The use of lime plaster on the outer walls gave an opportunity to the Minoan artists, who not only painted frescoes on them, but fashioned the plaster into relief. (See “Minoan Lime Plaster and Fresco Painting,” by Mr. Noel Heaton, _Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects_, vol. xviii, pp. 697-710.) “Fresco” paintings are made as soon as the initial setting of the plaster takes place, and while it is still wet. Brilliant colours were used--red ochre in the Early Minoan period (made by burning yellow clay), then yellow (from the natural clay) and black; then blue, progressing from a pale greenish tint in Middle Minoan to a dark blue in Late Minoan. The cupbearer is an example of fresco painting, and the bull’s head of high relief; the fresco painters merely attempted an outline and wash of colour in two dimensions, not indicating shades or folds of drapery. The main difference between Cretan painting on wet plaster and Egyptian painting on fine white limestone is that the Cretan gives a more vivid impression of movement, and the Egyptian more detail. (See “The Relations of Ægean with Egyptian Art,” _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, vol. i, pt. 3, July, 1914, pp. 197-205.) This is partly accounted for by the fact that Minoan painting was often done when the plaster was still wet. There are many other sites in Crete which cannot be dealt with here--Gournia on the north coast, Palaikastro and others in the east, and Vrokastro. Their main importance lies in their bearing upon Minoan town-planning. Vrokastro has been explored by Miss E. H. Hall, who published her results in 1914 (_Anthropological Publications of the University of Pennsylvania_. Philadelphia). It has a special interest because it belongs to the Iron Age, and shows the inferiority of this age to its predecessor, the Bronze Age. In general, the houses in these towns were huddled together with the object of leaving as much ground as possible free for agriculture. They are poor specimens of houses,--small two-storeyed cottages with windows on each side of the door. Several rooms have been discovered in which upright faces of rock served as walls--a device still used in Crete. An interesting point about them is that they were built on rocky eminences or spurs of mountains--a significant sidelight on the fall of Knossos and the disappearance of her fleet. Chapter 8: _The Pottery_ “Exceeding lightly, as when some potter sits and tries the wheel, well fitting in his hands, to see if it will run.”--HOMER.