krene Arethouse,
Esthousai balanon menoeikea, kai melan hudor
Pinousai; Odussei N.]

"Having passed some time at the fountain, taken a drawing, and made
the necessary observations on the situation of the place, we
proceeded to an examination of the precipice, climbing over the
terraces above the source, among shady fig-trees, which, however, did
not prevent us from feeling the powerful effects of the mid-day sun.
After a short but fatiguing ascent, we arrived at the rock, which
extends in a vast perpendicular semicircle, beautifully fringed with
trees, facing to the southeast. Under the crag we found two caves of
inconsiderable extent, the entrance of one of which, not difficult of
access, is seen in the view of the fount. They are still the resort
of sheep and goats, and in one of them are small natural receptacles
for the water, covered by a stalagmitic incrustation.

"These caves, being at the extremity of the curve formed by the
precipice, open toward the south, and present us with another
accompaniment of the fount of Arethusa, mentioned by the poet, who
informs us that the swineherd Eumaeus left his guests in the house,
whilst he, putting on a thick garment, went to sleep near the herd,
under the hollow of the rock, which sheltered him from the northern
blast. Now we know that the herd fed near the fount; for Minerva
tells Ulysses that he is to go first to Eumaeus, whom he should find
with the swine, near the rock Korax and the fount of Arethusa. As the
swine then fed at the fountain, so it is necessary that a cavern
should be found in its vicinity; and this seems to coincide, in
distance and situation, with that of the poem. Near the fount also
was the fold or stathmos of Eumaeus; for the goddess informs Ulysses
that he should find his faithful servant at or above the fount.

"Now the hero meets the swineherd close to the fold, which was
consequently very near that source. At the top of the rock, and just
above the spot where the waterfall shoots down the precipice, is at
this day a stagni or pastoral dwelling, which the herdsmen of Ithaca
still inhabit, on account of the water necessary for their cattle.
One of these people walked on the verge of the precipice at the time
of our visit to the place, and seemed so anxious to know how we had
been conveyed to the spot, that his enquiries reminded us of a
question probably not uncommon in the days of Homer, who more than
once represents the Ithacences demandi