GREECE 



179 



beasts in the market-place of Levadia as " wild beef." The draininLi" 

 of the lake and the burning of the reeds saw the last of them. 

 There is little doubt that these o.\en were the descendants, not of 

 primeval, untamed herds, but of cattle which were known to have 

 strayed, during the disturbed times preceding" the establishment of 

 the kingdom, from some of the villages in Locris. 



Of similar origin is a herd of wild asses, to be met with only 

 in one spot — the small uninhabited island of Macronisos (Long 

 Island) opposite the bay of Laurium, in Attica. It is the practice 

 of shepherds in Greece to land their flocks on such islands, where 

 the grass, untouched during the early spring, offers rich pasturage 

 in summer ; and a sheepfold in Greece is invariably accompanied 

 by a couple of asses carrying the wherewithal of the nomadic 

 shepherds. Some of these asses seem to have strayed to in- 

 accessible parts of the island, and to have there propagated in a 

 wild state. Bred in such circumstances, they have regained the 

 extraordinary fleetness of their primitive ancestors (an acquirement 

 which now renders them hard to approach), they have dexeloped 

 a thick woolly coat, bushy whiskers, and a kind of long beard on 

 the lower jaw. 



However, there still exists one kind of bio- aame which has 



survived in its primitive state and in its original haunts 



Ibex. 

 — the ibex, or cegagrus'^ of the ancients, which is 



* In the Greek vernacular it is known as agrhni^ aTP'M', a contraction of the chissic 

 dypL/xaiov, a term signifying all kinds of wild animals, the object of chase, and hence, as 

 employed by Athena^us (xii. p. 549 f.), their flesh used as food, i.e. venison. The flesh of the 

 ibex is considered a delicacy by the Cretan mountaineers. 



