Poverty

"Whatever may have been the comfort or splendour with which the former ecclesiastical dignitaries of the place lived, nothing could be more meagre than our fare in the house of the Papás [priest]. With considerable difficulty three eggs and an oke of milk were found in the village.

After this sorry meal we tried to sleep. The Papás, his wife, two tall daughters, two full-grown sons, some younger children, two asses, two cows, and a young calf were the ordinary nightly inmates of the single apartment of the cottage and to their number my party was now added. We seemed to be transported back more than three thousand years...

The presence of four-legged animals was far from being the only source of discomfort which we found in the priest's cottage. I might speak of other innumerable companions of our couch..."

(Robert Pashley, Travels in Crete, Cambridge: The Pitt Press 1837, vol. Ι: 269-270)