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Show CRETE IS LIKE fr 'T 1 i ajrjsv Vrf j ' A Bread Shop In Candla, Crete. j trreparM y tha National Oaoaraphla aoclaty. Waalilofton. D. C.) SAIL from I'iraeus, port of Athens, Ath-ens, skirt the Islands of Melos and Antlmelos. of the Cyclades group, and after 15 hours of sailing sail-ing the mountainous profile of Crete comes Into view. The Inland has area of about 3,300 square miles, being 100 miles long anil varying In width from 85 to 7ft miles. But what matter 1(10 miles In length? They could be traversed In a few hours at most by railroad If there were railroads, it takes days and days to cover Crete by land from one end to the other. many centuries before the Venetians held sway In Crete and before the Saracens left their Impress, the Inhabitants In-habitants of the Island had established a trading station at this point, to Judge from the fragments of cut stone discovered dis-covered in the sea near the shore. Today Candia Is nearing the 40.000 population murk. Its white suburbs extend far beyond the old fortifications. fortifica-tions. A few years ago an English engineer was commissioned to reorganize reor-ganize the port. The work Is being pursued with due regard to the historic his-toric value of the old fortifications. The southern const of Crete has few ine more accessible sections of Creie are now covered with a network of fairly Important highways, but In remote districts the traveler must use the traditional means of transportationdonkey transporta-tiondonkey or mule, over trails or uneven puths. And If It is necessary to ndupt oneself to the fatigue and the needs of one's animals. It Is also essential to take Into account the aversion which every Cretan feel, at the prospect of traveling at night. The whole Island Is dominated hy the mountains which Intersect It. They include the I.asitlii range In the east, with Mount Diete; the I'sllorltl, witn Mount Ida near the center of the Island, Is-land, and to the west the White mountains, moun-tains, locally, and rightly, named the "Desert of Stone." These peaks rise to more than 7,000 feet and are covered cov-ered with snow in winter, but In summer sum-mer and early autumn large herds of sheep graze on the slopes. After the traveler leaves these herds, and the round stone huts where the solltnry shepherds live, he may wander wan-der over ninny trails without meeting a living soul. Then, from a mountain path, suddenly sud-denly a great plain will come Into view like that of Laslthl, formerly occupied occu-pied by a lake. On a broad, elevated pass one sometimes some-times sees a straight line of windmills, wind-mills, occasionally as many as twenty or more, each placed in a specially ailvantntreous position to catch' nil the wind which the large wings require. The peasants from the villages climb up to thetn with their donkeys laden with grain. On the other hand, along the steep mountain slopes water mills are built In the ravines. The mills run only In winter, for during summer sure anchorages and most of the trade is handled by gulling cruft und motor boats. Lurge ships cannot approach the wharfs of the small Imrhors, but are obliged to remain some distance offshore. By means of a crane, merchandise mer-chandise Is unloaded Into a caiquq, which then opproaohos the beach us closely us possible. There nnked mod, standing in water up to their shoulders shoul-ders and with puds on their heudi seize the various objects and carry them ashore. As soon ns the ground swell rises, work must stop. ( Often at night, if the sea Is rough, a ship will uppronch the shore, blow Its whistle, and with the aid of a megaphone meg-aphone a conversation will follow between be-tween vessel and port official. If the load offered Is unimportant, the ship pursues its course without stopping. These villages by the sea are very Isolated; In daylight they are hardly visible and at night not at ail, as no light marks them. They are as If "thrown Into the sea" by the mountain, moun-tain, which bars their access to the Interior. They are at the mercy of heavy southern storms, which all but deprive them of any outside communication. communi-cation. An account of Crete would not be complete If we did not describe the means of locomotion to travelers. There Is but one rallrond In Crete and It Is three miles long. It was built In recent years for the transportation of stone from a nearby quarry to the harbor' of Candia.' The locomotives, christened Minos, Ariadne, and Theseus, These-us, In honor of mythological characters that have plnyed prominent roles In the legendary history of the Island, are Justly admired by the entire population. there la no rain; hence no water. Ancient Altars In Grottoes. While Crete has an extremely heavy rainfall, it Is limited to the wet sen-son, sen-son, which commences In October or November. The water accumulates and rushes down the mountains In violent torrents; It penetrates the soil and circulates through a vast network of limestone grottoes. It was In these grottoes, now a fairyland of stalnc-tltes stalnc-tltes and stnlagmltes, that the first Inhabitants of the Island established the worship of their gods. Today one finds among the rocks the altars and paraphernalia of ancient rites. Some of these grottoes are veritable pits. Into which one descends with the Many Motor Cars There. Road construction has promoted the use of the automobile, but even where there are no roads a motor car is frequently fre-quently seen. What with the mire of the mule paths, the stones, the brush, and the fields, one traveling by automobile auto-mobile never knows wheu or if he will reach his destination, although his car carries the Inscription In large letters: "Express." lie who leaves Candia In the autumn au-tumn for a trip across the Island sees spread before hlra large expanses of yellow and silvery green, with a few lines of austere black; these are the vineyards mixed In with the olive trees, while a few cypresses stund sol- uuijr ui in a line. This vista continues even after he begins to climb In order to reach the desert interior of Crete, for the vine-ynrds vine-ynrds and their attendant olive trees grow to a great elevation. Though they space out the farther one gets from the plain, nevertheless they remain re-main equally luxuriant. They creep Into small hollows or cluster on the very steep slopes sometimes they give the impression thut they are going go-ing to slide off Into space while pretty pret-ty vine arbors shade the streets of mountain villages. Kaislns play an important part In the economic life of Crete, la the large cities and at the ports oue may see In the rather dark factories the different dif-ferent processes the raisins undergo. In Sitln, in eastern Crete, one may find the Impression they must have produced pro-duced on the imagination of the men of other days, when one notes the respectful re-spectful awe they still command. The natives In their folklore still people these enves with monstrous men and animals. Villages dot the borders of the Cretan Cre-tan plnlns. and the Inhabitants come to their doors and smilingly Invite the pnsser-by to enter. Occasionally one meets a peasant on his way to the village, carrying on his head a basket overflowing with grapes. He will stop, select the most benutlful cluster, and offer them to the stranger with touching simplicity. In regions which are less protected from the elements, the locust tree grows, but It is bent and gnarled by Its battle with the violent north wind. There are vineyards on the hillsides and vegetables grow In the river beds, which are dry In summer, or on the thin layers of fertile soil which cover the stone of some of the seashore plains. Irrigation Is practiced Intel Ilgently ; large windmills raise the water, wa-ter, or horlas grind away as the water wa-ter is raised pall by pail from wells. Canea and Candia. Canen, surrounded by Venetian ramparts, ram-parts, Is the capital of Crete: It Is situated sit-uated in the western part of the Island. Is-land. Candia, farther to the east and als.i on the northern shore, is the only other oth-er city of commercial importance. During Dur-ing tlie Venetian occupation of the Island Is-land this stronghold was known if Slcgnlo Castro (Great Fortress) ; but upon the wharves Immense golden areas of fruit drying in the sun he-fore he-fore being packed in cases for shipment ship-ment abroad. , Fresh grapes are exported ex-ported to Greece and to Egypt. , Crete takes an Important place among olive-oil producing countries. The oil is extracted In primitive presses by the peasants and on a larger larg-er scale In fuctories. Much of, the tuble oil Is consumed In America. The tobacco plantations of Crete have made great strides In recent years, as a direct result of one of tht most significant events of the eastern Mediterranean the exchange of nationals na-tionals between Greece and Turkey following fol-lowing the Trenty of Lausanne. Repatriation Re-patriation brought to the Island many experienced . tobacco growers from Asia Minor. |
