Paar) ial 
No wonder then if the inhabitants, the better to enjoy thefe 
various beauties, fhould conftru@ their houfes in the following 
peculiar manner :—Each houfe is a fquare tower neatly built 
of hewn ftone, fo high as to overtop the trees, and to com- 
mand a view of the fea and neighbouring iflands—The lower 
ftories are granaries and ftore-houfes, and the habitable apart- 
ments are all at the top, to which you afcend by a ftone ftair, 
built, for the moft part, on the outfide and furrounding the 
tower, fo that from the apartment the trees are overlooked, and 
the whole country is feen, while the habitations themfelves, 
which are very numerous, peering above the groves, add life and 
variety to the enchanting profpect, and give an air of human 
population to thefe woodlands, which might otherwife be fuppofed 
the region of Dryads, of Naiads, and of Satyrs. 
Bur the charms of this delightful fpot have fo far tranfported 
my imagination that I have almoft forgotten the fubje& of which, 
in this effay, I meant to treat, and which is no other than a 
remarkable and fingular cuftom of this ifland, peculiar, I believe, 
to itfelf, and, as far as I know, never yet detailed by any 
traveller. 
Tue women here feem to have arrogated to themfelves the 
department and privileges of the men.—Contrary to the ufage of 
all other countries, the eldeft daughter here inherits, and the fons, 
like daughters every where elfe, are portioned off with {mall 
dowers, or, which is ftill worfe, turned out, pennylefs, to feek 
their fortune —If a man has two daughters, the eldeft, at her 
marriage, is entitled to all her mother’s poffeffions, which are by 
far 
