Περὶ τὰ Κύθηρα δὲ ἔτι καὶ μείζω τὰ κήτη ὑμνοῦσι γίνεσθαι. Ἕοικε δ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ νεῦρα λυσιτελῆ εἶναι εἰς τὰς τῶν ψαλτηρίων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὀργάνων χερδοστροφίας· καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἐς τὰ πολεμικὰ ὀργάνα αἱ τούτων νευραὶ δοκοῦσι λυσιτελέσταται. Ælian. de Animal. xvii. 6. ----- The citizens of Amyclæ excelled in the making of ladies’ slippers;[1869] and in the other parts of Laconia were produced an elegant kind of men’s shoes of red leather,[1870] like those at present worn by the Turks.[1871] In weaving and dyeing, also, the Lacedæmonians distinguished themselves, their mantles[1872] and their woollen garments, whether of purple or scarlet,[1873] having been in much esteem throughout Greece, as was likewise the purple by itself.[1874] ----- Footnote 1869: Theocrit. Eidyll. x. 35, cum Schol. Cf. Aristoph. Vesp. 1159. Footnote 1870: Steph. de Urb. v. Λακεδαίμων, p. 505. c. seq. Suid. v. Λακωνικαὶ, t. ii. p. 6. a. Lucian. Rhet. Præcept. § 15. Athen. v. 54. Ὑποδήματα ἄριστα Λακωνικὰ. Id. xi. 66. Footnote 1871: Poll. vii. 88. Müller, Dorians, ii. 25. Footnote 1872: Athen. v. 28. Suid. v. Λακωνικαὶ, t. ii. p. 6. a. Footnote 1873: Hesych. v. πυτά. Footnote 1874: Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 60. xxi. 22. Horat. Od. ii. 18. Pausan. iii 21. 6. Iorio, Storia del Commercio, t. iv. l. ii. c. x. p. 267. ----- If we proceed now to the states of northern Greece, commencing with Bœotia, we shall find, that their exports were little less rich or varied. For the daily consumption of life[1875] the Athenians obtained from this country a plentiful supply of poultry and wild-fowl,[1876] such as the francolin, the coot, ducks, divers, geese,[1877] jackdaws, and pyctides. Cats, too, were among the exports of Bœotia, (though whether, as in Spain, they were substituted for rabbits at table, seems hard to determine,) together with foxes, moles, otters, hares, and hedgehogs.[1878] ----- Footnote 1875: Aristoph. Acharn. 860, sqq. Schol. ad Pac. 968, ad Lysist. 703. Poll. vi. 63. Footnote 1876: Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Av. 1079. Footnote 1877: Cf. Geopon. xiv. 22. Footnote 1878: Aristot. Hist. Animal. viii. 28. ----- This state, likewise, furnished the rest of Greece with reeds[1879] for the manufacture of pipes and flutes: they were produced on the banks of the Melas, a river which, according to the ancients, resembled in character and productions the Egyptian Nile. The wheat of Bœotia, where such is the fertility of the soil, that it returns fifty for one, was of old observed to be so heavy and full of nourishment, that the athletæ[1880] considered a chœnix and a half of it as equal to two chœnices of that produced in Attica. If any country, therefore, could, in the matter of bread, have been expected to be independent of its neighbours, it would doubtless have been Bœotia, which, nevertheless, we find importing, in times of scarcity, corn from Thessaly.[1881] ----- Footnote 1879: