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

THE GREEK MAINLAND 5of their labours ;you do not find the solitaryhomestead. But this is largely due to want ofsecurity.In the Peloponnesus, where brigandagehas not been heard of since 1847, and where apeaceful population dwells in full assurance ofimmunity from attack, one does come acrossisolated households, not infrequently. The urbanproclivities of Greek landed proprietors have resultedin the division of estates into small holdings.But this is not yet the case in Thessaly,though the Government is alive to the need of it,and is considering schemes of expropriation, andthe creation of homesteads with plots for thecultivation of vegetables and fruit. Both arealmost unknown at present, to the prejudice ofthe public health. Thessaly can never becomeso pleasant a habitat as Southern Greece, owingto climatic conditions. The summers are parchingand rainless, and there is a scarcity of water.The winters are severe. The tempering influenceof the sea breeze is shut out by the girdle ofmountains surrounding the plain.Malarial feveris prevalent, and its effects are seen in the sallowcomplexions, hollow cheeks, and listless movementsof the people, whose poor and monotonousdietary does not afford them sufficient vitality tocombat the scourge.Political and economic conditions,moreover, have contributed to sap theirenergy. Spoliation and insecurity have beentheir lot for centuries. They were under Turkishrule until 1881, ground between the upper and