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

THE ISLES 107Naxia. Those hills are unique, and I have neverseen any so lovely elsewhere—a miniature mountainrange of most graceful forms, and of auniform hue of emerald, so rare a colour in theCyclades. The grass slopes end in pinnacles ofvivid green rock. It was twilight as we came tothem, and night when we passed the fountainwhich bears the name of Ariadne, outside thegates of Naxia. Our good friend, M. Barozzi,regaled us with hot tea and rum. It grew into ahabit with us during our stay to spend part ofeach evening with M. Barozzi. He it was whohad found us our rooms and helped us in manyways. He spoke French, treasured some boundvolumes of the Graphic, and never tired of hearingabout England and the world outside Naxos.Those pleasant symposia were always accompaniedby tea and the added stimulant, a specifiche prescribed for nearly every ill—against his owninterests, for he was a chemist.His pharmacy isnear the landing-place, but he dwells in the castro,and the tombs of his ancestors are inthe cathedral; for in 1207 the Barozzi held the barony ofSantorin, and one of them was Bailie of Negropontewhen Venice ruled the Archipelago. Santorinwas wrested from them in 1335 by DukeNicholas I of Naxos. They never regained it,though Duke John I gave them compensation in*355- They went to Crete, where they had estates,and when the Turks conquered it in 1699 theycame to Naxos, where they have dwindled with