April 8.—At sunset, the time which Turkish mariners always choose for setting sail, we embarked on board of the shaktoor, abundantly furnished with provisions, which had also been supplied by Lady Hester Stanhope’s orders. We did not reach Cyprus until the morning of the 12th, owing to the extreme fineness of the weather; for, having stood along shore as far as Beyrout during the night, to profit by the land breeze, our vessel’s head being once put on her course, we had no occasion to alter a cord during the whole passage. Our räis, or skipper, behaved with great attention; but I little dreamed, at the time, that this räis was, at some future day, to cross my path again, as will be seen in a subsequent part of the diary.
On landing, I found that the inn, where we had lodged about four months before, was broken up; so that we were obliged to remain on the strand with our trunks and baggage, not knowing where to go. I wrote a pencil note to the English vice-consul, in whose house I had once lived two months; but he sent me word that he was unable to lodge us, or even to procure us a lodging. I addressed myself to his dragoman, who had brought this answer, and offered to pay handsomely for any place where we could be housed, knowing, from my former visit to the island, that he himself had a spacious dwelling; but he declared he knew not where to put us, nor could he find any one to take us in. These accumulated disappointments made me at last begin to apprehend that Lady Hester’s unkind interdict had reached even Cyprus, whose doors were thus inhospitably closed against us. We were almost in despair, when, at length, Mr. Hanah Farkouah, the Syrian, who had been passenger in the same ship with us from Marseilles, hearing accidentally of our situation, came down and conducted us to his own house, where he entertained us with great kindness for nine days. But, as we were somewhat confined for room, M. Balthazar Mattei, a rich merchant, who had a large mansion, which he had recently built close to the sea, made us an offer of it. It was then, and probably is still, the best residence in Cyprus; but, as it had never been inhabited, we felt, at first, some delicacy in availing ourselves of his friendly proposition, especially as it is considered a discourtesy in the East to leave the house of one host for that of another: but all our objections were finally overruled.
M. Mattei’s marine villa consisted of thirteen rooms, a kitchen, and offices, and had a corridor sixty feet long, where we could escape from the oppressive heat of the day, besides a spacious terrace, where we could inhale the sea-breeze in the evening. It stood about ten yards from the sea, which was checked in its nearer approach by a stone breakwater. The saloon was of black and white marble. Its windows projected, as a kiosk, almost over the waves; and from it we enjoyed an expanded view of the bay and the shipping; whilst, from a lofty belvidere, we had a charming panorama of the town and country. It would not be easy to find a more agreeable mansion for a hot climate in any country.
We remained here four months and a half, living on the most amicable terms with the inhabitants, and revelling in the abundance for which this happy island is famed. Not a drop of rain fell during the whole time. We were favoured, at different periods, with the visits of two English travellers, who touched at Cyprus: Mr. George Robinson, whose “Three Years Residence in the East” is, no doubt, familiar to the reader, and Captain Scott, who also has given a work to the public. Her Majesty’s ship, Belvidere, Captain Dundas, cast anchor in the roads, and I accompanied the English vice-consul in paying his respects to the British flag. Mr. Burns, the surgeon, as I believe of the frigate, left an agreeable impression on my memory; but these casual meetings in foreign countries are like the oases in the desert: it is refreshing to light on one, and, that left behind, with little chance of ever seeing it again, we go on until our good fortune presents us with another. It was thus that three more Englishmen were seen for half an hour, in their way from Syria to Anatolia; but they, too, sailed away, and, as their vessel was lost to view, I felt that regret which a lively conversation inspires, with no hope of its renewal.[53]
No merchant ship offered to take us to Europe until August; on the twenty-fourth of which month we embarked for the Gulf of Spezia, where, after a voyage of thirty-five days, we performed quarantine: and thus ended, apparently for ever, my connexion with Lady Hester Stanhope.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] It is evident that Lady Hester applied the words of St. John to our Saviour.
[47] Lady Hester’s pronunciation in Arabic was not particularly correct. By Murdah she meant Mahadi or Mahedi, a title, in the Mussulman religion, equivalent to that of pontiff. This title was given to Abulcassem Mohammed, the last of the imams of the race of Ali, born in the year 255 of the hegira. At nine years of age, he was shut up in a cavern by his mother, who is supposed by the superstitious followers of Mahomet still to keep watch over him, until he shall re-appear at the end of the world, when he will unite himself with Jesus Christ; and the two religions, Mussulman and Christian, being merged into one, he will, in conjunction with our Saviour, finally overcome the machinations of the antichrist.—Herbelot, Dict. Orient., p. 531.
[48] What was meant by a person’s star will be explained hereafter.
[49] “The woman from a far country” remained a mystery until the year 1835, when the Baroness de Fériat, an English lady residing in the United States, wrote, of her own accord, out of admiration of Lady Hester Stanhope’s character, asking to come and live with her: when the prophecy was thought to be fulfilled.