54 On the supposed Change 



Crete, was always clothed with snow....Flin. Nat. Hi^^ 

 lib* 16. ca. oc), Theophrast. Hist. Plant, lib. 4. ca. 1. 

 Toiirnefort visited this isle in his voyage to the Levant, 

 and testifies that the inhabitants of Canea fetch their 

 snow, in summer, from the neighboring mountains ; and 

 he confirms the assertion of Theophrast and Pliny, that 

 the Cyprus grov/s there among the snow- At the foot 

 of these mountains grow figs, olives and other delicate 

 fruits, as they did in the earliest ages. — Tournefort^ 

 Let. I. 



In Milo, says the same traveller, Let. 4. it never free- 

 zes and very rarely snows ; when it does, the snow 

 melts in a quarter of an hour ; the cold is not prejudicial 

 to the olive trees, as it is in Provence and Languedoc, 

 where the contexture of the bark is torn by the dilatation 

 of the water which freezes in the pores. 



When Tournefort visited Samos in Februar}^, he 

 found the cold severe on tiie mountains, and on the 23d 

 of the month, some snow and a great deal of h.2\\....VoL 

 ii. let. 3. 



On mount Olympus, in Asia Minor, says the same 

 author, nothing is to be seen but old snow in a very 

 great quantity. This was in November. He also says, 

 that a river which runs by Tocat, does much injury when 

 swelled by rain, or the melting of snow.... Letter 9. 



The river Meles, says Chandler in his travels, ch. xx, 

 which washes Smyrna, swells into a torrent, after heavy 

 rains on the mountains, or the melting of snow. The 

 houses in Smyrna, except those erected by Europeans, 

 seldom have chimneys ; but in cold weather, a pan of 

 charcoals, under a table covered with a carpet, serves 

 to warm the family. — The same author mentions snow 

 upon the summits of mountains, as he passed from 

 Smyrna to Ephesus, Miletus, and Laodicea, as late as 

 March and April.... See his Travels, 4to. Oxford, 1775. 

 pages 71, 80, 105, 164, 221, 224. 



The same author, vol. 2. p. 79. speaks of snow on 

 the -mountains of Attica. The Illissus, he says, in sum- 

 mer is quite dry ; and while he resided at Athens, he 

 several times visited the river, after snow, -had fallen on 

 the mountains, in hopes to see it fill its banks. He ob- 



