26

DEPARTURE FROM SMYRNA.

CHAPTER III.

Departure from the Port-Passengers on board the Steamer-Scenes on Deck-Arrival at Rhodes-General Appearance-Where the Colossus probably stood-Tachtalu-Coast of Pamphylia-Anchor at Tarsus-Description of that place-The Ansaryii-Their Religion Alexandretta - Town Harbour Pillar recording the Miracle of the Prophet Jonas-Kutchak Ali, the Robber ChiefMurder of Sir Christopher Jones, and by whom - The IssusDarius and Alexander-Tancred, and Godfrey of Boulogne-Beilan described-Tomb of Abderahman Bey-Government of Ibrahim Pasha-Latakia, its ancient History-Wife of the British ConsulAspect of the Town of Latakia-Its Exports-Adjacent Country— Departure from Latakia.

ACCORDING to the singular circuitous mockery of business peculiar to the Turkish authorities, we had, after leaving the wharf where we had fee'd the officers to reimbark what we had previously fee'd them to land, to pull to the Lazaretto and take on board a health officer, though another had already preceded us. Arriving on board the steamer, no easy affair, as she was pitching and diving, and surrounded with other boats, we found her decks crowded with subjects of the Sultan. Masses encumbered the decks, and our voluminous baggage was thrown into the passive heap, and

PASSENGERS ON BOARD THE STEAMER.

27

kicked about until it found quiet in the hold. The numbers thus congregated were principally pilgrims, on their way to Jerusalem and to the Jordan; though others on more worldly journey bent, were mingled with the rest. Each family

one

had taken a spot on the deck, and there, piled over with coverings, and surrounded with their goods, they remained during the voyage; side of the after-deck was alone kept clear for the first-class passengers, and even this was often invaded by others who wisely remarked that we had cabins below.

Each family forms a scene in itself, and an epitome of life in the East is found by a glance around. Four merchants on their return from a trading tour, have bivouacked between the skylights; and they sing and are sick; call kief and smoke, with true Moslem indifference. On the starboard quarter, our notions of Eastern domesticity are sadly put out, for there a Moslem husband is mercilessly bullied by a shrill-voiced Houri. It is curious to observe her perseverance in covering her face, even during the agonies of sea-sickness. Their black servant has taken us into the number of licensed ones, and her veil

28

A GREEK FAMILY.

now hangs over her neck like a loosened neck

cloth.

On the other side, a Greek family in three generations, lies along the deck, fortified by a stout manservant across their legs, whose attentions to the girls during his own heart-rending ailments, is very pretty. The huge grandmother was set on fire and smouldered away most stoically, until her foot began to burn, when, while others put her out, she sunk blubbering to sleep again. The pretty grand-daughters find the long lie more irksome; but send their flashing eyes about with careless movement, and so the mass goes on. Here one appears to be offering up nazam, but nearer inspection shows his shoe is only receiving the offering to the heaving waves.

Our steamer had passed sad hours of toil, and pitched and tossed us all out of temper before we entered the calm waters to leeward of Rhodes, and at last, passing the low points covered with detached houses and windmills, we shot round in front of the harbour. Our view of the intervening coast had been too vague to form a judgment upon it; but here and there a peak towered up above the mists, all else being veiled by the cloudy sky.

ARRIVAL AT RHODES.

29

Passing the first harbour, divided from the other but by a reef, against which the swell beat passionately, we shot by castle and fort and dropped anchor near a Turkish man-of-war. Being in quarantine none were permitted to quit the vessel, so midst coaling and dirt were passed our hours here.

No place it has ever been my fortune to visit, more, by its appearance, justifies its character than this. Around the harbour's shore, one continued line of high castellated wall, unbroken save by flanking towers or frowning portals; from the wave on either side, dovetailed to the rock, rise the knightly buildings, and as the eye reaches round, no dissonant work mars the effect, save that one lofty palm rears its tropic head; but it adds to rather than lessens the effect. Above the walls, a mosque with its domed roof or minaret appears, and the fragile building speaks, how truly, in its contrast to the massive walls and ponderous works of former rulers, that the battle is not always to

the strong.

On the northern corner is a more sheltered dock almost, for walls from either banks nearly meet within. Some small vessels lay moored, and their

30

COAST OF PAMPHYLIA.

rest seemed indeed enviable as we rolled heavily in the outer harbour. It is across this probably that the Colossus strode, else he was a giant indeed. The day dragged on; one health officer got his arm crushed; the poor old man bore it admirably; and at last, with all the changeableness of Mediterranean weather, the sun set in a cloudless sky and in a sea unruffled by a cat's-paw; the moon shone down on the old towers; not a light broke their gloomy outline. Ere the scene was half admired, we were again steaming out into the dark expanse, our funnel making the only cloud that broke the uniformity of blue and star-studded sky overhead.

And now along the coast, the high snow-capped mountains of Lycia, till at noon we bring Tachtalu (7800 feet high) on the beam, and coast along Pamphylia. They want, however, the depth that gives to mountains their most brilliant beauty; those mystic shades of valley and gorge which, filled by the imagination, render the scene one of grandeur and magnificence. Passing Khelidonia, the steamer stood across the bay of Adalia, and as the evening drew on, the high land of Thracia was seen in the misty distance. By port Anumurium