ATHENS. 
the mountains, and after heavy rain ; but that he 
never found even the surface of the channel to be 
covered with water: it lodged only in the hollows 
of the stone, and trickled from one cavity 
to another 4 . Yet we should reluctantly conclude 
with that writer, that the Poets who celebrated 
Ilissus "as a stream laving the fields, cool and 
lucid," either conceived or conveyed " a false 
idea of this renowned water-course." Some 
other cause must be assigned for the disagree- 
ment of their descriptions with the real character 
which the river now bears. The earliest tra- 
veller whose work we have cited seems to have 
found no difficulty in accounting for the loss of 
the current, but, soon after his arrival at Athens, 
distinctly states, that the water of the Ilissus had 
been diverted and divided by an infinite number of 
rivulets, cut on purpose to supply the fountains 
in the gardens about the town 3 . In a former 
part of his work he seems to insinuate that the 
current had also been carried off for the use of 
(2) Trav. in Greece, vol.11, p. 79. O 
(3) " Le pout est suilteuu de trois arches ; et au dessous est le 
canal oil passoit 1' I Ilissus quand il estoit riviere, car aujourd'huy le 
canal est sec ; V Illissus a este diverty, et partage en une iitfinitd de 
riffoles, qui s'epancheut de co>t<5 et d'autre, pour aller faire des jets- 
d'eau daus les jardins des environs de ia ville." Foyage d'dthenes, par 
De la Guilletiere, p. 263, Paris, 1675. 
