THE SEA-KINGS OE CRETE 
13 
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Photo from "The Sea-Kings of Crete," by Rev. James Baikie 
A magnifice;nt vase with papyrus reliefs, found in the royae vieea 
In a small room on the north side of 
the central court was found a curiously 
quaint and delicate specimen of early 
fresco painting, the figure of a Little 
Boy Blue, more thoroughly deserving of 
the title than Gainsborough's famous 
picture ; for, strangely enough, he is blue 
in his flesh-tints, picking and placing in 
a vase the white crocuses that still dap- 
ple the Cretan meadows. 
frescoes of wonderful beauty pre- 
served FOR 3,500 years 
The northern side of the palace was 
finished with another portico, and in this 
part of the building there came to light 
a series of miniature frescoes, valuable 
not only as works of art, but as con- 
temporary documents for the appear- 
ance, dress, and surroundings of the 
mysterious people to whom this great 
building was once home. 
Here were groups of ladies with the 
conventional white complexion given by 
the Minoan artists to their womankind, 
wonderfully bedizened with costumes re- 
sembling far more closely the evening 
dress of our own day than the stately 
robes of classic Greece, with their severe 
lines. In their very low-necked dresses, 
