E GTT HE N, TEACES OF TRAVEL BROUGHT HOME FROM THE EAST. , HEROD, vii., 58. NEW YORK: WILEY AND PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY. 1845. R. CBAiaHKAIW Power Fre, CONTENTS, PAGE PREFACE v CHAP. I. OVER THE BORDER ...... 1 II. JOURNEY FROM BELGRADE TO CONSTANTINOPLE . 11 III. CONSTANTINOPLE 23 IV. THE TROAD 31 V. INFIDEL SMYRNA 37 VI. GREEK MARINERS 47 VII. CYPRUS 55 VIII. LADY HESTER STANHOPE .... .62 IX. THE SANCTUARY . . . . ... 84 X. THE MONKS OF THE HOLY LAND ... .87 XI. FROM NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS ... 93 XII. MY FIRST BIVOUAC 97 XIII. THE DEAD SEA 104 XIV. THE BLACK TENTS . . . . '..# . .110 XV. PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 113 XVI. TERRA SANTA . 118 XVII. THE DESERT 133 XVIII. CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 154 XIX. THE PYRAMIDS 176 XX. THE SPHYNX 179 XXI. CAIRO TO SUEZ 181 XXII. SUEZ 183 XXIII. SUEZ TO GAZA 193 XXIV. GAZA TO NABLOUS 199 XXV. MARIAM 203 XXVI. THE PROPHET DAMOOR 211 XXVII. DAMASCUS 215 XXVIII. PASS OF THE LEBANON . .-._'. . . 222 XXIX. SURPRISE OF SATALIEH .... 226 2036059 PREFACE ADDRESSED BY THE AUTHOR TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS, WHEN you first entertained the idea of travelling in the East, you asked me to send you an outline of the tour which I had made, in order that you might the better be able to choose a route for yourself. In answer to this re- quest, I gave you a large French map, on which the .course of my journeys had been carefully marked ; but I did not conceal from myself, that this was rather a dry mode for a man to adopt, when he wished to impart the results of his experience to a dear and intimate friend. Now, long be- fore the period of your planning an Oriental tour, I had intended to write some account of my Eastern Travels. I had, indeed, begun the task, and had failed ; I had begun it a second time, and failing again, had abandoned my at- tempt with a sensation of utter distaste. I was unable to speak out, and chiefly, I think, for this reason that I knew not to whom I was speaking. It might be you, or, perhaps, our Lady of Bitterness, who would read my story ; or it might be some member of the Royal Statistical Society, and how on earth was I to write in a way that would do for all three ? Well your request for a sketch of my tour suggested to me the idea of complying with your wish by a revival of my twice-abandoned attempt. I tried, and the pleasure and confidence which I felt hi speaking to you, soon made my task so easy, and even amusing, that after a while PREFACE. (though not in time for your tour), I completed the scrawl from which this book was originally printed. The very feeling, however, which enabled me to write thus freely, prevented me from robing my thoughts in that grave and decorous style which I should have maintained if I had professed to lecture the public. Whilst 1 feigned to myself that you, and you only, were listening, I could not by possibility speak very solemnly. Heaven forbid that I should talk to my own genial friend, as though he were a great and enlightened Community, or any other respectable Aggregate ! Yet I well understood that the mere fact of my professing to speak to you rather than to the public generally, could not perfectly excuse me for printing a narrative too roughly worded, and accordingly, in revising the proof sheets, I have struck out those phrases which seemed to be less fit for a published volume than for intimate conversation. It is hardly to be expected, however, that correction of this kind should be perfectly complete, or that the almost bois- terous tone in which many parts of the book were origi- nally written should be thoroughly subdued. I venture, therefore, to ask, that the familiarity of language still pos- sibly apparent in the work, may be laid to the account of our delightful intimacy, rather than to any presumptuous motive ; I feel, as you know, much too timidly too dis- tantly, and too respectfully, towards the Public, to be capa- ble of seeking to put myself on terms of easy fellowship with strange and casual readers. It is right to forewarn people (and I have tried to do this as well as I can, by my studiously unpromising title-page*) * " Eothen" is, I hope, almost the only hard word to be found in the book ; it is written in Greek >'i' poov hvep irpovBev lev Ka\\tppoov vtiup, but their old channels passing through that light pervious soil would have been lost in the nine days' flood, and perhaps the god, when he willed to bring back the rivers to their ancient beds, may have done his work but ill ; it is easier, they say, to destroy than it is to restore. We took to our horses again, and went southward towards the very plain between Troy and the tents of the Greeks, but we rode by a line at some distance from the shore. Whether it was that the lay of the ground hindered my view towards the sea, or that I was all intent upon Ida, or whether my mind was in vacancy, or whether, as is most like, I had strayed from the Dardan plains, all back to gentle England, there is now no knowing, nor caring, but it was not quite suddenly indeed, but rather as it were, in the swelling and falling of a single wave, that the reality of that very sea-view, which had bounded the sight of the Greeks, now visibly acceded to me, and rolled full in upon my brain. Conceive how deeply that eternal coast-line that fixed horizon those island rocks must have graven their images upon the minds of the Grecian warriors by the time that they had reached the ninth year of the siege! conceive the strength, and the fanciful beauty, of the speeches with which a whole army of imagining men must have told their weariness, and how the sauntering chiefs must have whelmed that daily, daily scene with their deep Ionian curses ! And now it was that my eyes were greeted with a delightful surprise. Whilst we were at Constantinople, Methley and I had pored over the map together j we agreed that whatever may 36 EOTHEN. [CHAP. iv. have been the exact site of Troy, the Grecian camp must have been nearly opposite to the space betwixt the islands of Imbros and Tenedos : but Methley reminded me of a passage in the Iliad in which Jove is represented as looking at the scene of action before Ilion from above the Island of Samothrace. Now, Samothrace, according to the map, appeared to be not only out of all seeing distance from the Troad, but to be entirely shut out from it by the inter- vening Imbros, which is a larger island, stretching its length right athwart the line of sight from Samothrace to Troy. Piously allowing that the eagle-eye of Jove might have seen the strife even from his own Olympus, I still felt that if a station were to be chosen from which to see the fight, old Homer, so material in his ways of thought, so averse from all haziness and over-reaching, would have meant to give the Thunderer a sta- tion within the reach of men's eyes from the plains of Troy. I think that this testing of the poet's words by map and compass, may have shaken a little of my faith in the completeness of his knowledge. Well, now I had come j there to the south was Tenedos, and here at my side was Imbros, all right, and according to the map, but aloft over Imbros aloft in a far-away Heaven was Samothrace, the watch-tower of Jove ! So Homer had appointed it, and so it was j the map was cor- rect enough, but could not, like Homer, convey the whole truth. Thus vain and false are the mere human surmises and doubts which clash with Homeric writ ! Nobody, whose mind had not been reduced to the most de- plorably logical condition, could look upon this beautiful con- gruity betwixt the Iliad and the material world, and yet bear to suppose that the poet may have learned the features of the coast from mere hearsay j now then, I believed now I knew that Homer had passed along here that this vision of Samothrace over-towering the nearer island was common to him and to me. After a journey of some few days by the route of Adramiti and Pergamo, we reached Smyrna. The letters which Methley here received obliged him to return to England. CHAP, v.] INFIDEL SMYRNA. CHAPTER V. Infidel Smyrna. SMYRNA, or Giaour Izmir, as the Mussulmans call it, is the main point of commercial contact betwixt Europe and Asia ; you are there surrounded by the people, and the confused cus- toms of many, and various nations you see the fussy European adopting the East, and calming his restlessness with the long Turkish pipe of tranquillity you see Jews offering services, and receiving blows* on one side you have a fellow whose dress and beard would give you a good idea of the true oriental, if it were not for the gobe-mouche expression of countenance with which he is swallowing an article in the National, and there, just by, is a genuine Osmanlee, smoking away with all the majesty of a Sultan, but before you have time to admire sufficiently his tranquil dignity, and his soft Asiatic repose, the poor old fellow is ruthlessly " run down " by an English mid- shipman, who has set sail on a Smyrna hack. Such are the incongruities of the " infidel city," at ordinary times ; but when I was there, our friend Carrigaholt had imported himself, and his oddities, as an accession to the other and inferior wonders * The Jews of Smyrna are poor, and having little merchandize of their own to dispose of, they are sadly importunate in offering their services as intermediaries ; their troublesome conduct has led to the custom of beating them in the open streets. It is usual for Europeans to carry long sticks with them for the express purpose of keeping off the chosen people. I always felt ashamed to strike the poor fellows myself, but I confess to the amuse- ment with which I witnessed the observance of this custom by other people ; the Jew seldom got hurt much, for he was always expecting the blow, and was ready to recede from it the moment it came ; one could not help being rather gratified at seeing him bound away so nimbly with his long robes floating out in the air, and then again wheel round, and return with fresh importunities. 38 EOTHEN. [CHAP. v. of Smyrna. I was sitting alone in my room one day at Con- stantinople, when I heard Methley approaching my door with shouts of laughter and welcome, and presently I recognized that peculiar cry by which our friend Carrigaholt expresses his emotions ; he soon explained to us the final causes by which the fates had worked out their .wonderful purpose of bringing him to Constantinople. He was always, you know, very fond of sailing, but he had got into such sad scrapes (including I think a lawsuit) on account of his last yacht, that he took it into his head to have a cruise in a merchant vessel, so he went to Liver- pool, and looked through the craft lying ready to sail, till he found a smart schooner which perfectly suited his taste : the destination of the vessel was the last thing he thought of, and when he was told that she was bound for Constantinople, he merely assented to that as a part of the arrangement to which he had no objection. When the vessel had sailed, the hapless passenger discovered that his skipper carried on board an enor- mous wife with an inquiring mind, and an irresistible tendency to impart her opinions. She looked upon her guest as upon a piece of waste intellect that ought to be carefully tilled. She tilled him accordingly. If the Dons at Oxford could have seen poor Carrigaholt thus absolutely " attending lectures " in the bay of Biscay, they would surely have thought him sufficiently punished for all the wrongs he did them, whilst he was preparing himself under their care for the other, and more boisterous University. The voyage did not last more than six or eight weeks, and the philosophy inflicted on Carrigaholt was not entirely fatal to him ; certainly he was somewhat emaciated, and for aught I know, he may have subscribed somewhat too largely to the " Feminine-right-of-reason Society ;" but it did not appear that his health had been seriously affected. There was a scheme on foot, it would seem, for taking the passenger back to England in the same schooner a scheme, in fact, for keeping him perpetually afloat, and perpetually saturated with argu- ments; but when Carrigaholt found himself ashore, and re- membered that the skipperina (who had imprudently remained on board), was not there to enforce her suggestions, he was open to the hints of his servant (a very sharp fellow), who arranged CHAP, v.] INFIDEL SMYRNA. 39 a plan for escaping, and finally brought off his master to Giu- seppini's Hotel. Our friend afterwards went by sea to Smyrna, and there he now was in his glory. He had a good, or at all events a gen- tleman-like judgment in matters of taste, and as his great object was to surround himself with all that his fancy could dictate, he lived in a state of perpetual negotiation ; he was for ever on the point of purchasing, not only the material productions of the place, but all sorts of such fine ware as " intelligence," " fidelity," and so on. He was most curious, however, as a purchaser of the " affections." Sometimes he would imagine that he had a marital aptitude, and his fancy would sketch a graceful picture, in which he appeared reclining on a divan, With a beautiful Greek woman fondly couched at his feet, and soothing him with the witchery of her guitar ; having satisfied himself with the ideal picture thus created, he would pass into action ; the guitar he would buy instantly, and would give such intimations of his wish to be wedded to a Greek, as could not fail to produce great excitement in the families of the beautiful Smyrniotes. Then again (and just in time perhaps to save him from the yoke), his dream would pass away, and another would come in its stead ; he would suddenly feel the yearnings of a father's love, and willing by force of gold to transcend all natural preliminaries, he would give instructions for the pur- chase of some dutiful child that could be warranted to love him as a parent. Then at another time he would be convinced that the attachment of menials might satisfy the longings of his affectionate heart, and thereupon he would give orders to his slave-merchant for something in the way of eternal fidelity. You may well imagine that this anxiety of Carrigaholt to pur- chase (not only the scenery) but the many dramatis personse belonging to his dreams, with all their goodness, and graces complete, necessarily gave an immense' stimulus to the trade and intrigue of Smyrna, and created a demand for human vir- tues which the moral resources of the place were totally inade- quate to supply. Every day after breakfast, this lover of the Good and the Beautiful held a levee, which was often exceedingly amusing ; in his ante-room, there would be not only the sellers 40 EOTHEN. [CHAP. v. of pipes, and slippers, and shawls, and such like Oriental mer- chandize, not only embroiderers, and cunning workmen patiently striving to realize his visions of Albanian dresses not only the servants offering for places, and the slave-dealer tendering his sable ware, but there would be the Greek master, waiting to teach his pupil the grammar of the soft Ionian tongue, in which he was to delight the wife of his imagination, and the music- master who was to teach him some sweet replies to the antici- pated sounds of the fancied guitar ; and then above all, and proudly eminent with undisputed preference of entree, and fraught with the mysterious tidings on which the realization of the whole drama might depend, was the mysterious match- maker,* enticing, and postponing the suitor, yet ever keeping alive in his soul the love of that pictured virtue whose beauty (unseen by eyes) was half revealed to the Imagination. You would have thought that this practical dreaming must have soon brought Carrigaholt to a bad end, but he was in much less danger than you would suppose ; for besides that the new visions of happiness almost always came in time to counteract the fatal completion of the preceding scheme, his high breeding and his delicately sensitive taste almost always came to his aid, at times, when he was left without any other protection, and the efficacy of these qualities in keeping a man out of harm's way is really immense j in all baseness and imposture there is a coarse, vulgar spirit, which, however artfully concealed for a time, must sooner or later show itself in some little circum- stance, sufficiently plain to occasion an instant jar upon the minds of those whose taste is lively and true j to such men a shock of this kind disclosing the ugliness of a cheat, is more effec- tively convincing than any mere proofs could be. Thus guarded from isle to isle, and through Greece, and through Albania, this practical Plato, with a purse in his hand, carried on his mad chase after the Good and the Beautiful, and yet returned in safety to his home. But now, poor fellow ! the lowly grave, that is the end of men's romantic hopes, has closed * Marriages in the East are arranged by professed match-makers ; many of these, I believe, are Jewesses, CHAP, v.] INFIDEL SMYRNA. 41 over all his rich fancies, and all his high aspirations ; he is utterly married ! No more hope, no more change for him no more relays he must go on Vetturini-wise to the appointed end of his journey ! Smyrna, I think, may be called the chief town, and capital of the Grecian race, against which you will be cautioned so care- fully as soon as you touch the Levant. You will say that I ought not to confound as one people the Greeks living under a constitutional government, with the unfortunate Rayahs who " groan under the Turkish yoke," but I can't see that political events have hitherto produced any strongly marked difference of character. If I could venture to rely (which I feel that I cannot at all do) upon my own observation, I should tell you that there was more heartiness and strength in the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire than in those of the new kingdom the truth is, that there is a greater field for commercial enterprise, and even for Greek ambitions, under the Ottoman sceptre, than is to be found in the dominions of Otho. Indeed the people, by their frequent migrations from the limits of the constitutional kingdom, to the territories of the Porte, seem to show, that, on the whole, they prefer " groaning under the Turkish yoke," to the honor of " being the only true source of legitimate power," in their own land. For myself, I love the race ; in spite of all their vices, and even in spite of all their meanness, I remember the blood that is in them, and still love the Greeks. The Osmanlees are, of course, by nature, by religion, and by politics, the strong foes of the Hellenic people, and as the Greeks, poor fellows ! hap- pen to be a little deficient in some of the virtues which facilitate the transaction of commercial business (such as veracity, fidel- ity, &c.), it naturally follows that they are highly unpopular with the European merchants. Now, these are the persons through whom, either directly or indirectly, is derived the greater part of the information which you gather in the Levant, and therefore you must make up your mind to hear an almost universal and unbroken testimony against the character of the people, whose ancestors invented Virtue. And strange to say, the Greeks themselves do not attempt to disturb this general una- 42 EOTHEN. [CHAP. v. nimity of opinion by any dissent on their part. Question a Greek on the subject, and he will tell you at once that the people are " traditori," and will then, perhaps, endeavor to shake off his fair share of the imputation, by asserting that his father had been dragoman to some foreign embassy, and that he (the son), therefore, by the law of nations, had ceased to be Greek. "E dunque no siete traditore ?" " Possibile, Signor, ma almeno lo no sono Greco." Not even the diplomatic representatives of the Hellenic king- dom are free from the habit of depreciating their brethren. I recollect, that at one of the ports in Syria, a Greek vessel was rather unfairly kept in quarantine by order of the Board of Health, which consisted entirely of Europeans. A consular agent from the kingdom of Greece had lately hoisted his flag in the town, and the captain of the vessel drew up a remonstrance, which he requested his -consul to present to the Board. " Now, is this reasonable ?" said the consul, "is it reasonable that I should place myself in collision with all the principal European gentlemen of the place for the sake of you, a Greek ?" The skipper was greatly vexed at the failure of his application, but he scarcely even questioned the justice of the ground which his consul had taken. Well, it happened some time afterwards, that I found myself at the same port, having gone thither- with the view of embarking for the port of Syra. I was anxious of course to elude as carefully as possible the quarantine detention which threatened me on my arrival, and hearing that the Greek consul had a brother who was a man in authority at Syra, I got myself presented to the former, and took' the liberty of asking him to give me such a letter of introduction to his relative at Syra, as might possibly have the effect of shortening the term of my quarantine, he acceded to this request with the utmost kindness and courtesy ; but when he replied to my thanks by saying that " in serving an Englishman he was doing no more than his strict duty commanded," not even my gratitude could prevent me from calling to mind his treatment of the poor cap- tain who had the misfortune of not being alien in blood to his consul, and appointed protector. I think that the change which has taken place in the charac- CHAP, v.] INFIDEL SMYRNA. 43 ter of the Greeks has been occasioned, in great measure, by the doctrines and practice of their religion. The Greek Church has animated the Muscovite peasant, and inspired him with hopes and ideas, which, however humble, are still better than none at all ; but the faith, and the forms, and the strange eccle- siastical literature which act so advantageously upon the mere clay of the Russian serf, seem to hang like lead upon the ethereal spirit of the Greek. Never, in any part of the world, have I seen religious performances so painful to witness as those of the Greeks. The horror, however, with which one shudders at their worship, is attributable, in some measure, to the mere effect of costume. In all the Ottoman dominions, and very fre- quently too, in the Kingdom of Otho, the Greeks wear turbans, or other head-dresses, and shave their heads, leaving only a rat's-tail at the crown of the head ; they of course keep them- selves covered within doors, as well as abroad, and never remove their head-gear, merely on account of being in a church : but when the Greek stops to worship at his proper shrine, then, and then only, he always uncovers ; and as you see him thus with shaven skull, and savage tail pending from his crown, kissing a thing of wood and glass, and cringing with base prostrations, and apparent terror, before a miserable picture, you see super- stition in a shape, which, outwardly at least, looks sadly abject, and repulsive. The fasts, too, of the Greek Church, produce an ill effect upon the character of the people, for they are carried to such an ex- tent, as to bring about a bona fide mortification of the flesh ; the febrile irritation of the frame operating in conjunction with the depression of spirits occasioned by abstinence, will so far answer EOTHEN. [CHAP. v. the objects of the rite, as to engender some religious excitement, but this is of a morbid and gloomy character, and it seems to be certain, that along with the increase of sanctity, there comes a fiercer desire for the perpetration of dark crimes. The num. ber of murders committed during Lent is greater, I am told, than at any other time of the year. A man under the influence of a bean dietary (for this is the principal food of the Greeks during their fasts), will be in an apt humor for enriching the shrine of his Saint, and passing a knife through his next door neighbor. The moneys deposited upon the shrines are appro- priated by priests ; the priests are married men, and have fami- lies to provide for ; they " take the good with the bad," and con- tinue to recommend fasts. Then, too, the Greek Church enjoins her followers to keep holy such a vast number of Saints' days, as practically to shorten the lives of the people very materially. I believe that one third out of the number of days in the year are " kept holy," or rather, kept stupid, in honor of the Saints ; no great portion of the time thus set apart is spent in religious exercises, and the people don't betake themselves to any animating pas- times, which might serve to strengthen the frame, or invigorate the mind, or exalt the taste. On the contrary, the Saints' days of the Greeks in Smyrna, are passed in the same manner as the Sabbaths of well-behaved Protestant housemaids in London that is to say, in a steady and serious contemplation of street scenery. The men perform this duty at the doors of their houses, the women at the windows, which the custom of Greek towns has so decidedly appropriated to them as the proper station of their sex, that a man would be looked upon as utterly effemi- nate if he ventured to choose that situation fdr the keeping of the Saints' days. I was present one day at a treaty for the hire of some apartments at Smyrna, which was carried on between Carrigaholt, and the Greek woman to whom the rooms belonged. Carrigaholt objected that the windows commanded no view of the street : immediately the brow of the majestic matron was clouded, and with all the scorn of a Spartan mother, she coolly asked Carrigaholt and said, " Art thou a tender damsel that thou wouldest sit, and gaze from windows ?" The man whom CHAP, v.] INFIDEL SMYRNA. 45 she addressed, however, had not gone to Greece with any intention of placing himself under the laws of Lycurgus, and was not to be diverted from his views by a Spartan rebuke, so he took care to find himself windows after his own heart, and there, I believe, for many a month, he kept the Saints' days, and all the days intervening, after the fashion of Grecian women. Oh ! let me be charitable to all who write, and to all who lecture, and to all who preach, since even I, a lay-man not forced to write at all, can hardly avoid chiming in with some tuneful cant ! I have had the heart to talk about the pernicious effects of the Greek holidays, to which I owe some of my most beautiful visions ! I will let the words stand, as an humbling proof that I am subject to that immutable law which compels a man with a pen in his hand to be uttering every now and then some sentiment not his own. It seems as though the power of expressing regrets and desires by written symbols were coupled with a condition that the writer should from time to time express the regrets and desires of other people as though, like a French peasant under the old regime, one were bound to perform a cer- tain amount of work upon the public highways. I rebel as stoutly as I can against this horrible corvee I try not to deceive you I try to set down the thoughts which are fresh within me, and not to pretend any wishes, or griefs, which I do not really feel, but no sooner do I cease from watchfulness in this regard, than my right hand is, as it were, seized by some false demon, and even now, you see, I have been forced to put down such words and sentences as I ought to have written if really and truly I had wished to disturb the Saints' days of the beautiful Smyrniotes ! Which, Heaven forbid ! for as you move through the narrow streets of the city, at these times of festival, the transom-shaped windows suspended over your head, on either side, are filled with the beautiful descendants of the old Ionian race ; all (even yonder Empress that sits throned at the window of that humblest mud cottage) are attired with seeming magnificence ; their classic heads are crowned with scarlet, and loaded with jewels, 46 EOTHEN. [CHAP. v. or coins of gold the whole wealth of the wearers ;* their features are touched with a savage pencil, which hardens the outline of eyes and eye-brows and lends an unnatural fire to the stern^ grave looks, with which they pierce your brain. Endure their fiery eyes as best you may, and ride on slowly and reverently, for facing you from the side of the transom, that looks long-wise through the street, you see the one glorious shape transcendant in its beauty ; you see the massive braid of hair as it catches a touch of light on its jetty surface and the broad, calm, angry brow the large black eyes, deep set, and self-relying like the eyes of a conqueror, with their rich shadows of thought lying darkly around them, you see the thin fiery nostril, and the bold line of the chin and throat disclosing all the fierceness, and all the pride, passion, and power, that can live along with the rare womanly beauty of those sweetly turned lips. But then there is a terrible stillness in this breath- ing image ; it seems like the stillness of a savage that sits in- tent, and brooding day by day, upon some one fearful scheme of vengeance, but yet more like it seems to the stillness of an Immortal, whose will must be known, and obeyed without sign or speech. Bow down ! Bow down, and adore the young Persephone, transcendant Queen of Shades ! * A Greek woman wears her whole fortune upon her person, in the shape of jewels, or gold coins ; I believe that this mode of investment is adopted in great measure for safety's sake. It has the advantage of enabling a suitor to reckon, as well as to admire the objects of his affection. CHAP, vi.] GREEK MARINERS. 47 CHAPTER VI. Greek Mariners. I SAILED from Smyrna in the Amphitrite, a Greek brigantine, which was confidently said to be bound for the coast of Syria, but I knew that this announcement was not to be relied upon with positive certainty, for the Greek mariners are practically free from the stringency of ship's papers, and where they will, there they go. However, I had the whole of the cabin for my- self, and my attendant, Mysseri, subject only to the society of the Captain at the hour of dinner ; being at ease in this respect, being furnished too with plenty of books, and finding an unfail- ing source of interest in the thorough Greekness of my Captain and my crew, I felt less anxious than most people would have been about the probable length of the cruise ; I knew enough of Greek navigation to be sure that our vessel would cling to Earth like a child to its mother's knee, and that I should touch at many an isle before I set foot upon the Syrian coast ; but I had no invidious preference for Europe, Asia, or Africa, and I felt that I could defy the winds to blow me upon a coast that was blank, and void of interest. My patience was extremely useful to me, for the cruise altogether endured some forty days, and that in the midst of winter. According to me, the most interesting of all the Greeks (male Greeks) are the mariners, because their pursuits and their so- cial condition are so nearly the same as those of their glorious ancestors j you will say, that the occupation of commerce must have smoothed down the salience of their minds, and this would be so perhaps, if their mercantile affairs were conducted accord- ing to the fixed business-like routine of Europeans ; but the ventures of the Greeks are surrounded by such a multitude of imagined dangers, and (from the absence of regular marts in 48 EOTHEN. [CHAP. vi. which the true value of merchandize can be ascertained) are so entirely speculative, and besides, are conducted in a manner so wholly determined upon by the wayward fancies and wishes of the crew, that they belong to Enterprise, rather than to in- dustry, and are very far indeed from tending to deaden any freshness of character. The vessels in which war and piradflr were carried on during the years of the Greek Revolution, became merchantmen at the end of the war but the tactics of the Greeks, as naval war- riors, were so exceedingly cautious, and their habits, as commer- cial mariners, are so wild, that the change has been more slight than you might imagine. The first care of Greeks (Greek Rayahs) when they undertake a shipping enterprise, is to pro- cure for their vessel the protection of some European Power ; this is easily managed by a little intriguing with the Dragoman of one of the Embassies at Constantinople, and the critffc soon glories in the ensign of Russia, or the dazzling Tricolor, or the Union Jack ; thus, to the great delight of her crew, she enters upon the ocean world with a flaring lie at her peak, but the appearance of the vessel does no discredit to the borrowed flag ; she is frailer, perhaps, than the rest of her sex, but she does not look the worse for this in harbor ; she is gracefully built, and smartly rigged ; she always carries guns, and in short, gives good promise of mischief and speed. The privileges attached to the vessel "and her crew, by virtue of the borrowed flag, are so great as to imply a degree of liberty, greater than that which is enjoyed by individuals in our more strictly civilized countries, so that there is no pretence for say- ing that the development of the true character belonging to Greek mariners is prevented by the dominion of the Ottomans ; they are free, too, from the power of the great capitalist whose imperial sway is more withering than despotism itself, to the enterprises of humble adventurers. The capital employed is supplied by those whose labor is to render it productive ; the crew receive no wages, but have all a share in the venture, and in general, I believe, they are the owners of the whole freight ; they choose a Captain to whom they entrust just power enough to keep the vessel on her course in fine weather, but not quite CHAP, vi.] GREEK MARINERS. 49 enough for a gale of wind ; they also elect a cook and a mate ; the cook whom we had on board was particularly careful about the ship's reckoning, and when, under the influence of the keen sea breeze, we grew fondly expectant of an instant dinner, the great author of pilafs would be standing on deck with an ancient quadrant in his hands, calmly affecting to take an observation. But then to make up for this, the Captain would be exercising a controlling influence over the soup, so that all, in the end, went well. Our mate was a Hydriot, a native of that island rock which grows nothing but mariners and mariners' wives. His character seemed to be exactly that which is generally attribut- ed to the Hydriot race ; he was fierce, and gloomy, and lonely in his ways. One of his principal duties seemed to be that of acting as counter-captain, or leader of the opposition, denounc- ing the first symptoms of tyranny, and protecting even the cabin-boy from oppression. Besides this, when things went smoothly, he would begin to prognosticate evil, in order that his more light-hearted comrades might not be puffed up with the seeming good fortune of the moment. It seemed to me that the personal freedom of these sailors, who own no superiors except those of their own choice, is as like as may be to that of their sea-faring ancestors. And even in their mode of navigation they have admitted no such an entire change as you would suppose probable ; it is true that they have so far availed themselves of modern discoveries as to look to the compass instead of the stars, and that they have supersed- ed the immortal Gods of their forefathers by St. Nicholas in his glass case,* but they are not yet so confident either in their needle or their Saint, as to love an open sea, and they still hug their shores as fondly as the Argonauts of old. Indeed, they have a most unsailorlike love for the land, and I really believe that in a gale of wind they would rather have a rock-bound coast on their lee, than no coast at all. According to the notions of an English seaman, this kind of navigation would * St. Nicholas is the great patron of Greek sailors ; a small picture of him enclosed in a glass case is hung up like a barometer at one end of the cabin. GO EOTHEN. [CHAP. vi. soon bring the vessel on which it might be practised, to an evil end. The Greek, however, is unaccountably successful in escaping the consequences of being "jammed in," as it is called, upon a lee shore; he is favored, I suppose, by the nature of the coast along which he sails, especially those of the many islands through which he threads his way in the ^Egean, for there is generally, I think, deep water home to the very cliffs, and besides there are innumerable coves in which the dexterous sailor, who knows and loves the land so well, will contrive to find a shelter. These seamen, like their forefathers, rely upon no winds unless they are right a-stern, or on the quarter ; they rarely go on a wind if it blows at all fresh, and if the adverse breeze ap- proaches to a gale, they at once fumigate St. Nicholas, and put up the helm. The consequence, of course, is, that under the ever- vary ing winds of the ^Egean they are blown about in the most whimsical manner. I used to think that Ulysses, with his ten years' voyage, had taken his time in making Ithaca, but my experience in Greek navigation soon made me understand that he had, in point of fact, a pretty good " average passage." Such are now the mariners of the .