344 REMARKS ON PARTS OF GREECE. 



Helicon bounds the plain of Lebadea to the west, joins with Par- 

 nassus, and terminates to the south on the gulf of Corinth near Liva- 

 dostro. Its presents a bare and rugged appearance : but some of the 

 vallies are cultivated in corn, interspersed with orchards of fruit trees, 

 the plane, the fig, and the poplar, in abundance. 



Phocis includes the plain of the Cephissus, which connects with 

 that of Livadea ; on the north it is bounded by (Eta, on the south by 

 Bceotia, on the east side the mountainous country of the Dorians 

 separates it from the sea of Eubcea ; the western limit is washed by 

 the Corinthian or Crissean gulfs. The soil, watered by the Cephissus, 

 which is joined by several smaller streams from Parnassus, is fertile 

 and well cultivated in rice, doura, and corn land; the plain of* Crissa 

 produces a small quantity of wheat and barley, though it is for the 

 most part planted with olive trees. An elevated plain, on which is 

 Thistomo, the ancient Ambryssus, seems to connect Parnassus on the 

 south with Helicon. To the north the mountains join with (Eta ; op- 

 posite to its west side is Mount Cirphis, while its eastern slope is 

 presented towards the plain of the Cephissus. The outer aspect of 

 Parnassus is rude and without vegetation; it encloses however several 

 fruitful valleys, as remarkable for their natural beauties as for their 

 cultivation. This mountain is intersected by several roads in different 

 directions, which connect the plain of Cephissus with that of Crissa, 

 Delphi, and the sea. The road called Schiste, which was the sacred 

 way from Attica and Bceotia to Delphi, soon appears after entering 

 Parnassus at Daulis ; it commences in a spot where three roads join, 

 Tpichq, famed for the sepulchre of (Edipus. Hence the road to 

 Delphi branches off to the right, and is continued through an elevated 

 narrow valley, either side of which is bounded by the lofty ridges of 



* Cirrha is now called Xeropegano ; the Plistus flowing between the heights of Lia- 

 coura and Cirphis passes near it. Crissa (Chriso) contains some remarkable ruins; and 

 near a church called Agio Sarandi, is an incription in Boustrophedon ; there is a bas- 

 relief in another church, and a lyre represented with 16 strings. — (From M. Gropius.) 



