A T H E N S. 349 
where the best honey of Hymettus was found, CHAP. 
The ascent was truly delightful; the different / * 
prospects varying in extent and magnificence, 
as we pursued a devious track among the 
rocks, in our way upward to the top of the 
mountain. We reached the summit about twelve 
o'clock : there was no wind, and the sky was 
without a cloud. We had some difficulty to 
find a shaded situation for the thermometer : 
however, the difference amounted only to three 
degrees of Fahrenheit, whether the scale re- 
mained in the shade, or exposed to the sun's 
rays. The mercury stood at 48 in the former 
situation, and it rose only to 51 in the latter; 
affording sufficient proof of the mild climate of 
Attica, in this warm temperature upon the 
summit of its loftiest mountain, in the beginning 
of the month of November e . Even upon this 
words are decisive as to this point : (Book ix.) ' The silver mines in 
Attica, formerly celebrated, are now deficient. The men who work 
there, submitting again to the operation of fire the former refuse and 
scoria (fxa^at), tiud silver still in it : the Antients having used their 
furnaces without any skill.' The ground about Lauriuin is covered 
frequently, for many yards, with great quantities of scoria, lying in 
the road." ffaljMXe's MS. Journal. 
(2) Jt may, perhaps, be asked why the author did not carry a 
barometer, rather than a thermometer, to the summit of Hymettus : 
simply, because such instruments are not found in any part of the 
Turkish Empire ; nor indeed any where else, in perfection, except in 
England. 
