Norwich bulletin., 1917-01-19
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

The island of Lesbos, whose inhabi- tants were not far behind the Cretans in expressing in revolutionary out burst their dissatisfaction with the failure to throw the weight of Greek side of the Entente Allies, is the sub ject of timely war geography bulle- tin issued by the National Geographic Society. from it's headquarters in
 Washington which says:
 Lesbos, often called Mytilene after the islands famous capital and chief city, lies on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea, separated from the shores of Asia Minor by channel which at it's narrowest point is not more than seven miles across. That part of the mainland opposite the is- land Wass known in ancient times as Troad (the land of Troy) and in Ho- moric legend Lesbos was given as one of the bounds of the region ruled by King Priam. It lies almost midway between smyrna and the Dardanelles.
 The area of Lesbos is about 675 square miles larger than the Isle of Pines, off the coast of Cuha), and it's surface is succession of wellwood- ed mountains and fertile valleys. The shallow Gulf of KaIloni. entering from the southwest. almost cuts the the island in two. Mt Olympus, on the southern promontory, reaches an eel ovation of more than 5000 feet.
 Tn ancient days Lesbos was famous Tor its wines, it's oil and its grain, but the vineyards are no longer es- pecialiy productive. The olive is now the chief product of the island, and much of this fruit is converted into cattle, and hides are other articles of commerce, also the acorns of the val onia oak, extensively used in tanning and in the preparation of vegetable
 Although 90 per cent of the islands population of 130 900 Is Greek the territory was under Turkish rule until three years ago when Greece assumed control. following the second Balkan war. The Turk came into possession of the island in the middle of the fifteenth century when Mohammed IT Wrested 1t from the descendants of the Genoese noble, Francesca Gatti- iusis, who had received it from the Byzantine emperors in 1854.
 Besides the famous struggles over the city of Mytilene, recited in preyi- ous bulletin of the National Geogra- pnlc Society, several important mar the waters adjacent to Lesbos, not ably those in which the Venetians de- feated the Turks in 1690-ss. and the Greeks bested the same power in 1921.
 In addition to Pittacus, one of the seven Stages of Greece, and Sappho, the greatest woman poet of the an- cients, Lesbos hall of fame boasts of Terpander, the founder of Greek classical music and of lyric poetry and famous composer of drinking songs: Alcaeus, poet and inventor of rne A1caic stanza, much used by Hor- ace. and Theophrastus, the famus philosopher and pupil of Aristotle whom the latter named as guardian of his children and to whom he be- queathed the Aristotelean 1ibary and original works. After Aristotle's death Theophrastus presided over the Per ipatetfc school for 35 years, up to the time of his death in 287 B. C., when he was given public funeral ifi Athens and mourned by the entire populace. Lesches, author of The Little Iliad,' a continuance of the Homeric epic from the death of Hec- tor through the incidents relating to the contest of Ulysses and Ajax over the armor of Achilles, was also a na- tive of Lesbos, having been born at Pyrrha, one of the five towns which gave the island the name of Pentapo- lis in the early days of it's colouixa- tien by the Asolians from Boeotia."