to accede to the Quadruple Alliance in 1720, and to relinquish their
claim to Sicily and Sardinia. But the Emperor having forfeited the
protection of England, the Spaniards, about fifteen years after this
treaty, made themselves masters of Sicily and Naples, as I have already
related.
Messina was surrounded on the land side by a strong rampart, which,
since the earthquake, has been entirely neglected. The Citadel is a
regular square fort, with ravelins, counterguards, and a good covered
way. It stands on that part of the neck of land which forms the mole,
where this neck joins the island, and is kept in excellent condition;
yet notwithstanding its artificial strength, it is of little use but as
a place of arms, since an enemy having possession of the town, may
destroy every vessel under its guns; but two other strong castles secure
the shipping from any insult from the sea.
The neighbourhood is excessively fertile and populous, and we find the
people very civil; but in the interior country, I am told they are
rather savage.
LETTER XIII.
TO CAPTAIN SMITH.
Modon, October 19.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
We are, at last, arrived on the confines of Greece, a venerable name,
now almost lost in that of Turkey in Europe, and its former splendour so
entirely reversed, that I am particularly fortunate in finding a
conveyance for a letter. Here are no posts in this neglected country,
and the people once so accomplished, are in utter ignorance of what
passes in the world, except from the vague reports they get from
vessels, which now and then put in here. And this, alas! is the unhappy
fate of all the south and eastern coast of Greece.
But before I say any thing more of this place, I must carry you back to
Messina, and give you some account of our voyage.
Thursday, October 9th.
We left Messina at eleven o'clock this morning, and at twelve passed
Reggio on the coast of Calabria. The country appears extremely barren,
but is full of inhabitants and small towns.
Just before midnight, when all below were locked in sleep, and even
those upon deck had scarce strength to resist the drowsy langour brought
on by four hours duty; in this silent moment, when superstition, ever
powerful in the mind of the sailor, gains new force from the surrounding
gloom, the watch were rouzed with terror and astonishment, by a sudden
illumination of the whole atmosphere. Their eyes, instantly turned to
Heaven, were scarce reverted, when every part of the ship appeared in a
blaze, and continued so for many seconds.
Struck by so awful a sight, in the dead of the night, a general silence
prevailed, and many, unable to divine the cause of so sudden, and so
tremendous an apparition, thought the last day was approaching. Their
fears were still increased by observing through the sails, an immense
ball of fire floating in the air a-head of the ship; but they were, at
length, relieved by its falling into the sea.
The account our friends gave us the next morning, led us into a
dissertation on fireballs, which philosophers say are produced by an
exceeding great power of electricity, gradually accumulated, until the
resistance of the atmosphere being no longer able to sustain it, it
drops down slowly, and in no particular direction, not being drawn by
any substance which would attract this electric matter, in the shape of
common lightning.
October 10th.
Sunset. A westerly breeze has carried us past Cape Spartevento, and we
are now just an hundred miles from the coast of Sicily. Mount Ætna is
still in sight, and the sun setting directly behind it, forms one of
those heavenly scenes, which at once affects us with the beautiful and
sublime. Notwithstanding our very great distance, the mountain is so
many degrees above the horizon, that would day-light continue, we should
see it twenty miles farther. How great does nature appear in these
wonderful works!
October 11th.
Lat. 37° 36′. In the last twenty-four hours we have run an hundred and
forty-three miles, and are so far across the Adriatic, or Gulph of
Venice, as to have land in sight a-head. This breeze is almost the only
fair one we have had since we left Gibraltar, and it is now growing
calm.
October 12th.
Sunset. We are now between Zante and Cephalonia, with the Morea in
front. The part of the islands near us are very rocky and barren, with
no verdure except from some scattered olive trees, and brushwood; but
the more distant part of Cephalonia appears well cultivated.
Sunday, October 14th.
We lay to all the night before last, and yesterday morning anchored in
the harbour of Zante. Lat. 37°. 50′. Long. 21°. 15′. east.
The nearest part of this island is nine miles from Cephalonia, and the
same distance from the Morea, and an hundred leagues from Messina. It is
above seventy miles in circumference; contains forty thousand souls, and
carries on a very considerable trade in dried fruits, particularly
currants, so called from a corruption of Corinth, from whence the vines
were originally imported.
On the hill above the town there is a fort, very advantageously
situated, but much out of repair. It is subject to the Venetians, who
have now a ship of the line and three frigates in the harbour. The
senior Captain very civilly informed us, that, from his great respect
for the English, he would be happy to salute us, if we would return gun
for gun; to which we readily consented.
By orders from Venice, the Governor at this juncture, imposes a
quarantine of seven days on all vessels, even from his own nearest
ports; and therefore, not being allowed to land here, we are going to a
less frequented part of the island, where the quarantine is not
enforced.
October 15th.
We got under way yesterday evening, and the wind not permitting us to
continue our voyage, we stood to the north-east towards Patras, at the
mouth of the Gulf of Lepanto; but the wind changing, we put about at
twelve this morning, just as we got in sight of its entrance, near the
spot on which Don John of Austria obtained the celebrated victory over
the Turkish fleet in the year 1571.
In this cruize we have had a view of Ithaca, in which we were told at
Zante, the foundation of Ulysses' Palace is still to be traced. His
island is now called Little Cephalonia, is about twenty miles long,
appears very barren, but is said to be well peopled, though with a very
vile race. Zante and the greater Cephalonia also belonged to Ulysses,
and are both described by the ancients, as being remarkably fertile. The
latter is by much the largest, the former the most productive.
A little to the north of Ithaca, in the Island of St. Mauro, is the
famous Promontory of Leucate, the Lover's Leap, celebrated by the
Spectator, in his beautiful panegyric on the tender Sappho. Even Venus
herself is said to have been led there by Apollo, to be cured of her
passion for Adonis.
October 16th.
Wind again contrary. Tacking off Zante, to get into a small bay, where
there is a curious spring, from which a great quantity of tar oozes; but
not being able to gain the anchorage before sunset, and the wind
becoming fair for our course, we stood to the south, and in the night
passed the Strophades, a set of small low islands, where Æneas was
attacked by the Harpies.
It was not without regret that I passed by Zante, without landing there.
It was the only place in the Venetian territories we had any chance of
visiting, and I wished much to see the effect of a Government, in which
Despotism, in the form of a Republic, makes her votaries believe that
Tyranny is Liberty. But by what I could learn from the traders, and a
few other people, to whom I had an opportunity of speaking, the police
is really shocking.
The Governors are generally needy men, but, by accepting fines as a
remission for murder, they are soon enriched, perhaps by the ruin of the
widow and the orphan.--Is your husband assassinated--your father
murdered? Dry up your tears--your Governor is three guineas richer. Do
you remonstrate? For three guineas more you may let loose all the demons
of revenge.
Thus one murder produces another; whole families are involved in
destruction, or at best live in perpetual alarms; justice never
interferes, and society is of course destroyed.
Whilst reflections of this kind distress the Philanthrope who visits
Zante, the naturalist finds the tar spring an object well worthy his
curiosity. The trade of the island is also a subject on which I should
like to be better informed. On an average, the annual produce in
currants is ten million pounds weight. Almost the whole of which,
besides nearly the same quantity brought from Cephalonia, and the
adjacent parts of the Morea, are taken by the English, who load thirty
vessels every year.
This trade, however, seems to be a very losing one to us, since our
productions have no sale at Zante, and the tin, lead, alum, and a few
other articles which we carry to Venice, bear no proportion in value to
the fruit we bring home.
It is true, our revenue is considerably increased by a duty of
twenty-three pounds sterling on every ton of currants, which is one half
as much again as the prime cost, the common price at Zante being fifteen
guineas. But this tax is railed upon ourselves, and does not check the
importation of this foreign commodity, since we consume three-fourths of
what the island yields. It might, therefore, as well be levied on some
of our own productions, as on our hereditary plumb-pudding.
October 17th.
Having passed two little forts, called the Navarins, at noon we anchored
off Modon, Lat. 37°, Long. 15° 45′, distant from Gibraltar near fourteen
hundred miles. And now, having brought the ship to an anchor, I shall
proceed with the observations I introduced at the commencement of this
letter.
Modon is a small Turkish town, on the south-west corner of the Morea,
which you recollect is the Peloponnesus of the Ancients, and almost an
island, being separated from the rest of Greece by the gulph of Lepanto,
and only joined to it by the narrow isthmus of Corinth. After the Greek
and Roman ages, it was conquered by the Turks, and afterwards by the
Venetians, to whom the former ceded it by the Treaty of Carlowitz, but
retook it in 1715, and have maintained it ever since, notwithstanding
that, during their last war, Modon was taken by the Russians, who were
immediately joined by the Greeks; but the Turks sending a large army
thither, Count Orlow and his troops were obliged to abandon their
associates to the fury of their enemies, who massacred fifteen thousand
of them.
This is the Turkish method of terminating a rebellion, which they say is
only to be done by destroying the seeds: but, to palliate their
inhumanity, they allege, that, whenever the Greeks have gained any
advantage, they have been still more barbarous; that they have spared
neither age nor sex; but that, after being guilty of every other
brutality to the women, so sacred among Mahometans, not satisfied with
slaying them, they have even carried their revenge so far as to expose
their naked corpses to be devoured by dogs and birds of prey.
Heaven forbid that such cruel barbarity should exist. But I cannot
pretend to give you a just account of the manners and dispositions of
these two people on so slight an acquaintance, especially as the light
in which they represent each other, is very different from that in which
they appear to us.
Nestor's kingdom was in this district. I have found no antiquities
worthy notice; and time does not permit me to take a journey in search
of Pylos.
A small castle projects into the sea off Modon; and the town has walls
round it; but they are much out of repair. The Governor lives in a
wretched hovel, which refuses admittance neither to the wind nor to the
rain. He is civil enough, and all his people seem glad to see us.
The harbour is formed by a set of little islands, which lie off the
town, at some miles distance; the most western is the famous Spactaria,
the taking of which is one of the most noted events in the Peloponnesian
war. It is now called the Isle of Wisdom; but for what reason I cannot
guess, as it is totally uninhabited, and produces nothing but brushwood.
The passages between the different islands make this a charming port for
cruizers, since they can be confined neither by wind nor by an enemy.
Captain Moore, of the Fame privateer, often put in here during the war,
and has impressed the people with very favorable ideas of the English.
LETTER XIV.
TO CAPTAIN SMITH.
Smyrna, November 14th.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
Convinced that you will be happy to hear of our arrival in Asia, I take
advantage of the first courier to send you a letter.
Independent of the satisfaction of being in a region so noted in
history, and of traversing scenes which one has so often contemplated in
the page of antiquity, we have the happiness of finding a society we did
not expect in this lost country--a soil where the iron hand of Despotism
checks every generous sentiment in the vanquished Greek, and where the
conqueror Turk, proud in his ignorance, scorns the refinements of more
enlightened people, and looks down with insolence or contempt on every
nation but his own. He has, however, many good qualities; and his true
character, I perceive, is not easily delineated. I shall consider him
attentively, and from time to time send you those traits I discover. In
the mean while, I will conclude this letter with my Journal from our
leaving Modon to our arrival at this city.
Saturday, October 20th.
At eight o'clock this morning, we left Modon, and, at three in the
afternoon, were opposite Cape Matapan. The country appears barren; but
there are several villages in sight.
In the night, we entered the Archipelago, or Ægean Sea, by passing
between Cytherea (the Island of Venus, now called Serigo) and Cape
Angelo, the south-east point of the Morea.
This neighbourhood is inhabited by a nest of pirates, who call
themselves the real descendants of the Lacedemonians, and, though
subject to the Turks, acknowledge no law.
In calm weather, they come off in large boats, and plunder every vessel
that passes, but seldom seize on any ship, or even molest the people,
provided they allow them to take all they want.
It is very remarkable, that, although the French have always a force in
these seas, their vessels are more frequently plundered than those of
any other nation; and there are very few instances of ours being
insulted, notwithstanding the Greeks so seldom see a British man of war.
But, for fear of accidents, we shortened sail, to convoy the
_Adventure_, of Plymouth, which we had just overtaken.
The three Sclavonians who seized the _Duchess of Tuscany_, bound from
Gibraltar, meant to have brought her here, but being obliged to put into
Zante, they were discovered and executed.
Sunday, October 21st.
Becalmed in the scene of Falconer's Shipwreck, Crete just discernible on
our right, Falcanero on our left, and Milo a-head. Lat. 36° 38′.
At dusk the wind sprang up, with violent squalls, accompanied by thunder
and lightning, and soon burst forth in a furious storm.
We were now in a most unpleasant situation, Milo was become a dangerous
lee shore. It was no comfort to know that there was an excellent harbour
a few miles to leeward. Darkness prevented our seeing the entrance to
it.
We were, therefore, obliged to haul close to the wind, and by skill,
attention, and perseverance, happily weathered the most windward point
of the island.
The wind then abated, and the sea became less violent; but the next
morning the storm was suddenly renewed, and we were assailed more
furiously than ever; but as day-light came to our assistance, we made
the best of our way towards the harbour, and a pilot getting on board,
we were safe at an anchor before twelve o'clock.
Some centuries before Christ, Milo was a flourishing Republic, but
having refused its assistance to Greece, when it was invaded by the
Persians, the Athenians, having defeated the Barbarians, attacked the
Miliotes, and after several repulses, at last entirely overthrew them,
and as a punishment, all the men who escaped the sword, were carried
into Attica. But at the close of the [Sidenote: A. A. C. 404.]
Peloponnesian war, the Athenians being subdued by the Lacedemonians,
Milo was restored to its liberty. It was afterwards taken by the Romans,
and has ever since shared the fate of the Eastern Empire. And for some
centuries the Greeks have been slaves in a country, from which they
often carried their arms into that of their present Lords.
Whatever the Turk conquers, he immediately considers as his own, whether
it be land, cattle, men, women, or children, and instantly appropriates
it to his use, either by sale, exchange, or possession.
But as an act of grace, the Sultan grants the Greeks a temporary
emancipation from year to year, for which they pay an annual capitation
tax of seven shillings each person.
At the commencement of this century the island contained seventeen
churches, and eleven chapels; and the whole space from the town to the
harbour, which is near two miles, was laid out in beautiful gardens. But
alas! how wretchedly is it altered, three-fourths of the towns are in
ruins, and the inhabitants are daily decreasing. Of the gardens scarce a
vestige is left; and the baths on the water side are now only a set of
small, dirty caves. Eight or ten yards from the shore the hot spring,
which supplied them, is seen boiling through the salt water, and the
sand is, I think, still hotter than that of Baia. But perhaps I speak
from the pain my curiosity cost me being more recent in my memory.
The women, so celebrated for their beauty, are now sallow, unhealthy,
and disgustingly ugly; and render themselves still more hideous by their
dress, which is a kind of loose jacket, with a white cotton petticoat,
that scarcely covers two thirds of their thighs, barely meeting the
stocking above the knee. Their hind hair hangs down the back in a number
of plaits; that on the fore part of the head is combed down each side of
the face, and terminated by a small, stiff curl, which is even with the
lower part of the cheek.
All the inhabitants are Greeks; for the Turks are not fond of trusting
themselves in the small islands; but every summer the Captain Bashaw
goes round with a squadron to keep them in subjection, and to collect
the revenue.
When the Russians made themselves masters of the Archipelago, during the
late war, many of the islands declared in their favour; but being
abandoned at the peace, they were so severely mulcted by the Grand
Signior, that our pilot tells me, they are determined to remain
perfectly quiet. But as the Turks do not think them worth a garrison,
and will not trust them with arms and ammunition, all those which the
Russians may choose to invade, will be obliged to submit.
The two points which form the entrance of the harbour, crossing each
other, render it imperceptible until you are close to it. Thus, while
you are perfectly secure within it, you find great difficulty in getting
out, particularly in a northerly wind. And as no trade is carried on,
except a little in corn and salt, Milo would scarce ever be visited,
were it not that being the first island one makes in the Archipelago,
the pilots have chosen it for their residence. They live in a little
town on the top of a high rock, which, from its situation and
appearance, is called _The Castle_.
Partridges abound in this island, and are so cheap, that you may buy one
for a charge of powder only. The peasants get them by standing behind a
portable screen, with a small aperture in the center, in which they
place the muzzle of their piece, and then draw the partridge by a call.
When a sufficient number are collected, they fire among them, and
generally kill from four to seven at a shot. But even this method of
getting them is so expensive, from the scarcity of ammunition, that the
people can never afford to shoot them, but when there are gentlemen in
the island, from whom they can beg a little powder and shot.
Several of us have killed four or five in an afternoon walk, putting
them up ourselves, without even the assistance of a dog.
Thursday, October 25th.
At day-break we got under way, with a light breeze, and at midnight
anchored at Paros, another of the Greek islands, and which is in a much
better state than Milo. The men look more healthy, and the women not so
ugly.
The water here is excellent; and as that we got at Messina has been
complained of, as being too hard to make proper pease-soup for the
people, all the casks are ordered to be emptied and refilled.
Whilst its marble quarries continued to be worked, Paros was one of the
most flourishing of the Cyclades; but on the decline of the Eastern
Empire, they were entirely neglected, and are now converted into caves,
in which the shepherds shelter their flocks. We have been in several of
these subterraneous folds, which put me much in mind of Homer's
description of Polyphemus. The common walls are almost entirely composed
of marble; and in examining a very small part of one, we found several
pieces of cornice, and _basso relievo_.
Several fine blocks of marble--fragments of columns, are lying close to
the water's edge, and seem to have been brought there by travellers, who
for want of a proper purchase to get them on board, have not been able
to carry them farther.
After the battle of Marathon, Miltiades was sent to lay Paros under
contribution, on account of its joining the Persians; but the
inhabitants made so resolute a defence, that all the efforts of that
excellent General were unable to reduce them; and, at length, having
lost a number of his men, and being himself wounded, Miltiades, hearing
that the Persians were making preparations for a second invasion,
returned to Athens, where his ungrateful countrymen, forgetful of his
eminent services, sentenced him to pay the expences of the expedition;
and being unable to raise this fine, the Great Deliverer of Greece was
thrown into prison; and, to the eternal infamy of the Athenians, he died
of the wounds he had received in their service!
The Russians made this their grand arsenal; their powder magazines, and
several other buildings, are still standing, and the island is
considerably indebted to them for improving the convenience for water,
and for the trade which the cash they expended, introduced among the
inhabitants.
Delos is about five leagues off, Naxos two, and Antiparos about the same
distance. In the last there is a cavern, which is reckoned one of the
greatest wonders of the Archipelago; but as a natural curiosity, it is
by no means equal to Saint Michael's Cave at Gibraltar. A multitude of
names are cut near the entrance. Lady Craven's is among the latest.
Tuesday, October 30th.
Sailed from Paros, with an intention of visiting Delos in our way to
Smyrna, but the wind changing, we stood to the north-west, profiting by
this opportunity, to supply the ship with wood.
Wednesday, October 31st.
Anchored between the Island of Longa and the Coast of Immortal Attica.
But my heart bleeds whilst I survey the sad change it has undergone. In
vain do I search for the descendants of those rustic patriots, whose
valour enabled Miltiades and Themistocles to overthrow the Persian host
by sea and land, or for those well cultivated fields, where art
concealed the frugality of nature. Alas! far as the best glass can
reach, no sign of a dwelling can be seen; and the country, for want of
inhabitants, lies entirely neglected.