Part 21 (1/2)
Monday dawned cloudy with some wind and rain, and although the weather was not stormy, the boat had that uneasy motion which had been felt once before on the Mediterranean. Many of the tourists, believing prevention better than cure, remained in their staterooms, or, snugly wrapped, reclined in their steamer chairs on deck and had luncheon served to them there, fewer than half the seats at the dining table being occupied.
On Tuesday, however, the sea was as smooth as a river. The ”Captain's Dinner,” which had been postponed from the previous day on account of the weather, was announced for the evening, and the dining room was handsomely decorated with flags, garlands of artificial roses, and additional lights for the special occasion. The depression of Monday was forgotten and the tourists were in a happy humor.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FILLED VIALS WITH WATER FROM THE DEAD SEA.]
At the dinner the Captain made a neat speech referring to the pleasant relations during the voyage and the separation which was shortly to take place. The judge, in behalf of the pa.s.sengers, responded in a jovial vein. ”Three cheers for the Captain” were given with enthusiasm, followed by ”He's a jolly good fellow,” heartily sung. Every one arose as the orchestra played ”America,” and later, when the stars and stripes were dropped from overhead, all rose again to accompany the orchestra in the ”Star Spangled Banner.” Then the electric lights were turned out and while we sat in darkness, the stewards and waiters, dressed in fantastic costumes of various nations, entered and in a long procession marched around the room, each waiter carrying aloft an illuminated tower of ice-cream, and each steward a dish of bonbons. When the bonbons, containing whistles and fancy caps, were opened, the dignity of judge, professor, and minister was laid aside and the tourists were a joyous, noisy crowd of children.
While we were at dinner the promenade deck was cleared of chairs, decorated with flags, and illuminated with Chinese lanterns in preparation for a masked ball which was to be the crowning and closing event of the day. In this fancy-dress carnival many of the pa.s.sengers appeared dressed in fantastic gowns prepared during the day, or as Orientals in costumes that had been purchased in Eastern cities.
While the maskers and onlookers were enjoying the music and sport, the Moltke was steaming northward through the Strait of Messina. On the right shone the lighthouses of Italy and the lights of the Italian town of Reggio; on the left gleamed the flash-lights of Sicily and long rows of twinkles revealed the location of the large city of Messina.
On rising Wednesday morning we found the sea perfectly smooth with scarcely a ripple to disturb its blue surface. The Moltke was speeding through the waters with an almost imperceptible motion. On our left was the island of Capri, famous for its blue grotto, and the morning sunlight playing on its rugged sh.o.r.es, revealed a white road cut in the rocky cliffs, zigzagging up the side of the hill from the village at the base to the village on the summit. As the steamer coasted the Italian sh.o.r.e, we saw dimly through the mist the bay and town of Salerno, then picturesque Sorrento perched among the rocks, and, in the distance, fog-crowned Mount Vesuvius with a thin column of smoke ascending from the crater, and many towns and villages at its base. Directly ahead of us were the bay of Naples and the city, partially hidden from our sight by a fog. Just before reaching the quarantine station a small steamer crowded with pa.s.sengers emerged from the fog and crossed the course of the Moltke, narrowly escaping destruction.
The Moltke dropped anchor at quarantine and a yellow flag was run to the top of the mast to remain floating there until the Italian physician had completed his examination and was convinced that there were not, and had not been, any cases of plague, cholera, or contagious disease on the s.h.i.+p. During the detention at quarantine a large mail was brought on board. We crowded eagerly into the office inquiring for letters. The stewards, not taking time to distribute the mail in the boxes, called out the addresses, and little thought was given to anything else until letters and papers were obtained and the news from home devoured.
The fog soon rolled away and Naples, beautifully situated on the crescent-shaped sh.o.r.es of the bay, was disclosed to view. From the deck of the steamer we saw a picture unsurpa.s.sed in color and composition by any previously beheld, excepting, perhaps, the view of Constantinople from the Bosporus, or the panorama of Algiers seen from the sea; but each one of the three pictures was unique and beyond comparison. But here, as at Constantinople, distance lent an enchantment to the view; for a closer inspection after landing revealed on the white and yellow and pink buildings ravages of time and unsightly stains of smoke and grime unnoticed from the bay.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT DOORWAY OF THE TEMPLE OF HORUS AT EDFU.]
We had no sooner reached the street, ready for sight-seeing, than the cabriolet drivers thronged about, importuning us to ride in the low open carriages that comfortably carry two persons.
”How much to the Cathedral?” we asked one of the drivers, using an expression that we thought the Italian might comprehend.
”One lira the course, one and a half lire the hour,” he succeeded in getting us to understand.
”Only ten cents each. And it's fully two miles to the Cathedral!”
exclaimed my companion. ”But we have a number of places to visit,” he added, ”and it will be better to engage the cab by the hour. Show him your watch and make a note of the time.”
At the entrance of the Cathedral, the beggars asking alms reminded us of the description of similar scenes at the gate of the Temple in the Savior's time. A blind man standing by the door called loudly upon the pa.s.sers-by to have pity on him, a cripple seated on the steps with rough crooked crutches by his side stretched out his hand for aid, and a fat dirty woman with a tiny babe in her arms whiningly cried, ”poveretta mia! poveretta mia!”
[Ill.u.s.tration: I. THE ISLAND OF CAPRI.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: II. VILLAGE AT ITS BASE AND VILLAGE ON ITS SUMMIT.]
The regular services in the Cathedral were over when we entered, but many people were in the building. Some were in silent adoration before the Cross at the magnificent high altar; some were wors.h.i.+ping at the foot of the Virgin, or praying at the shrines of the saints; others were contritely kneeling at the confessional boxes with faces close to the little grated windows, whispering deeds of misdoing to the confessor within and awaiting the father's words of penance or of absolution. We followed a crowd of Italians who were going into a chapel at the side where preparations were being made for a special service. There being no pews or sittings in the chapel, but a few plain chairs for hire, we paid the verger two cents for the use of a chair and waited. Wooden benches were placed in line to form an aisle and a number of women and children knelt at the benches, each holding a large unlighted candle.
A cardinal in a red robe came down the aisle, accompanied by a surpliced acolyte bearing a cup of oil. As the cardinal pa.s.sed each kneeling person, he dipped his thumb into the oil and then, repeating a formula, made a sign of the cross with his thumb on the wors.h.i.+per's forehead. A priest in black ca.s.sock and a chorister in white followed the cardinal, the priest wiping the foreheads with a piece of cotton and the chorister taking the candles which were handed to him as offerings to the church.
The doors of the magnificently adorned Cathedral were open to rich and poor alike; but the poor were in the majority, and among them appeared such cases of slovenly poverty as we had not seen elsewhere, not even in Jerusalem or Constantinople, for in the Moslem cities fountains were at the gates of the mosques and no wors.h.i.+per entered the sacred edifice with soiled hands or feet. Three cases of slovenliness we noted particularly. A woman of middle age, with tangled hair, torn, untidy dress and soiled, stockingless feet partially covered by dilapidated slippers, was violating the rules of the church by sidling up to strangers and stealthily begging within the building; a boy, probably sixteen years of age, hatless, shoeless, coatless, with pantaloons in need of patches and body in need of soap, stood gazing curiously at the ceremony; and a man whose whole attire consisted of a ragged s.h.i.+rt and cotton trousers, with marks of grime on hands, neck, and face, leaned carelessly against a pillar with bare feet thrust forward. But these were extreme and exceptional cases of untidiness, the wors.h.i.+pers generally being neatly clad and careful of their personal appearance.
The military band was playing on a platform when we visited the park and the paths and the gra.s.s plats were filled with people, many standing and a few seated on chairs. Noticing some unoccupied chairs, we sat down to listen to the music and watch the life and movement of a Neapolitan crowd. We had scarcely taken our places when a woman with a badge and a bag approached, demanding ten centessimi for each seat. ”Gratia!” she said when paid, and ”Gratia!” we responded, grateful for a comfortable resting place.
”I thought, before we started on this trip, that sight-seeing prolonged day after day might become monotonous and that I might lose interest,”
remarked one of the group seated on the chairs, ”but, on the contrary, I find continual variety. Our drive through the beautiful residence section and suburbs on the heights this morning was charming, and the extensive landscape and marine view from the Convent of Camaldoli is unsurpa.s.sed, save by the view from Mustapha Superieur. Each place visited has differed so thoroughly from all the others that my interest is as intense now as when we landed at fascinating Funchal.”
”In each city I am compelled to replenish my stock of films; I find so many pleasing subjects,” replied an artist who always had his camera with him. ”Did you see those women on the hillside road at Capri carrying wine kegs on their heads? They posed for me to take a picture of the group. It was not necessary to tell them to look pleasant; every face wore a smile. I am sorry that my kodak does not reproduce colors.
The dresses of the women, though worn and faded, were very picturesque in their combinations of scarlets, blues, and yellows.”
”And I regret that cameras cannot reproduce the beautiful azure and silver tints of the interior of the Blue Grotto just as we saw it yesterday,” said one of the ladies who was collecting photographs and postal cards. ”I want a good picture of the Grotto Azzurra but I cannot find one. Those that are offered for sale are such poor imitations.”
After the concert was over, we entered the salt water aquarium of Naples, which is famous throughout Europe as the finest and largest ichthyological collection in the world. In the gla.s.s tanks curious sea fish darted through the water, grotesque sea monsters crawled over the pebbles, and transparent jelly fish floated slowly; pink and white sea anemones, like a bed of flowers, opened and closed, and diminutive sea animals, almost invisible, spread thread-like tentacles; sponges and coral grew upon the rocks, and mollusks showed by their movements that they had life.