While in Zante, after my return from Greece, I was on the point of visiting Cerigo, the most northerly of the Ionian Isles, and separated from the rest by the intervention of the Morea; but was prevented by the long continuance of south-east winds, which make it difficult or impossible to get round Cape Matapan. A few statistical facts, however, which I obtained respecting this isle, may not be unacceptable to the reader.
The circumference of Cerigo is between 50 and 60 miles. Though celebrated as the ancient Cythera, and the birth-place of Helen, its present aspect is rocky and sterile; and the number of inhabitants does not exceed nine thousand. Of this number, 165 are priests; and there are said to be not fewer than 260 churches or chapels of different descriptions in the island. The state of education among the natives is on a very low footing: there is indeed one school, supported by public funds, and others of private establishment, but they are ill conducted; and, as a proof of this, it is said, that the inspector of the public school can neither read nor write. The chief products of Cerigo are corn, oil, wine, raisins, honey, and wax; some cotton and flax also are grown upon the island; and there is a considerable produce of cheese from the milk of the goats, which feed over its rocky surface. It is estimated that, in the year 1811, there were 16,000 sheep and goats in the island, about 1,300 horses, and 2,500 oxen. The number.of beehives the same year was reckoned at 1,380, producing a honey of very good quality.
