378 IN CORFU. 



numerous old olive-trees of the island brought him; 

 he never took the trouble properly to gather the fruit, 

 but waited till it fell to the 'ground of itself, and then 

 collected what was in good condition. Recently how- 

 ever petroleum has sent down the price of oil, and 

 anxiety for daily bread is beginning to be felt even 

 in Phaeacia. Greater attention is therefore now paid 

 to the cultivation of the vine, which indeed costs 

 much more labour, but is also far more remunerative 

 than the cultivation of the olive. One sees with re- 

 gret in many parts of the island the old picturesque 

 olive-trees cut down to make room for the more pro- 

 fitable vine - cultivation. Almost the only foreigners, 

 who permanently reside in Corfu, are French traders, 

 who buy up all the wine. The large amount of red 

 colouring matter, which the wine of Corfu contains, 

 doubtless makes it very suitable for the manufacture 

 of "genuine" claret. In former times no wine could 

 be exported from the island, as the Corfiotes preferred 

 to drink their wine themselves. Thus the most ancient 

 habits change in an age that does not suffer the un- 

 changeable ! 



At the end of February, when the fruit-trees 

 began to bloom, we left Corfu and went to Naples, 

 where we hoped to find better weather and more 

 amusement. But the Apennines were still thickly 

 covered with snow, even dear Vesuvius wore a light 

 snowy mantle, and in Naples it rained still more persis- 

 tently and severely than in Corfu. As a compensation 

 we there enjoyed the pleasant intercourse with friend 



