=--Greece is a very little country (about 20,000 square
miles), hardly larger than Switzerland; but it is a country of great
variety, bristling with mountains, indented with gulfs--a country
originally constituted to influence mightily the character of the men
who inhabited it.
A central chain, the Pindus, traverses Greece through the centre and
covers it with its rocky system. Toward the isthmus of Corinth it
becomes lower; but the Peloponnesus, on the other side of the isthmus,
is elevated about 2,000 feet above the sea level, like a citadel
crowned with lofty chains, abrupt and snowy, which fall
perpendicularly into the sea. The islands themselves scattered along
the coast are only submerged mountains whose summits rise above the
surface of the sea. In this diverse land there is little tillable
ground, but almost everywhere bare rock. The streams, like brooks,
leave between their half-dried channel and the sterile rock of the
mountain only a narrow strip of fertile soil. In this beautiful
country are found some forests, cypresses, laurels, palms, here and
there vines scattered on the rocky hillsides; but there are no rich
harvests and no green pasturages.
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