Part 5 (1/2)

'27th, Sunday

'Thiswas a beautiful cal up at 630 Shortly a new cause of anxiety arose

Kinks careat quantities, about thirty in the hour To have a true conception of a kink, you et twisted and the gutta-percha inside pushed out These much diminish the value of the cable, as they ood, and the cable spliced They arise fro been badly laid down so that it forms folds and tails at the bottoe: they weaken the cable very much-At about six o'clock [PM] we had some twelve miles lifted, when I went to the bows; the kinks were exceedingly tight and were giving way in a ed up to prevent the end (if it broke) fro I should describe kinks to Annie:-suddenly I saw a great ether at the surface I juh which the signal is given to stop the engine I blow, but the engine does not stop; again-no answer: the coils and kinks ja stop Too late: the cable had parted and utta-percha tube across a bare part of the steam pipe and melted it It had been used hundreds of ti I believe the cable one at any rate; however, since it went in ly, I feel rather sad

'June 28

'Since I could not go to Annie I took down Shakespeare, and by the time I had finished _Antony and Cleopatra_, read the second half of _Troilus_ and got soret the accident had happened in my watch, andmatter-it had been torn down, it had not fallen down; so I went to bed, and slept without fretting, and woke this ood mood-for which thank you and our friend Shakespeare I am happy to say Mr Liddell said the loss of the cable did not h this would have been no consolation had I felt rappled for and found another length of small cable which Mr - dropped in 100 fathoets full of kinks, we shall probably have to cut it after 10 miles or so, or ht

'10 PM-This second length of three-wire cable soon got into the same condition as its fellow-ie came up twenty kinks an hour-and after seven miles were in, parted on the pulley over the bows at one of the said kinks; during ain, but this time no earthly power could have saved it I had taken all e when the smash came, for come I knew itthe cable to-night, large phosphorescent globes kept rolling fro in the black water

'29th

'To-day we returned to the buoy we had left at the end of the six-wire cable, and after ot a fair start at noon You will easily believe a tangle of iron rope inch and a half diaing to the ends It is now eight o'clock and we have about six and a half , however, for the kinks are coht miles safe in the hold The shi+p is now so deep, that the men are to be turned out of their aft hold, and the reood _Elba's_ nose need not burrow too far into the waves

There can only be about 10 or 12 h 80 or 100 tons

'July 5

'Our firstof the 2nd As interpreter [with the Italians] I am useful in all these cases; but for no fortune would I be a doctor to witness these scenes continually Pain is a terrible thing-Our work is done: the whole of the six-wire cable has been recovered; only a s to its twisted state, the value small We may therefore be said to have been very successful'

II

I have given this cruise nearly in full From the notes, unhappily imperfect, of two others, I will take only specimens; for in all there are features of similarity and it is possible to have too ineering And first from the cruise of 1859 in the Greek Islands and to Alexandria, take a few traits, incidents and pictures

'May 10, 1859

'We had a fair wind and we did very well, seeing a little bit of Cerig or Cythera, and lots of turtle-doves wandering about over the sea and perching, tired and ti of our little craft Then Falconera, Antie white clouds, barren, deserted, rising bold and entiera, Siphano, Scapho, Paros, Antiparos, and late at night Syra itself _Adas under an awning, I enjoyed a very pleasant day

'May 14

'Syra is se to a central gutter; from this bare two-storied houses, soh-hewn ht, plain, flat roofs; shops guiltless of ith signs in Greek letters; dogs, Greeks in blue, baggy, Zouave breeches and a fez, a few narghilehs and a sprinkling of the ordinary continental sobys-In the evening I tried one more walk in Syra with A-, but in vain endeavoured to a in singing _Doodah_ to a passing Greek or two, the second in spending, no, inA- spend, threepence on coffee for three

'May 16

'On co on deck, I found ere at anchor in Canea bay, and saw one of the hts man could witness Far on either hand stretch bold mountain capes, Spada and Maleka, tender in colour, bold in outline; rich sunny levels lie beneath theht in front, a dark brown fortress girdles white reen, ourfor the town, in whose dark walls-still darker-open a dozen high-arched caves in which the huge Venetian galleys used to lie in wait High above all, higher and higher yet, up into the fire of blue and snow-cappedof this great beauty The tohen entered is quite eastern The streets are formed of open stalls under the first story, in which squat tailors, cooks, sherbet vendors and the like, busy at their work or shilehs Cloths stretched froh the crowd; curs yelp between your legs; negroes are as hideous and bright clothed as usual; grave Turks with long chibouques continue tothe pokes fun at two splendid little Turks with brilliant fezzes; wiry uns and one hand on their pistols, stalk untamed past a dozen Turkish soldiers, who look sheepish and brutal in worn cloth jacket and cotton trousers A headless, wingless lion of St Mark still stands upon a gate, and has left theclutch Of ancient times when Crete was Crete, not a trace remains; save perhaps in the full, well-cut nostril and firm tread of that mountaineer, and I suspect that even his sires were Albanians, mere outer barbarians

'May 17

I spent the day at the little station where the cable was landed, which has apparently been first a Venetiandome is very cool, and the little ones hold [our electric] batteries capitally A handsouards it, and a still handsomer mountaineer is the servant; so I draw them and the monastery and the hill, till I'm black in the face with heat and come on board to hear the Canea cable is still bad

'May 23

'We arrived in the lorious scramble over the mountains which seem built of adamant Ti sharp jagged edges of steel Sea eagles soaring above our heads; old tanks, ruins, and desolation at our feet The ancient Arsinoe stood here; a few blocks of marble with the cross attest the presence of Venetian Christians; but now-the desolation of desolations Mr Liddell and I separated from the rest, and e had found a sure bay for the cable, had a tremendous lively scramble back to the boat These are the bits of our life which I enjoy, which have sorandeur in them