Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

76 HOME LIFE IN HELLASrelics of the Latin times. But these are now rare.The dealer has laid his devastating hand on theCyclades and has no doubt secured excellent bargains.The people are now aware of the marketvalue of these things. I asked a man in Naxoswhat he wanted for a carved triptych of Gothicdesign, apparently of Spanish origin. He replied,£50. Probably this price was not excessive, butformerly it would have been obtained for £5.Siphnos, long under the rule of the Catalan DaCorogna, was once fullof old Spanish furniture,but it is doubtful if it now possesses a singlepiece. Myconos, too, has been cleared of itsabundant vestiges. Among the old Latin familiesof Naxos, Santorin, and Andros there may lurkhere and there a coffer, a mirror, a chandelier,or perhaps a precious fragment of lace, Venetianor old Greek point. In distant Amorgos, wherethere are now no Latins, one may occasionallycome across a Venetian glass or plate in a humblehousehold, preserved, notwithstanding its fragilecharacter, from the days when the island was heldby the Quirini.Things of a more durable nature—metal-work and brocades—which I was told wereonce plentiful, have disappeared.Almost every island is reputed for some daintyarticle of food. Kythnos still boasts of the loosecrumbling cheese packed in jars for which it wasfamed in antiquity. The people say its flavour isdue to the quality of the pasturage. The softunsalted cheese called mysethra, and usually eaten