Peloponnesus has but few plains which do not almost deserve the name of valleys: those of Elis and Argos—perhaps that of Sicyon also, though it is not quite plain—are the only ones which deserve special notice. Elis is a plain, encircled by a range of hills which are not high; Argos is properly still more spacious and less enclosed, though the mountains of Corinth are continued along the Acte. The district of Calamata, in Messenia, is a real valley, the work of the river Pamisus; and Laconia, along the Eurotas is a real river-valley. All these valleys are of extraordinary fertility, and the only barren portions of Peloponnesus are about Corinth, where the ground is very rocky, and the district in Argolis between ancient Mycenae, Epidaurus and Troezen; the plain of Sicyon is undulating and capable of cultivation. Achaia, on the northern slope of the Arcadian mountains is less hilly, if we except Cape Rhion; it has only low hills, but considerable valleys along the rivers. Wherever in Peloponnesus the plough can be applied, the soil rewards the labour; the trees are magnificent, and most of them are fruit trees. The heights are rich in chesnuts and eatable acorns; the olive tree grows admirably in Peloponnesus, and for it the peninsula seems specially created; it is found upon all the lower hills, and extends even high up into the mountains; hence, the cultivation of olives was the principal object of agriculture; the vine was not so much cultivated, though many districts produce good wine. When Peloponnesus was thickly peopled, it did not produce grain sufficient for its inhabitants, whence corn had to be imported from Sicily, and this necessity easily explains the settlements in Sicily and Italy. The Arcadian Alps afford very excellent pasturage, and although the Arcadian shepherd little answers to the ideas which were entertained of him some seventy or eighty years ago, yet the inhabitants, a strong and robust race of men, are still chiefly occupied in sheep breeding. Mutton is still eaten there in great quantity as in the East, while beef is a luxury. Cattle-breeding was also carried on on mount Taygetus, in Laconia, but with this difference, that the shepherds in Arcadia were free men, while those in Laconia were serfs.