APPENDIX. 367 



place of residence, and in the winter it is quite a place of re- 

 sort for tourists who desire to escape the rigors of a Northern 

 winter. The olive-trees, by the way, remind me that I here met 

 a combination of amazing stupidity in the person of one of the 

 local guides. He was a pleasant amiable fellow, with the usual 

 parrot-like lore which distinguishes many of liis fraternity. An 

 affirmative, or what a lawyer woidd call a leading question to 

 these professional guides is sure to be met with a confirmative 

 answer, and when this is mixed up with the information which 

 they have acquired and make a business of relating to every new 

 comer, with, perhaps, no idea whatever of its bearing, it becomes 

 particularly entertaining. As an instance, our guide informed 

 us that the old olive trees which we saw were there " since the 

 time of the Yenetians," from which everything in this old place 

 seems to date. I asked him how long ago that was, which puz- 

 zled him very much, and he finally gave it up. I quizzingly 

 suggested fifteen or eighteen years, and he returned an eager 

 "yes," which showed how limited was his knowledge, and how 

 eager he was to please. Thinking, perhaps, that he had not un- 

 derstood me, I put the question again in various forms, until I 

 became fully satisfied that the fellow had no comprehension 

 whatever of time. 



In the older parts of the town of Corfu one can get a good 

 idea of the domestic economy and methods of the primitive 

 Greeks. All of the utensils are of the most antiquated pattern ; 

 wine and olive oil is carried about in goatskins similar to the 

 water skins which I described in one of my letters from India. 

 Down at the wharves, where I saw oil being poured into hogs- 

 heads for exportation, instead of lightering these casks off to the 

 ships, which lie at anchor some distance from the shore, they 

 simply roll them overboard and tow them off with a row-boat, oil 

 being lighter than water. Olives and olive oil seem to be a chief 

 article of commerce throughout this whole country. All the way 

 up the eastern side of the Italian peninsula, for hundreds of miles, 

 olive-groves are thickly planted, and their gnarled and twisted 

 trunks give evidence of great age. Indeed, I think the olive-trees 

 of Eastern Italy can take the palm for growing in the most fan- 

 tastic forms and shapes. It is a common thing to see one side de- 



