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

THE ISLES 111scrap of land inside is wanted for the vines.Withoutthem the people cannot live.Even the olive,which finds a foothold on the barest hills, is absenthere. There is not a tree on the island save afew figs, and the fig tree has a talent for thrivingon stones.It was a wonderful outlook over that wall infront. The boats below seemed to be suspendedin air, so clear was the blue water, a basin somesix miles long and four wide, with precipitouswalls, and three black islets in the middle. Thewall opposite was Therassia, separated from thesouthern end of Santorin by a strait three mileswide, with a white island in the middle, a sortof stepping-stone. The water a thousand feetbelow went down sheer another two thousandfeet, for the basin is a vast crater, submerged,but with two segments of its lip protruding fromthe sea. The larger, on which I stood, is Santorin,the smaller is Therassia. The three blackislets are cones of eruption. A broad ribbon ofvivid orange-red was flung athwart the sapphirewaters. The discoloration was caused by oxideof iron streaming from a spring in the blackislets. I could see the three masts of a barquemoored in the narrow channel between them. Shewas having her bottom cleaned by the chemicalaction of the water. It takes about a fortnight,and as it costs nothing, is often resorted to byvessels trading in these seas.We sailed over to the islets the next day.From