage, artichokes, cab bages, cauliflowers, carrots, beans, lettuce, Celery. The forests produce the oak, kermes-oak, cork-tree, pine, larch, ash, plane, aloe, -wild olive, the sweet chesnut, whose fruit is the temporary food of the people in many parts, the Frasinus °rola, or ash which yields manna, the turpentine pine, various trees and plants which yield dyes ; and a vast va riety of flowers and aromatics.' The wild animals of Greece are, the bear, wolf, lynx, wild cat, wild boar, stag, roebuck, wild goat, badger, martin, fox, hare, jackall, weasel, and hog. The bears are rarely seen ; 'but the wolves are numerous ; and to guard the flocks and cattle from their ravages, great numbers of dogs, of a powerful and fierce breed, are kept all over the country. The peasant who kills a wolf is rewarded, not as in the time of Solon, out of the public funds, but by a small voluntary contribution. Hares are very a bundant ; but they ire not much hunted except by the Greeks. The method of calling hares, or caus ing them approach the hunter by a particular cry, and then shooting them; is practised.
Of birds, there are very large vultures, various species of falcons and owls, the cuckoo, roller, king's fisher, ducks of several kinds, the domestic goose and turkey, the stork, which arrives at Athens in March and departs in August, partridges numerous, wild pigeons, quails, snipes, teal, blackbirds, the goldfinch, nightingale, the beccafica, a very small bird, the swallow, martin, &c. ' The seas, lakes, and rivers, abound with a variety of fish, and the phoca.is found• on the coast. t The mechanic arts are necessarily in a rude state in Greece, though the vices of the government do not operate so injuriously upon them as upon agri. culture. Numbers and union give a certain degree of security to the artisans of towns, which the rural inhabitants cannot possess. But, on the other hand, these arts can only flourish when they are bottomed on knowledge generally diffused ; and when entirely separated from scientific principles, they unavoidably degenerate into empirical processes, which are con tinued by servile imitation. Accidental circum stances may improve some, and prevent others from retrograding; but they are not so connected as to advance equally, or carry each other. This is obviously the case in Greece. Some of the ruder mechanic arts have been created or preserved by the indispensable wants of society ; others have been imported to minister to the luxury of the great ; and a few seem to be fragments saved from the wreck of former knowledge. Hence trades and professions, equally necessary, are exercised with very different de grees of skill, and seem to belong to different stages of social life. On the other hand, travellers sometimes mis lead us, by not sufficiently attending to the fact, that Um household-furniture of the Turks or Greeks, and the implements and accommodations required for every situation and employment, are few and simple, compared with ours. Works, however, are executed requiring much more skill than many others, the want of which is sometimes referred to as a mark of bar barism. The agents of the British ambassador could not procure a wheeled cart or • a ladder in Athens ; but it ought to be recollected, that the Greeks, who inhabit a mountainous country, with steep unpaved roads, have some reason for employing pack-horses instead of wheel-carriages, as we did in Scotland sixty or seventy years ago ; and if the tradesmen who construct the mosques, the baths, and the palaces of the pachas, would not, or could not make a cart or a ladder, it was certainly not from want of skill, but want of practice. _ It would be absurd to compare the manufactures and mechanic arts of Greece with those of England or France ; but they are probably little, it at all in ferior to those of Hungary or Poland. In the vil lages and small towns, carpenters use no other instru ments than a saw, a hammer, and a hatchet ; and it is only in large cities that gouges and chisels, for making mortices, are employed. Artists; however, and_ tradesmen, are found capable of constructing water and wind-milts, and building bridges. The churches and mosques are often substantially built and well finished, though designed in bad taste. The palaces of the pachas are generally executed in a very sumptuous style : they are beautifully wains cotted, have marble floors sometimes inlaid, are adorned with good carved work and gilding, with paintings not at all despicable, and with various de corations, which would be thought handsome even in the west of Europe. The baths, fountains, and sepulchral monuments, also display some good ar chitecture. In some few cases, it is probable these works are executed by foreign artists. Ships of con siderable burden are built at Hydra and Spechia. There are goldsmiths among the Greeks and Turks, who can combine the metals, and execute devices neatly enough upon sword-belts .and scabbards, though their workmanship is inferior, in taste of de sign and delicacy of execution, to that of English and French artists. Knives and forks are made at Athens; daggers, and other articles of armoury, at Mistra. Good _pottery, resembling the ancient in purity, brightness, and elegance, is made aeLarissa. The saddles, bridles, and housings of the Turks, are well made, according to their fashion, and elegantly embroidered. The Greeks paint in fresco, by a
peculiar process, and are possessed of a method of painting in wax, and fixing the colours with heat, which has been thought to be substantially the same with the ancient encaustic painting. The fabrication of images of saints is a considerable branch of manufacture. They are formed mechani cally from a model or prototype, whrth is handed down from father to son ; and hence the remarkable uniformity of feature in these images. The Greeks of Janina, and other places, embroider well on stuffs of various kinds ; and the artizans of Larissa, Jani na, and Salonica, have long excelled in the prepara tion of Turkey leather. Soap is made at Tripolotza ; the art of dyeing is practised in many places With much skill ; and in particular, the secret of giving a fast red colour to cotton was long confined to the Greeks of Thessaly, though now known both in France and England. The cloth manufactures of Greece are chiefly of a coarse kind for home con gumption ; but they embrace also some articles of a finer description for exportation. A silken robe, of very delicate net-work, made in Greece, is believed by Beaujour to be the same sort of fabric as the an cient gauze of Cos, or cloth of air, excepathat the lat ter was made of linen. Ten thousand' of these are annually exported from Salonica to other parts of Turkey. Shawls for turbans, serges, velvets, satins, and various silk and cotton stuffs, are made at Tor naviis, in ThJssaly, at Tripolitza, in the Mores, or other places. The carpets of Saloniea, though infe rior to those of Smyrna in brilliance of colour, are equal in quality, and are much esteemed in the west of Europe. Of woollens, the principal manufactures consist of coarse fabrics, galled abed:, used for clothing by the peasantry, and of carpets or cloaks ; an arti cle in universal use among the Albanians, and also in great demand among the mariners of the Levant. These are chiefly made by the Wallachians, and other inhabitants of the mountainous parts of Alba nia, Thessaly, and Macedonia. But the species of manufacture which probably employs the greatest number of hands, is the spinning and dieing of cot ton yarn. In Thessaly and Macedonia, 20,000 bales, or 5,500,000 pounds of cotton, are spun annually. The large village of Ampelakia, which overhangs the defile of Tempe, containing 4000 inhabitants, is entirely supported by this manufacture ; and it forms the most considerable branch of industry in Torna vos, Larissa, Pharsalus, and in all the villages on the declivities of Ossa and Pelion. Of the yarn, a large proportion is sent to Germany. In general, the ma nufactures of Greece are carried on by mere manual labour, without combination, and without the aid of machinery ; and, considering the disadvantages they labour under from these circumstances', it is rather matter of surprise that they are so extensive. The most industrious provinces are Thessaly, Macedonia, Albania, the Mores, Attica, and Livadia. The western part of Aceotia with Phocis, Locris, /Etolia, and Acarnania, are totally destitute of manufactures.• Physic is practised partly by Greeks who have received some education in Italy, and partly by Italians. 'Many of them, however, have received no education at all, but are adventurers, who, having failed in trade, put on the Frank habit, which all the physicians wear, and commence practitioners., With a few exceptions, they are ex tremely ignorant and prejudiced ; and their practice is limited to the use of bleeding, and a very few re medies' if the disease does not yield to these, the pa , pas is called in, and recourse is had to exorcism. Sur gery is chiefly in the hands of the Albanians, who have skill enough to reduce fractures and disloca tions, but never attempt amputations, or other ope ration's of any difficulty. t Greece, deeply indented on three aides by arms ofl the sea, encircled by numerous islands, and having its inland communications obstructed by mountains, had a natural tendency to become a commercial coun try; and, from various causes, its foreign trade has suffered less from the wretched policy of its govern merit than either its agriculture or manufactures. The foreign merchant always assumes, in a certain degree, the character of a citizen of the world : Ha. yaw his capital scattered over many countries, only a small part is within the grasp of tyrannical rulers at one spot ; and, when oppressed or disturbed, he can, with greater ease than any other person, trans fer his wealth and industry to some other phice where , they will be more secure. Originally, the commerce of Greece was carried on almost entirely by foreign ers, whom the Turkish government found itself com pelled to treat With some degree of respect ; and the Greeks, who have latterly engaged' in it, partly by procuring protections from foreign powers, and partly from the force of custom, have insensibly ac quired a share of the consideration and the privileges enjoyed by the class to which they belong. What contributes perhaps still more to their security is, that they are exempted from any immediate collision of interest with the Turks, who, from the aversion to foreigners, arising out of their religious bigotry, almost entirely abandon commercial pursuits. The on. ly exception to this is, that the Beys and Pachas, with the usual short-sighted cupidity of despotic power, have monopolised in many cases the sale of the most considerable articles of export, such as corn and oil (Holland, 84, 828), and they have of course greatly cramped the growth of these branches of trade. The Greeks are gifted in a peculiar degree with the practical sagacity and address required for con • ducting mercantile transactions ; and finding the paths to distinction, and the pursuit of national ob jects, closed against them, their activity and enter. prise flow more abundantly into the channel of commerce. The ruin brought upon many foreign 'lousesin the trade of Greece, by the fluctu itions &Tr in the west of Europe, during the last thirty years, .has thrown a great portion of it into the hands of the Greeks themselves. (Pouque vile, 207.) And the annihilation of the commerce of France, Spain, and Italy, for a period, by the ascendancy of the British marine, gave the Greek traders a new and extraordinary importance as neutrals. At present there are individual houses of this nation who have branches estatAished in three or four of the chief commercial towns of Europe, and their ships make voyages as far as America. Within this period, too, the small barren rocks. of Hydra and Spechia, off the coast of Argolis, have become the seats of an extensive and flourishing commerce, and have risen suddenly to extraordinary wealth. In 1812, The former had 25,000 inhabit ants, entirely supported by trade, with about three hundred trading 'vessels, some of them as large as 500 tons. • The larger vessels are generally built at Fiume. Funds are supplied for fitting them out by capitalists residing in the island, who have acquired fortunes in trade, and lend out their inctney at 10, , 15, or 20 per cent. The captain is generally a prin cipal owner, and .ivery person on board,. down to the cabin boy, has a share in the speculation. (Hol land, 4g4.) The Hydriotes have purchased the right of electing their bwn magistrates from the Porte, and they some years ago expended ten thou sand poondsin building their town-house. '(Hob house, p. 599.) Spechia apprdaches to Hydra in commerffial importance, and there are one or two other small islands which have acquired considers-, tion by their trade. The same cause which raised these places to consequence, created a new trade of a very singular kind at the port of Salonica. Colo nial goods, when the usual channels by which they were to the continent were closed in 1810, 1811, and 1812, were sent to Salonica by sea, and thence forwarded overland to Vienna, by a route of 700 miles in length. The goods were transported on horseback .the journey generally occupied thirty five days, and the expence was supposed to add about 100 per cent. to the import price of .the arti cles at Salonica. In 1812, t,hirty cargoes came direct from England to Salonica, besides a still greater number from Malta and Gibraltar, and cavalcades of a thousand horses sometimes set outst once for Ger many. (Holland, p. US.) This trade would of course cease with the war • but the capital it has created, and the stimulus it has given to the indus try of Greece, will lead to new enterprises. The Greeks have in fact a large field for exertion. They conduct not only the commerce of their own coun try, but that of nearly the whole Turkish empire, except what is in the hands of foreigners. Their vessels are found trading in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Marmora ; and a vast number of small craft ply among the islands of the Archipelago, and between these islands and the continent. When we advert to these stances, the information received by Mr Hobhouse in 1809, that the number of Greek mariners alto gether amounted to 50,000 (Hobhouse, p. 299, 600), will not appear greatly exaggerated. To form an adequate idea of this subject, we must take into view that the number mentioned amounts to one third of thebumber of men in the commercial navy of Great Britain and Ireland in 1817, and*to four fifths of that of the United States in 1808. But as the Greek vessels are generally small, and employ a very great number of hands, the amotint of tonnage must be comparatively small. • The commerce of Greece with the other parts of the world is chiefly carried on by sea; but With Ger many, a considerable traffic is, maintained by land. The town of Salonica, which is situated in the centre of the -most fertile, populous, and industrious, dis tricts, Macedonia and Thessaly, is the principal Seat of this commerce. As a trading city it rivals Smyr na, and is probably inferior only to the capital. ,The other most considerable ports in Greece are Orpha no, at -the head of the Gulf of Contessa, Volo in Thessaly, Athens, Nauplia in Argolit, Calamatte, Coron, and, Patrass in the south and west sides of the Merea, Salons on the north side of the Corin thian. Gulf, Arta, Butrinto, Avlona, and Durango in Albania. The exports, which consist principally of raw produce, are corn, cotton, tobacco, olive oil, timber, wool, honey, currant!, figs, hides, dye stuffs, drugs, with some wine, cheese, butter, live cattle, spun and dyed cotton, Some capots or cloaks, carpets, coarse woollens, and a few slight fabrics of silk and cotton. The manufactured articles go chiefly to the other provinces of Turkey. • The im ports from western Europe' consist of manufactured goods, colonial produce and peltry ; those from other parts of Turkey, of coffee, flax, timber, rice, drugs, and some manufactured articles ; those from Bar bary, bonnets and slaves. Both imports and exports pay a duty of 3 per cent. if the merchant is a foreigner; but by a strange inversion of ordinary rules, the di ty is from 5 to 10 per cad. if he is a native. The goods imported are circulated through the country by fairs held in the great towns, and are transported from place to place on the hacks of • horses, mules, and sometimes camels. The prices are of course greatly enhanced by the risks attend ing carriage, and by the high rate of interest paid on capital, which is generally 12 per cent. in commer cial transactions, and 20 per cent. in other cases. (Beaujour, Let. xxiii. xxiv. ; Holland, 227, 326.) In the ten years from 1787 to 1797, about one half of the foreign trade of Greece was with Ger many. It was chiefly conducted by Greeks, and Vienna and .Salonica were the principal The Germans take cotton, raw and spun, from Greece, and retalm light woollens, linens, muslin, gtasi, cadet"; &e to the valve of oraa-thisci of their imports, and the ether two-thirds in specie. .The Italian coalmen*, *hick is next in importance to the German, is carried on chiefly with the ports of Leg horn and Venice. It sapplied Greece with fire arms, glass, paper, silks, &c.; Russia sent silks soul peltry ; France, woollens, bonnets, gold-lace, sugar, Coffee, and indigo; Holland, cloth and spiceries ; and England, woollens, inuedins, linens, metal, wroght and =wrought, watches, trinkets, jewel and colonial produce. (Beaujour, Let. xvii. xxrn.) Except Russia and England, all thoee states make a part of their returns in specie. The late long wars, however, must hive ,made a considerable change in the distribution of this trade. The new establishments of Britain id Malta and the Ionian islands must have transferred to her a part of what was formerly in the hands of the French and Italians.