[Illustration: NAVARINO AND THE ISLAND OF SPHAGIA.]
As our victories, though managed by the hand, are achieved by the head,
we feel little disposed to meddle with what Burke calls "the mystery of
murder," or "the present perfection of gunnery, cannoneering, bombarding,
and mining;" and inveterate as may be the weapon of the goose-quill, we
trust our readers will not suspect us of any other policy than that of
pleasing them, the _ne plus ultra_ of all public servants. As our title
implies, we are bound to present or reflect in our pages certain
illustrations of popular topics, _veluti_ IN SPECULUM; accordingly, we
hope the accompanying _View and Plan of the Bay of Navarino_ will be
received in good season, _quod rerum est omnium primum_.
Thus far, the political or present interest attached to Navarino: with
the recent event which has raised, or we may say resuscitated such
interest, our readers have doubtless become familiar, and leaving the
ephemeral glory to the _Sun_ of all newspapers, and meaner "chronicles
of the times," we shall proceed to the sober duty of describing the Bay
of Navarino, as, it will be seen, a place of some interest in the annals
of ancient as well as of modern warfare.
With our usual _literary honesty_, (we trust a characteristic of our
whole conduct,) we have to acknowledge our obligations to the "Travels"
of M. Pouqueville for the preceding view. "The port of Navarino, certainly
one of the finest in the world," says Sir William Gell, in his interesting
_Journey in the Morea_, "is formed by a deep indenture in the Morea, shut
in by a long island, anciently called Sphacteria, famous for the defeat
and capture of the Spartans, in the Peloponnesian war, and yet exhibiting
the vestige of walls, which may have served as their last refuge. This
island has been separated into three or four parts by the violence of the
waves, so that boats might pass from the open sea into the port in calm
weather, by means of the channel so formed. On one of the portions is the
tomb of a Turkish saint, or santon; and near the centre of the port is
another very small island, or rock." The modern name of the island is
_Sphagia_.
Navarino, called by the Turks _Avarin_, and the Greeks _Neo-Castron_, is
the Pylos of the ancients, and the supposed birthplace of the venerable
Nestor--standing upon a promontory at the foot of Mount Temathia, and
overlooking the vast harbour of the same name as the town. It is surrounded
only by a wall without a ditch; the height commanding the city is a little
hexagonal, defended by five towers at the external angles, which, with
the walls, were built by the Turks in 1572, but were never repaired till
after the war with the Russians in 1770; the Turks having previously taken
it from the Venetians in 1499. At the gate of the fortress is a miserable
Greek village; and the walls of the castle itself are in a dismantled
condition.
"The town within the wall," says Sir W. Gell, "is like all those in this
part of the world, encumbered with the fallen ruins of former habitations.
These have been generally constructed by the Turks, since the expulsion
of the Venetians; for it appears, that till the long continued habit of
possession had induced the Mahometans to live upon and cultivate their
estates in the country, and the power of the Venetian republic had been
consumed by a protracted peace, a law was enforced which compelled every
Turk to have a habitation in some one of the fortresses of the country.
But the habitatations," says our traveller, "present generally an
indiscriminate mass of ruins; they were originally erected in haste, and
being often cemented with mud instead of mortar, the rains of autumn,
penetrating between the outer and inner faces of the walls, swell the
earth, and soon effect the ruin of the whole"--it must be confessed, but
sorry structures for the _triple_ fires of an enemy. Sir William, on his
visit, found the commandant in a state of misery not exceeded by the lot
of his meanest fellow-citizens, except that his robes were somewhat in
better condition. He received him "very kindly in a dirty unfurnished
apartment," into which he "climbed by a tottering ladder from a court
strewed with ruins;" here he gave him "coffee," after which he took his
leave. What would a first lord of the Admiralty say to such a reception?
and it must have been somewhat uncourtly to our traveller.
The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarkable for the
production of an infinite quantity of squills, which are used in
medicine. The rocks, which show themselves in every direction through a
scanty but rich soil, are limestone, and present a general appearance of
unproductiveness round the castle of Navarino; and the absence of trees
is ill compensated by the profusion of sage, brooms, cistus, and other
shrubs which start from the innumerable cavities of the limestone.
The remains of Navarino Vecchio, or ancient Navarino, consist in a fort
or castle of mean construction, covering the summit of a hill sloping
quickly to the south, but falling in abrupt precipices to the north and
east. The town was built on the southern declivity, and was surrounded
by a wall, which, allowing for the natural irregularities of the soil,
represented a triangle, with the castle at the apex or summit--a form
observable in many of the ancient cities of Greece.
The foundation of the walls throughout the whole circuit remains entire;
but the fortifications were never of any consequence, though they present
a picturesque group of turrets and battlements from below, and must have
been very imposing from the sea,--an effect which those of the modern city
have recently failed to produce. From the top is an extensive view over
the island of Sphacteria, the port, with the town of Navarino to the
south, and a considerable tract of the territory anciently called Messenia
on the east, with the conic hill, which, though some miles from the shore,
is used as a landmark to point out the entrance of the port. Mr. Purdy, in
his _New Sailing Directory for the Mediterranean Sea_, says, "from the
sea, a frigate might, in two or three hours, batter down the walls (of
Navarino); the artillery of the place (in 1825) consisted of forty pieces
of cannon; the greater part in the fort, eight on the battery at the
entrance of the harbour, and a few in some of the towers along the city."
It should be added that the port is said to be capable of containing 2,000
sail; and the population of the town is about 3,000, the most of whom are
Turks.
To the curious _dilettanti_ in dates, &c. (such as our friend _P.T.W._
&c.) the following almost coinciding circumstances may not prove
uninteresting:--The recent engagement took place on the anniversary of
the memorable battle of Salamis, 480 B.C. when the invading army of
Xerxes was defeated by the Greeks; and on which day Euripides, the Greek
tragic poet, was born: Nestor is said to have been born at Navarino, as
we have already mentioned: and, lastly, the attack, of which the subjoined
plan is illustrative, was made on the eve of the anniversary of the
glorious battle of Trafalgar, in which victory the vice-admiral of
Navarino, then captain of the Orient, was engaged.
[Illustration: Plan]