ISLAND OF SYROS. 153 
the antient Persians have been characteristically CHAP. 
described as the worshippers tfjire, the inhabi- 
tants of Syra, both antient and modern, may be 
considered as the worshippers of water. The 
old fountain, at which the nymphs of the island 
assembled in the earliest ages, exists in its ori- 
ginal state ; the same rendezvous as it was 
formerly, whether of love and gallantry, or of 
gossiping and tale-telling. It is near to the 
town, and the most limped water gushes con- 
tinually from the solid rock. It is regarded by 
the inhabitants with a degree of religious vene- 
ration ; and they preserve a tradition that the 
pilgrims of old time, in their way to Delos, 
resorted hither for purification. We visited the 
spot in search of an Inscription mentioned by 
Tournefort*, but we could not find it: we saw, 
however, a pleasing procession, formed by the 
young women of the island, coming with songs, 
and carrying their pitchers of water on their 
heads, from this fountain. Here they are met 
by their lovers, who relieve them from their 
burdens, and bear a part in the general chorus. 
It is also the scene of their dances, and there- 
fore the favourite rendezvous of the youth of 
both sexes, 'the Eleusinian women practised a 
(2) Tourne/.Voy. du Lev. torn. II. p. 4. Lyon, 1717. 
