“Zante, fior del Levante,” say the Italians. And, indeed, this ancient island, Zacynthus, is richer in orchards, fields, and villas than any other of this Archipelago. An extensive plain, bounded by ranges of hills, occupies the centre of this “golden isle”—a vast garden, abounding in vines, yielding currants of superior quality. The inhabitants are industrious, and not content with cultivating their own fields, they assist also in the cultivation of those of Acarnania, receiving wages or a share of the produce in return. The city of Zante, on the eastern coast of the island, facing Elis, is the wealthiest and cleanest town in the Archipelago. {80} Unfortunately it suffers frequently from earthquakes, to which a volcanic origin is ascribed. Nor is this improbable, for bituminous springs rise near the south-eastern cape of the island, and though worked since the days of Herodotus, they still yield about a hundred barrels of pitch annually. Oil springs discharge themselves close to the shore, and even at the bottom of the sea; and near Cape Skinari, in the north, a kind of rank grease floats on the surface of the waters.
The only islets dependent upon Zante are the Strivali, or the Strophades, to which flew the hideous harpies of ancient mythology.[19]
VI.—THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF GREECE.
The Greeks, although they have not altogether fulfilled the expectations of Philhellenes, have nevertheless made great strides in advance since they have thrown off the yoke of the Turks. The deeds of valour performed during the war of independence recalled the days of Marathon and Platæa; but it was wrong to expect that a short time would suffice to raise modern Greece to the intellectual and artistic level of the generation which gave birth to an Aristotle and a Phidias. Nor can we expect that a nation should throw off, in a single generation, the evil habits engendered during an age of servitude, and digest at once the scientific conquests made in the course of twenty centuries. We should likewise bear in mind that the population of Greece is small, and that it is thinly scattered over a barren mountain region. The numerous ports, no doubt, offer great facilities for commerce, nor have their inhabitants failed to avail themselves of them; but there is hardly a country in Europe which offers equal obstacles to a development of its agricultural and industrial resources. The construction of roads, owing to the mountains, meets with difficulties everywhere, whilst the blue sea invites its beholders to distant climes and commercial expeditions. No immigration from the neighbouring Turkish provinces has consequently taken place, whilst many Hellenes, and more especially natives of the Ionian Islands and the Cyclades, annually seek their fortune in Constantinople, Cairo, and even distant India. Men of enterprise leave the country, and there remains behind only a horde of intriguers, who look upon politics as a lucrative business, and an army of government officials, who depend upon the favour of a minister for future promotion. This state of affairs explains the singular fact that the most prosperous Greek communities exist beyond the borders of the kingdom of Greece. These foreign communities are better and more liberally governed than those at home. In spite of the Pasha, who enjoys the right of supervision, the administration of the smallest Greek {81} community in Thracia or Macedonia might serve as a pattern to the independent and sovereign kingdom of Greece. Every one there takes an interest in the prosperity of the commonwealth; but in Greece a rapacious bureaucracy takes care only of its own advancement, the electors are bribed, and the expenses thus illegally incurred are recovered by illegal exactions and robbery, such as have prevailed for many years.
The actual population of Greece may amount to 1,500,000 souls; that is to say, it includes about two-fifths of all the Greeks residing in Europe and Asia. The population is less dense than in any other country of Europe, including Turkey. Greece, at the epoch of its greatest prosperity, is said to have supported 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 inhabitants. Attica was ten times more populous at that time, and many islands which now support only a few herdsmen could then boast of populous towns. Sites of ancient cities abound on the barren plateaux, on the banks of the smallest rivulet, and crown every promontory throughout the ancient countries of the Hellenes, from Cyprus to Corfu, and from Thasos to Crete.
The country, however, is being gradually repeopled. Before the war of independence, the population, including the Ionian Islands, amounted, perhaps, to 1,000,000; but battles and massacres diminished it considerably, and in 1832 the number of inhabitants was 950,000 at most. Since that epoch there has been an annual increase varying between 9,000 and 14,000 souls. This increase, however, is spread very unequally over the country. The towns increase rapidly, but several islands, and more especially Andros, Santorin, Hydra, Zante, and Leucadia, lose more inhabitants by emigration than they gain by an excess of births over deaths. The swamp fevers prevailing in continental Greece much retard the increase of population. Naturally the climate is exceedingly salubrious, but the water, in many localities, has been permitted to collect into pestilential swamps, and the draining of these and their cultivation would not only add to the wealth of the country, but would likewise free it from a dire plague.[20]
Unfortunately agriculture progresses but slowly in Greece, and its produce is not even sufficient to support the population, still less to supply articles for export. And yet the cultivable soil of Greece is admirably suited to the growth of vines, fruits, cotton, tobacco, and madder. Figs and oranges are delicious; the wines of Santorin and the Cyclades are amongst the finest produced in the Mediterranean; the oil of Attica is as superior now as when Athene planted the sacred olive-tree; {82} but, excepting a little cotton grown in Phthiotis, and the raisins known as currants or Corinthians, which are exported from the Ionian Islands and Patras to the annual value of about £1,500,000, agriculture contributes but little towards the exports. One of the principal articles is the valonia, a species of acorn picked up in the forests, and used by tanners.
In a country so far behindhand in agriculture manufactures cannot be expected to flourish. All manufactured articles have consequently to be imported from abroad, and especially from England. Greece does not even possess tools to work its famous marble quarries, though they are richer than those of Carrara. There is only one metallurgical establishment in the whole of the kingdom—that of Laurion. The ancients had been working argentiferous lead mines in that part of the country for centuries, and vast masses of unexhausted slag had accumulated near them. This waste is now being scientifically treated in the smelting-works of Ergastiria, and nearly ten thousand tons of lead, and a considerable quantity of silver, are produced there annually. Quite a brisk little town has arisen near the works, and its harbour is one of the busiest in all Greece. But the founders of this flourishing concern had to struggle against jealousies, and the “Laurion question” nearly embroiled the Governments of France and Italy with Greece.[21]
The Greeks do not support themselves by agriculture, nor can they boast of manufactories, and they would be doomed to starvation if they did not maintain six thousand vessels acting in the lucrative business of ocean carriers throughout the Mediterranean. This Greek mercantile marine is superior to that of Russia, almost equal to that of Austria, and six times larger than that of Belgium, and we should bear in mind that many vessels sailing under Turkish colours are actually owned by Greeks. The ancient instinct of the race comes out strongly in this coast navigation. The large fleets of swift ocean steamers belong to the powerful companies of the West, and the Greeks are content to sail in small vessels suited to the requirements of the coasting trade, which hardly ever extend their voyages beyond the limits of the ancient Greek world. None can compete with them as regards low freight, for every sailor has an interest in the cargo, and all of them are anxious to increase the profits. One may have furnished the wood, another the rigging, a third a portion of the cargo, whilst their fellow-citizens have advanced money for the purchase of merchandise, without requiring any bond except their word of honour. On many of these vessels all are partners, all work alike, and share in the proceeds of the venture.