“The Island of Delos is only seven or eight miles in circuit, and its breadth is but about one third of its length. Mount Cynthus, which extends from north to south, terminates in a plain that on the west side reaches to the sea. The city stands in this plain. The rest of the island presents only an uneven and sterile soil, if we except some pleasant valleys, which are formed by several hills, on the south side. The source of the Inopus is the only spring with which it is favoured by nature; but we find, in different places, cisterns and lakes, which preserve the rain-water during several months. “Delos was originally governed by kings, who united the priesthood to the regal authority. It afterwards fell under the power of the Athenians, who purified it, during the Peloponnesian war. The tombs of its ancient inhabitants were removed to the Isle of Rhenea; and there their successors have seen for the first time the light of day, and there are they to behold it for the last. But if they are deprived of the advantage of being born and dying in their own country, they enjoy there a profound tranquillity during their lives. “The fury of barbarians, the enmity of nations, and the animosities of individuals, all subside at the view of this sacred land; nor ever have the coursers of Mars trodden it with their ensanguined feet. Everything that can present the image of war is rigorously banished; and even the animal most faithful to man is not suffered to remain in it, because he would destroy the weaker and more timid creatures. “At length the day arrived which had been expected with so much impatience. The morning faintly indicated in the horizon the course of the sun, when we arrived at the foot of Cynthus. “This mountain is but of a moderate height. It is a block of granite, of different colours, and containing pieces of a blackish and shining talc. From its top a surprising number of islands of various sizes are discoverable. They are dispersed in the midst of the ocean, in the same beautiful disorder as the stars are scattered in the heavens. Here the bosom of the waves is become the habitation of mortals. We behold a city scattered over the surface of the sea; and view the picture of Egypt when the Nile has inundated the plains, and appears to bear on its waters the hills which afford a retreat to the inhabitants. The greater part of these islands are named Cyclades, because they form a kind of circle round Delos. Sesostris, King of Egypt, subjected a part of them by his arms; and Minos, King of Crete, governed some of them by his laws. The Phœnicians, the Carians, the Persians, the Greeks, and all the nations which have possessed the empire of the sea, have successively conquered or colonized them: but the colonies of the latter have effaced all traces of those of other nations; and powerful interests have for ever attached the destiny of the Cyclades to that of Greece.