ISLAND OF SYROS. 149 
3 
saw him in the midst of a very numerous choir, CHAP. 
inviting us to taste of the wine with which his 
father was making libations to all comers. 
The town of Syra is built upon the summit of 
a lofty hill, so remarkable for its conical form 
that it may be compared to a vast sugar-loaf 
covered with houses. At the base of this cone 
is the quay, where there are several ware- 
houses for supplying vessels with the produce 
of the island, which is principally wine. There 
are some ruins near the port ; and many antient 
marbles are said to remain buried behind the 
magazines. We met the English Consul soon 
after we landed, and accompanied him to his 
house in the town ; where we were regaled 
with an excellent conserve, highly esteemed by 
the Greeks, made of the apples (as they are 
called) of a species of Sage, the Salvia pomifera : 
these apples are produced in the same manner 
as galls upon the oak, and they are owing to 
punctures made by a species of Cynips in the 
branches of the plant. The common Sage of the 
Island of Crete has the same excrescences ; 
which are there carried to market under the 
name of Sage-apples 3 . This conserve is said to 
(3 Tournef. Voy. du Lev. torn. I. p. 93. Jjyon, 17H. 
