With the exception of the leprosy, diseases in this country are very rare. The victims of this loathsome disorder are driven from society, and prohibited from all communication with healthy persons.—They arc gene rally confined to small cottages by the high-way, where they live upon the produce of a little garden, and the alms of passengers.
The salubrity of the climate is equalled by the fertility of the soil, which is capable of producing, in the richest profusion, whatever can delight the senses, or gratify the appetite. Among its spontaneous productions, besides innumerable fragrant flowers and shrubs of the most brilliant colours and dazzling variety, arc myrtles, oleanders, walnuts, figs, pomegranates, apricots, almonds, lemons, citrons, oranges, olives, grapes, melons, and cucumbers. The grapes grow here to a very large size, and afford excellent wine, which still preserves its ancient reputation, though it is not made in such quan tities as formerly ;—the inhabitants of many of the dis tricts preferring to carry their grapes to town, or to dry :hem for trade. Homer praises the wine of Crete as the best in the world ; and Jupiter drank no other nectar dur ing his stay in this island. All Candian wines, however, are of a fiery quality, and apt to fly quickly to the head, and to injure the nervous system.
At the foot of Mount Ida, and on the hills in the vicinity of Cann, grows a species of rock rose,* which yields ladanum, or, according to the ancient Greeks, lcdon, a resinous substance used for perfumes, and the preparation of certain drugs. It is gathered from the leaves of the plant in the hottest time of the year, and during the greatest heat of the day. Great quantities of it arc consumed in the East ; and it is a considerable source of employment and profit to the peasants of Candia. Forests of pines, cedars, and firs, crown the summits, and cover the declivities of the mountains ; and afford an inexhaustible source of materials for ship building. The coasts abound with fish. The plains arc well stocked with plenty of game, particularly red par tridges and golden plovers ; and the groves and gardens are filled Avith a variety of singing birds, among which are the linnet, the nightingale, the petty-chap, the gold finch, the bullfinch, the lark, and the thrush. This last mentioned bird is taken in immense quantities, by the peasants, in the winter season, and carried to market. But the most melodious and valuable is the solitary black bird,t which inhabits the summits of the mountains, and fills the desert with its music. It is called by the Greeks, Miro-cockieo, of the rocks ;" and by the Turks, kajaboutbowl, " nightingale of the rock." It is in great request throughout Turkey, for its charming melody, and is seldom bought for less than a hundred dollars.
But in this rich and delightful country, where the soil requires very little labour from the hand of the hus bandman, to produce in profusion the necessaries, and even luxuries of life, the Candian cannot, or dare not, appreciate the blessings and advantages which nature has so liberally scattered around him. Oppressed by
his tyrannical masters—exposed to insult, to outrage, and even to robbery, from every janizary, he feels no inclination to increase, by labour, a produce which he would soon have the mortification of seeing pass into the hands of those whom he has so much reason to hate. Industry, of consequence, is almost extinct in the Greek villages subject to the Turkish agas. The fields which their forefathers cultivated and adorned, when under the mild government of the Venetians, arc now running to waste. The soil is washed away by the rains ; the olive tree is allowed to perish, and the vine to disappear ; and this unfortunate and degraded people do not think of repairing the damages which time has already occasion ed, or of preventing future desolations. It is only the calls of hunger, or the payment of their taxes, that can incite them to the least exertion ; and they sow their lands, and gather their olives, with the cheerless pros pect, that a part of the produce must be devoted to their oppressors. The least appearance of wealth, or even or comfort, will immediately draw upon them new exac tions ; and they are compelled carefully to conceal what ever is not absolutely necessary for their daily subsis tence. Their very clothes must have the appearance of poverty ; and when those are renewed, they must be of the coarsest stuff, and plainest colours, otherwise they would run the risk of being deprived of them by the Turks. In the Turkish villages, agriculture and indus try are equally neglected, though from very different causes. Most of the Turks in this island are enrolled among the janizaries ; and though they may improve their property, without the dread of being despoiled of its produce, yet they prefer rather to depend upon their pay, and the extortions which, upon every opportunity, they wring from the industry of the Greeks. The only spot where cultivation is practised with any success, is on the mountains of Sphachia, which are inhabited by a hardy race, who, though oppressed with the same yoke as their brethren in the plains, have still preserved the energy of independence. Habituated to a simple and industrious life, the Sphachiot is a shepherd, a farmer, and an artisan. IIe requires no foreign supplies. He manufactures with his own hands the utensils and im plements which he employs, and subsists upon the pro duce of his land, and of his flocks, enjoying, without molestation, the fruits of his labour. This people, from the first subjugation of the islands by the Romans, have disdained to mix with the nations that have successively occupied their country. Bred to the use of the bow from their youth, they are excellent soldier's ; but bearing a mortal hatred to their present masters, several of them disgrace their courage and their skill, by robbing and murdering such Turkish travellers as they can waylay upon their mountains.