152 ISLAND OF SYROS. 
CHAP, amidst an infinite number of rare plants from 
in. 
the same country." No traveller has yet added 
this very uncommon species of Dianthus to the 
botanic gardens of our island. 
There is no other town or village upon the 
island excepting this, which so singularly covers 
the sugar-loaf hill above the quay; and the 
number of inhabitants does not exceed four 
thousand, almost all of whom profess the Catholic 
religion : yet there is no part of the Archipelago 
where the traveller will find the antient customs 
of Greece more purely preserved. Syros was 
the original name of the town, as well as of the 
island. Some traces of its ruins still exist near 
the port. The modern town of Syra probably 
occupies the site of the antient Acropolis. The 
island has always been renowned for the advan- 
tages it enjoys, in the excellence of its port, in 
its salubrity, and its fertility. It is on this 
account extolled by Homer 1 . It produces wine, 
Jigs, cotton, barley, and also wheat, although not so 
plentifully as barley. We saw an abundance of 
poultry, and a very fine breed of pigs ; but the 
streets of the town are as dirty and as narrow 
as they probably were in the days of Homer. If 
(l) E5j3r0f, iupn>.cf, tlu-rXnOii;, xtXu-;rvi>os> Odyss- O. \. 405. 
