If Captain Whitby should come into Malta, pray tell him that I bore in mind how much cold affected him, and had got him a very good pelisse, but that it is gone to the bottom with everything else. I think I have little more to add than my constant good wishes for your health and comfort. Do forgive this sad scrawl, but I write upon my knee, having no table in the house. B. desires to be most kindly remembered to you, and believe me,
Ever yours, most sincerely,
Hester Lucy Stanhope.
Much anxiety had been caused by my long absence. The cases were opened, and the party assumed their new dresses. Ignorant at that time of the distinctions of dress which prevail in Turkey as in all countries, every one flattered himself that he was habited becomingly. Lady Hester and Mr. B. little suspect what proved to be the case—that their exterior was that of small gentry; and Mr. Pearce and myself thought we were far from looking like chaôoshes with our yatagans stuck in our girdles. For each, in the choice he had made, had been guided by fancy: not considering that in all countries particular costumes are affected by particular ranks and professions: and that, excepting in the case of public functionaries, simplicity combined with the intrinsic value of the materials is, more than show, the mark of the private gentleman.
All the servants had been dismissed. As a recompense for their losses in the shipwreck, they had been promised each a new suit of clothes, and Lady Hester, not finding cloth to make them in Rhodes, had deferred giving them until we should get to Alexandria. This was construed by them into an evasion; and they thought, by threatening in a body to give up their service, that they should compel her into a compliance: but she immediately turned them off. Etienne, who was absent, though not involved in the cabal, having been detected in administering remedies as a doctor, was likewise dismissed. One servant only was now left—Georgaki Dallegio, a native of Syra, in the Archipelago, who had offered himself as a footboy to me, whilst I was at Constantinople. He served me in this capacity for some weeks: and, being then somewhat under the eye of Lady Hester, who observed his attention and activity, he was taken into her service. He was a dark-complexioned boy, extremely alert, intelligent, and speaking three or four languages.
The island of Rhodes is no doubt more picturesque and fertile than any other in the Archipelago. The town of Rhodes must have once been very handsome and regularly constructed, since those parts of it, built by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, which still remain, attest its former respectability. There is still one street nearly perfect, where, according to tradition, the Knights resided. Escutcheons are sculptured over several doors. The fortifications, if kept in repair, might still be formidable. In several streets are to be seen those large stone balls which were thrown from the cannon during the siege of the place by the Turks; and one of these enormous guns still exhibits its immense, but, I believe, harmless mouth from the castle. It is well known that the Jews, for having betrayed the place to the Ottomans, obtained the privilege of residing within the city walls, which is generally denied them in other parts of the Turkish dominions.
The town has baths, several mosques, and derives much wealth from the passage of shipping to and from Egypt, which generally touch here. Of the ancient colossus I can say nothing. There are two harbours, and it is even disputed across the entrance of which the giant strode. The harbour where vessels enter is more properly a basin, with hardly water enough to float a small ship; although, not many years back, it is said a frigate could enter. There is a small dockyard here, and the bey builds annually, I was told, a sloop of war, which he presents to the Porte, as part probably of his tribute.
The inhabitants often mention the vast sums of money which were spent by the English here, when, on the Egyptian expedition, the fleet rendezvoused in Marmora harbour. Oranges, usually sold forty for a piaster, rose to a piaster apiece; and so of other provisions. The fact is, that the English, go where they will, raise the price of articles unnecessarily to the most exorbitant pitch.
The city stands on the north-east extremity of the island, on a sandy tongue of land, which exposes it in the winter to the storms prevalent in that season, but gives it an agreeable freshness in the summer. There are several windmills on the point. The Frank quarter is removed from the town a few hundred yards: it is composed of a mixture of Greeks and Franks; which latter give themselves, by wearing a Frank dress, the only title they have to the name. The wife of the Imperial agent, or, as he styled himself, consul, was my washerwoman.[17] The women of Rhodes weave good silk shirts, which are esteemed in the Levant. I bought a few that lasted me in very constant wear for three years.
Captain Henry Hope, of the Salsette frigate, having heard of Lady Hester’s shipwreck, sailed to Rhodes from Smyrna, and offered her and her party a passage to Alexandria. A ship, riding at anchor off the island, was by no means safe at this season of the year, and he became very urgent for us to embark, which we did about a week after my arrival. Nothing contributed so much to banish the recollection of the past shipwreck as the security we now enjoyed. The wind began to blow strongly the night we embarked, and compelled us to seek refuge the following morning in the harbour of Marmora. I had entered it on a former occasion by night, but I now had a complete view of it. Its mouth is between two mountains, wooded with firs down to the water’s edge, and affords a zigzag channel deep enough for the largest ships. After running some considerable distance, until the sea is lost sight of, the harbour then opens, landlocked on all sides. Around it considerable mountains rise from its strand, excepting where the little valley shuts in the town of Marmora. It is said that the bottom is excellent for anchorage, and that a more secure haven cannot be found.