This spirit of persecution was encouraged by the arrival of the Abbé de Masure, almoner to the French ambassador, who denounced them as the machinators of all evil, political and moral. It is customary for Roman Catholics to confess themselves before receiving the sacrament at Easter; and, according to the new order of things, the French consul and the nation (for so the few individuals of each country style themselves) went to confession. Three, who were freemasons, were sent back, unless they would give up their masonic diplomas, which, of course, they refused to do. Nor was the matter settled until the consul threatened to imprison the priest, if he withheld absolution any longer from the individuals in question.
I dismissed my servant Giovanni, who was to return to Syria, where he proposed marrying a young person to whom he had been affianced three or four years. Wishing to make the best recompence in my power to a man, who, though he sometimes gave me reason, as has been related, to be angry with him, still had served me faithfully, I had previously presented him, on quitting Abra, with the best part of the furniture my cottage contained; and I now made him a present of a few articles for his bride, and of a sum of money for himself.
CHAPTER XIV.
Departure from Cyprus, and Voyage to Marseilles—Dirtiness of the French ship and her crew—Fare on board—Cruel treatment of a political prisoner—Angora greyhound—Arrival at Pomegue, the quarantine anchorage of Marseilles.
The Jean Baptiste brigantine polacca of 150 tons being now ready to sail, I embarked for Marseilles on the 9th of April, in the afternoon. It was not without considerable regret that I took leave of a gentleman whose unabated hospitality I had partaken of for seventy-six days. The vessel was laden with cotton, of which she had nearly 600 bales, so that they were stowed on the quarter-deck, in the waist, and on the forecastle; besides which the cabin was so full, that between the bales and the ceiling there was only room enough to creep to the sleeping berths. I was to pay for the state-room and my board 350 francs. Much had been said to me beforehand of the bad food and bad usage which passengers generally meet with on board of Provençal vessels; I therefore prepared myself contentedly for the worst.
On Friday the 10th of April, before sunrise, we got under weigh, with the wind at west; but, after tacking off and on, we found ourselves, at sunset, where we started from in the morning. We had on board a prisoner in chains, named Candie, who had been arrested at St. Jean d’Acre, by an order from Constantinople; and, as far as I could collect, was accused of having taken part in some of the troubles at Grenoble at the return of the Emperor Napoleon from Elba. The place assigned him was on the cables, which lay on the cargo close to the main hatchway; but, complaining that he feared being stifled when the hatches were closed in bad weather, he was transferred to the long boat; and, when the vessel was distant from the land, his chains were taken off. The Captain, the owner, his two sons, the mate, and a Maltese passenger, slept in the cabin; and, there being no room to sit, we ate constantly on deck, fair weather and foul. As there was no space for stools, or chairs, or benches, they all stood to eat, and to this position I should have been myself condemned, had not my habits of sitting in the Turkish fashion made a bale of cotton a very good sofa.
On the 12th, a strong wind from the East carried us on our course seventy or eighty miles. On the 13th, the wind again shifted to the west, and, up to the 23d, we were still beating to windward.
May set in with a change of wind to the north-east. For the first time, studding sails were set. We now got on rapidly, and on the night of the 3rd, we passed between Malta and Sicily.
On the 8th, the coast of Barbary was in sight the whole day. On the 11th and 12th we made little way; and on the 13th and 14th we were becalmed on the Casse, a bank over which ships of large burden cannot pass without danger. Here one of the sailors speared a fish, between three and four feet long, of a deep purple colour on the back, and with a snouted head, which some called a paron and others a requin (shark).
On the 15th we had an easterly wind, and advanced very fast towards our destination. On the 16th, at four o’clock in the afternoon, we discovered the high land over Toulon, and about sunset we descried the church of Nôtre Dame de la Garde, the village of Sinfours, and the rock at the entrance of Toulon harbour. We stood off during the night; and, on quitting the cabin in the morning, I found the vessel at the mouth of Marseilles harbour, just where the rocky land, so rugged and bare, presents itself to the sight. In an hour we were anchored at Pomegue, an inlet in a small island not altogether safe in blowing weather, but destined for vessels that have to perform quarantine. Thus we had been thirty-seven days on our passage; ten of which were spent in reaching Candia, thirteen more to Malta, six to Sardinia, and eight more to our anchorage.