BEES IN OTHER LANDS. 141 



The most famous honey of antiquity was tnat of the 

 bees of the Hymettus, near Athens. Of its deterioration 

 a modern writer gives the following account : — 



" This spot was certainly at one time more abundantly 

 supplied with flowers than at present, these too so strongly 

 scented that hounds on that account frequently lost trace 

 of the game when hunting in these regions. But there is 

 no land like Greece, in which for centuries the works not 

 only of men but of nature also have been, as far as possi- 

 ble, destroyed. Trees and shrubs were cut down in the 

 continued wars without any thought of the consequence, 

 and what the axe spared the shepherds burned, in order to 

 raise from the ashes, during the first year, a few blades of 

 grass for their goats. Were not the Grecian climate so 

 favourable the greater part of the country must long since 

 have become a bare, stony, and rocky wilderness. The 

 Hymettus has now no better vegetation than the moun- 

 tains of Attica. The honey of the Laurion moumtains 

 was much prized [Erica Mediterranea, or tree heath, 

 grows there in abundance). Throughout Greece honey 

 is more agreeable and aromatic than in other lands, owing 

 to the heat being moderate, for which reason the juices of 

 the plants are in a more agreeably concentrated state. 



" The honey of the Hymettus no longer possesses its 

 superiority ; it is in other neighbourhoods finer and more 

 aromatic, e. g. in many of the Cyclades, especially in 

 Siekino. The greatest quantity of honey is obtained from 

 the monastery of Syrian, to the north-east of the city : it 

 is delivered to the local archbishop. The shepherds at 

 other parts of the Hymettus probably keep bee-hives, and 

 the honey from Pentelicon is also reckoned among the 

 Hymettic. The number of hives in these mountains yield- 

 ing honey has been averaged of late years at five thousand. 

 The principal food of these bees is Satureja capitata, 

 then Lentiscus, rock-roses, sage, lavender, and other herbs. 



