The authors from whom I have learned the most of the ancient and modern state of Crete, are Belon (Observations, etc., c. 3 - 20, Paris, 1555), Tournefort (Voyage du Levant, tom. i. lettre ii. et iii.), and Meursius (Creta, in his works, tom. iii. p. 343 - 544). Although Crete is styled by Homer by Dionysius I cannot conceive that mountainous island to surpass, or even to equal, in fertility the greater part of Spain.