The number of inhabitants in the isle amounts to about 40,000; of whom, it is believed, that 16,000 or 18,000 reside in the city. The great plain of Zante, in the abundant provision it affords for an export commerce, forms the principal support of this population, and a source of considerable wealth to the island. Looking down upon this plain from any of the surrounding eminences, it has the aspect of one continued vineyard, with a few intervals only of land occupied in tillage or pasture. There is an air of luxuriant fertility and richness in the landscape, the effect of which is increased by the neatness employed in the distribution and culture of its surface. Numerous villages and country-houses are scattered over the plain, surrounded by gardens or by groves of olive, orange, and other fruit trees […].
