Part 7 (1/2)
”Certainly.”
”Are they pretty?”
Each father expatiated on the superior beauty of his own child; and the papa added that his was angelic,--”[Greek: Kale kale].” ”Then,”
continued Madame, ”I am desired to say, the Prince is very much obliged to you for your visit, and requests that you will immediately send the prettiest maiden of the whole to bear him company on board.” Perfectly thunderstruck at this extraordinary address, the papa and his brethren looked first at each other, then at Madame and the Prince; and, making a hurried bow to the German Pasha, they jostled one another down the ladder, and into their boat, with a rapidity that amused as well as surprised us all; for, at the time, we were unacquainted with the nature of this audacious reply. They probably took him for a _vardoulacha_, or vampire, and thought to themselves, ”If this Prince is such a curiosity, what must little Otho be!”
Well, of course his Royal Highness demanded the meaning of their abrupt and sudden flight, and wished to know what Madame had said to scare the holy fathers thus? ”Was the reply complimentary? if so, it had produced a most extraordinary effect: they could not be pleased, that was evident.”
”Oh yes,” answered she, with a satirical smile; ”I said you were delighted to see them, and that, knowing they had plenty of handsome daughters, you desired them to send the prettiest on board to bear your Highness company.”
His Highness looked somewhat foolish: he did not know what to say; and appeared little less chagrined himself, than the Greek papas of the Isle of Marmora. We afterwards understood that the Prince had made some reductions in her bill while he occupied her house at Smyrna; and, by way of retaliation, she thus insolently attempted to injure his character among her countrymen; and, I have no doubt, completely succeeded, as far as the Greeks of this island are concerned.
[Sidenote: PLEASANT DORMITORY.] _Monday, 24th._--Myself and four companions in misery have pa.s.sed a horrible night in a cabin worse than the Black Hole of Calcutta. The offensive odour from the chicken-coop, which stands just at the side of the only aperture where fresh air can find an entrance; the heat of the confined chamber; the myriads of insects, that devoured my body with ravenous appet.i.te, after having endured a fortnight's starvation; kept me in such a fever, that I vowed never to enter the cabin again. [Sidenote: EXTRAORDINARY TRANSFORMATION.] When I looked out, my fellow-pa.s.sengers burst into a laugh; and Barrow, taking an observation, as my phiz came to the meridian above them, exclaimed, ”Who has been painting your face? it is as yellow as a canary-bird!” ”Nonsense!” I exclaimed; and, jumping upon deck, I seized my gla.s.s, and saw myself indeed as yellow as our good King's face on a sovereign. Not my face only, but, by all that's startling! hands, arms, legs, body, were in the same condition, as though I had been plunged into a curry-pot. I beheld myself with jaundiced eyes! It was wholly inexplicable; for I had not suffered a moment's illness, since I arrived in Stamboul; neither have I felt any symptoms of approaching disease; yet, in one night, my skin has been gilded over like a counterfeit sovereign,--
”Suffering a _yellow_ change Into something rich and strange.”
Nevertheless, I am afraid, unlike the false coinage, the gilt will not very easily rub off. On my first appearance, I observed the French doctor, who seemed to possess a hawk's eye for business, vanish from the quarter deck, and descend hastily below; in a few minutes he reappeared, bearing in his hand an ample supply of his _rob_; but I declined his services, as a medical officer from Corfu undertook to give me the necessary advice. We had also an English physician, and the Prince's body-surgeon.
[Sidenote: BRITISH FLEET.] At the Dardanelles we learned the very interesting news that the English fleet had arrived in Basike Bay; and in swinging round ”old Sigaeum,” we beheld the Admiral's s.h.i.+p at anchor, and several other large vessels sailing towards the harbour. At mid-day we were alongside the Britannia; and a boat came off from her, to ask intelligence from Constantinople. As I was anxious to renew my acquaintance with Sir Pulteney Malcolm, and as many of the pa.s.sengers wished to see the s.h.i.+p, the boat took as many as could get into her, and in a few minutes we stood on the deck of the largest of those majestic floating castles which, I trust, are destined, ere long, to teach the Russian that all ”Old England's wooden walls” have not got the dry rot in them. It is some years since I had the pleasure of seeing the Admiral before; and though the march of time has imprinted on his n.o.ble figure a few slight traces of its progress, yet he appears to be as active, enterprising, and determined as ever. He accompanied us over the s.h.i.+p; and was very anxious that we should inspect his improved kitchen, cattle-pen, and newly invented gun-screws for elevating the breech of the cannon. After a hearty luncheon, during which I forgot all my jaundice, we took leave, and on entering the Captain's gig the Francesco hoisted the British colours, and saluted. The compliment was immediately returned, and the thunder of the cannon re-echoed from Tenedos, and spread itself over the Plain of Troy, with a report loud enough to rouse Achilles, Ajax, and Hector, from their graves,--
”That with the hurly, death itself might wake.”
It was a beautiful, no less than a proud and gratifying sight to behold the Malabar, the St. Vincent, and the Alfred, all sailing in with every st.i.tch of canva.s.s set; telegraphing the Britannia, and with the utmost precision taking up their positions as the Admiral announced them. At that moment there could not have been a soul on board the Francesco who did not acknowledge the superiority of Britain on the seas.
[Sidenote: GULF OF SMYRNA.] Pa.s.sing Mitylene and the opposite ruins of a.s.sos, we entered the Gulf of Smyrna as it was growing dark. As I was by no means comfortable from a slight fever which enervated me, I determined to sleep below no longer, and therefore brought my mattress on deck. I laid it out near the cabin skylight, and there courted sleep, rolled in my _Greco_. Thank Heaven and a clear sky for most delicious repose!
Towards morning, I was awakened by a sensation of damp and cold; and found myself and mattress soaking wet, and exhaling the odour of rose-water. I found that a stream of this rich perfume had inundated me; it was flowing from a large jar belonging to one of the pa.s.sengers, which, standing too near the tiller of the helm, had been broken by it during the night.
[Sidenote: FRENCH SQUADRON.] _Tuesday, 25th._--This morning we saw the French fleet lying at Vourla. The four combatants on these seas have thus pa.s.sed in review before us; and I cannot suppose England and France have sent their fleets here on a pleasure trip; but that they actually mean to do something effective. Of these four, the Russian is the weakest, and the Turk the next in inferiority: report says, also, that the French fleet is not in the most perfect order; but, at all events, it is equal, if not superior, to the two former united. As soon as we came in sight of the Madagascar, which was lying in the harbour or roadstead of Smyrna, a boat put off from it towards the steam-vessel, and in a few moments the King of Greece was in the arms of his brother.
The usual bustle incident to the transfer of luggage from one vessel to another, at sea, followed; and the Prince, with all his suite, left us, to accompany the King in his cruise on board the Madagascar.
[Sidenote: SMYRNA.] We established our quarters at a wretched little inn, close to the water-side, kept by a negro, who had been cook on board some English man-of-war. Unpromising as was its external appearance, the house was clean notwithstanding; and, having all to ourselves, except the billiard-room, we got on famously; particularly as the dinners were wholesome, and of good, plain, English cookery. We had plenty of soda-water, porter, and ale, which were kept constantly flowing; for the heat was excessive. In the evening, I strolled about this celebrated sea-port for a short time, and was much struck with the beautiful appearance of the houses of the merchants, which, however, are situated in narrow dirty streets. The bazars are much inferior to those of Constantinople; and I did not see a single Smyrniote woman who had any pretensions to beauty. In the course of the day the King landed _incog._, and went through the town; and towards night, the Madagascar sailed away for Syra.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FOR SYRA.] _Thursday, 27th._--Hotter by several degrees than yesterday: I wish to heaven we could get away from this broiling place. Not a breath of air stirs to relieve me, or mitigate the weakness and fainting with which I am oppressed. I am incapable of exertion, and, indeed, there is no inducement to walk out: it is too much labour to play at billiards; and smoking sickens and disgusts me: I have but one pleasure, if such it can be called; namely, that of lying on the sofa, in a state of stupor. This afternoon the American corvette John Adams sailed away in fine style.
_Friday, 28th._--Another oppressive day: a storm of thunder and rain, during the night, has had no effect in cooling the air. I walked out on the Marina in the evening; and having ascertained that they produce ices in great perfection at Smyrna, I have fully availed myself of the discovery, and the day was spent in cooling one's interior, as no means could be found to do the same for the outward man.
_Sat.u.r.day, 29th._--This morning the Rover, a very pretty and wicked-looking sloop, came in from the West, and sailed again soon after. I was occupied this entire day in making blue and white lights to burn in the grotto of Antiparos. By midnight all the pa.s.sengers and crew were in their places on board the steamer; and the ladders were hauled up, the cook's a.s.sistant being the only individual missing. Our object was, to get a day off the quarantine, by having every one on board before midnight, and making that day count as one, as we might be said to have nominally left Smyrna on it. The Spaniards returned to the vessel, accompanied by a band, and three boat-loads of ladies, who continued sailing round and round the vessel until a very early hour, so unwilling were they to say farewell.
[Sidenote: FORTUNATE ESCAPE.] One of the young gallants, in leaning over the bows of the boat, overbalanced himself, and dropped into the water, from whence he was quickly rescued by these fair damsels, who thus became the guardian Naiads of the place; for without their a.s.sistance he most probably would have been drowned.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HOUSES IN SCIO.]
_Sunday, 30th._--At five this morning we bade adieu to Smyrna; and never did I send aloft a more sincere prayer than when pet.i.tioning to see it no more. By the forenoon, we were off the Island of Scio, the coast of which presented much beautiful and picturesque scenery. The wind now gradually increased to a stiff breeze, and the weather became threatening; so that the first symptoms of turning in made their appearance among the pa.s.sengers. The night following was black and stormy, and we had reason to antic.i.p.ate an Archipelago gale: fortunately, however, it cleared up, much to the satisfaction of the captain and myself; for never did a boat traverse these seas with less of the seaman in the composition of its crew, from the said captain down to the slop-boy.
[Sidenote: QUARANTINE.] _Monday, July 1st._--The Island of Tinos was in sight at daylight this morning; and, pa.s.sing through the channel between it and Andros, we approached Syra, the quarantine station of the new Greek kingdom for all vessels coming from Smyrna or the plague countries. The situation of Syra is very beautiful; the houses rising gradually in a succession of terraces, built upon the slope of a steep mountain, situated at the bottom of an extensive bay, in which we found the Madagascar lying at anchor.
[Sidenote: KING OF GREECE.] Shortly after our arrival, the officers of health came alongside, and informed us we were destined to seven days'
quarantine. Of these, the day we left Smyrna counted as one, that pa.s.sed at sea as another, and the one on which we got _pratique_ as a third; so we had, in reality, only four days to remain in _durance vile_. To console us for the unwelcome detention, the inhabitants brought off quant.i.ties of delicious fruit, honey, and meat to regale our appet.i.tes; while, in the evening, our eyes were gratified with the brilliant spectacle afforded by the illumination of the Madagascar and the town.