ARGENTIERA, an island in the Archipelago, or Łgean Sea, anciently called Cimolus, or Cimolis, and forming one of the Cyclades. Its modern name is de rived from argcntunz, silver, from the circumstance c: a silver mine having been wrought in the island. Ar genticra presents nothing but rocky hills unclothed with verdure, and vallies variegated only with shrub4 and thorny thickets. A white fat clay, called cimolian earth, covers the low grounds, and is used by the in habitants for washing their linen. The industry of the inhabitants procures for them a scanty subsistence by the culture of a little barley and wheat, which they sow during the rainy season, early in autumn, and which is reaped in March. They rear hogs and poultry ; but they are supplied with goats and grapes from the neigh bouring island of Milo. Out of the small quantity of cotton which they plant, cotton stockings are knitted by the women, and sold to the Europeans. The hogs, eggs, and poultry, arc purchased by the Europeans. The Greek women here dress in a very particular man ner. They swell out their legs by putting on several pairs of stockings, and their garments terminate about two inches below the knee. Their neck is concealed under a quilted corset, stiffened by whalebone ; so that their beautiful shapes are completely concealed by their unnatural dress.
There is only one place in the island which is in habited. It is a town of modern construction, erected by some Greek fugitives in 1646, on the summit of a rocky mountain of very difficult access. It is encircled with lofty walls, and guarded by two gates ; and the miserable huts, which are always filled with flies, have no other covering than a roof of beaten earth.
The whole island exhibits a volcanic appearance. In many places the rocks arc calcined, and pozzolana was found by Olivier. From a rock near the sea, there is sues a spring of water, which is so hot that a person cannot hold his hand in it. These waters are regarded by the Greeks as a powerful remedy for rheumatism, sciatica, &c. Near to this spring, is the mouth of an extinguished volcano, called Yrozno Limno, or Stinking Lake, from the nauseous vapours which it emitted. At a little distance from this lake, a number of caverns are excavated in the rocks. According to Olivier, the po• pulation of the island is only 200 souls ; Sonnini makes it 200 families, and others 500 souls. The Turkish of ficers levy a tax on the island, of about 1600 piastres. East Long. 24'z' 30'. North Lat. 48'. See Olivier's Voyage dans L'.Empire Othoman, p. 127. Sonnini's Travels in Greece and Turkey, p. 281.