Note 192 — Chapter III · GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE.

See, in Plato’s Critias, t. vii. p. 153. the eulogium of its beauty and fertility. At present “the plain of Attica, if we except the olive-tree, is extremely destitute of wood, and we observed, on our return, the peasants driving home their asses laden with Passerina hirsuta for fuel.”—Sibthorp in Mitchell, Knights, p. 155. But the description by no means applies to the whole country. At the foot of Cithæron there are still forests four hours in length.—Sibth. in Walp. Mem. i. 64.