328 Greece. 



under the Turkish yoke. As a result of an insurrec- 

 tion started in 1821, freedom, but no settled order as 

 yet, was attained in 1829 through the assistance of 

 Great Britain, France and Russia, and the elected 

 kings, Otho (of Bavaria), Alfred (of England) and 

 George (of Denmark) successively tried to secure 

 social order and efficient constitutional government. 

 By the time this new era had arrived there was 

 probably little valuable forest worthy of the name 

 left, except in the inaccessible mountain districts. 



1. Forest Conditions. 



Although certain districts, like Attica, were already 

 practically denuded in Plato's time, there is little 

 doubt that originally the whole of Greece with small 

 exceptions was a continuous forest. The destruc- 

 tion of the forest, protected by thousands of gods and 

 nymphs in holy groves, proceeded slowly under the 

 regime of the ancient Greeks, until the fanaticism 

 of the Christian religion led to a war against these 

 pagan strongholds, and the holy groves were reduced 

 by axe and fire. Turkish misrule for centuries, over- 

 taxation, reckless cutting, extensive herding of goats 

 and sheep, and fires have reduced the forest area until 

 now it occupies only 12 or 14 per cent, of the land area 

 (25,000 square miles). In 1854, a survey developed 

 about 2 million acres of woodlands (probably an ex- 

 cessive figure) for the now 2.5 million people, while 

 67 per cent, of the surface is a useless waste, and only 

 20 per cent, under cultivation, so that the general 

 aspect of the country is desolate. The many islands 

 are entirely deforested, and so are the seashores. 



