[Footnote 79: The authors from whom I have learned the most
of the ancient and modern state of Crete, are Belon,
(Observations, &c., 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.]