a celebrated mountain of Chalcidia, in Macedonia, situated in long. 26. 20. E. and lat. 40. 10. N. The ancients entertained extravagant notions concerning its height. On many accounts it was famous amongst them, but it is no less so among the moderns. The Greeks, struck with its singular situation, and the venerable appearance of its towering ascent, rising as it does in the form of an isolated pyramid, erected so many churches, monasteries, hermitages, &c. upon it, that it became in a manner inhabited by devotees, and from thence received the name of the Holy Mountain, which it still retains, though many of those consecrated abodes are now decayed. This mountain advances into the Archipelago, being joined to the continent by an isthmus about half a league in breadth. It is 3353 feet in height, about 30 miles in circumference, and may be seen 90 miles off. It abounds with many different kinds of plants and trees, particularly the pine and fir. The appearance of the mountain at present is exceedingly interesting. Upon its sides there is scattered a profusion of convents, chapels, villages, cells, and grotts, inhabited by a number of monks of various countries, who never marry, and subsist on the most penitential fare. They are very industrious, cultivating the vine and the olive in the field, and practising various mechanical arts in their secluded abodes. The researches of Professor Carlyle for some years have at length completely dissipated the expectations long indulged of finding valuable manuscripts in these monasteries.

Through this mountain, or rather through the isthmus behind it, Xerxes, king of Persia, is said to have cut a passage for his fleet when about to invade Greece. In this work he spent three whole years, employing all the forces on board his fleet. The truth of such a canal being cut was long denied, but has at length been proved. Its remains were distinctly seen by Dr Sibthorp, partly filled with water. (See Walpole's Memoirs relating to Turkey, 1817.)