Being again settled in Athens, I set about finishing my studies of the antiquities, and taking sketches of the neighbourhood; as the weather was very hot, being now the middle of June, I started off one morning before sunrise with Demetrius to take a sketch of the Isthmus of Corinth and the surrounding scenery, and found an excellent position which commanded the whole, near a marsh with a small lake in front. I was so absorbed in my sketch that I did not think of the malaria, which was very fatal in that place. The sketch occupied about three hours, and although I had taken some breakfast in the open air, and Demetrius the same, we both felt very ill and returned to Athens, and sent directly for the doctor, when I found that I had the malaria fever in the form of an ague. Demetrius was much worse, and towards night he became delirious, and remained so for some time. I rallied in three or four days, but remained very weak. Demetrius was confined to the house for above a fortnight. Although I could go about, still the fever clung to me more or less, and I could do very little. At this time, a singular person, a Mr. Scott, a friend of Lord Byron’s, called upon me and offered every attention; he was a shy, kind, and well-informed man, living quite shut up by himself, seldom stirring out till dusk, when he was to be seen galloping round the walls of Athens quite alone. There were also at Athens, Mr. Hodgetts Foley, Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Waddington (the late) Dean of Durham, and the Rev. Mr. Hanbury. The latter was a tall, fine-looking man, of fair complexion, with long light brown hair hanging over his shoulders, and a long beard, altogether a very striking figure; he was perpetually thinking of firearms; so that it might well be said, that instead of being a man of peace, he was a man of war.
I was now introduced to the Maid of Athens, so celebrated by Lord Byron; she certainly was a handsome and elegant young woman, about twenty, with a very pleasing manner and lively and intelligent in conversation. She had a younger sister, a very agreeable person also, but not so handsome. They lived with their parents, who made their house a very pleasant resort for strangers. By this time, the beginning of July, I was a great deal better, and was recommended to take a sea voyage for change of air. The above-named gentlemen had hired an Hydriote brig to take a month’s cruise amongst the islands, and I agreed to join them. We accordingly started about the end of the first week in July, the weather still very hot. We left the Piræus in the morning, and as there was very little wind we were becalmed off Cape Colonna, which forms the eastern promontory of the Gulf of Athens. Here we cast anchor, lowered a boat, and went on shore to visit the celebrated temple.
As we landed we were much struck by the appearance of the beautiful ruin, perched upon the summit of the promontory in solitary grandeur, and overlooking the surrounding coasts and islands, altogether forming a very imposing and charming scene.
Whilst in the midst of silent admiration at this beautiful temple, all of a sudden Hanbury cried out, “There goes an old hawk,” and fired at it immediately. This dispelled the charm, and we all burst out laughing. Having finished our exploration, we returned on board our vessel to dinner. A light breeze soon afterwards sprang up; we lay-to for a short time off the island of Syra, and the following morning got under way for Paros, a fine land-locked port, which we reached early in the day, and landed after breakfast. We then proceeded to explore the quarries from which the celebrated marble was extracted.
These quarries are situated near the top of a hill, about a mile distant from the port, with a steep broken road for an approach. The ancients, instead of opening out a good face, so that the quarries might be worked to any extent with advantage, excavated caverns in the side of the hill, and having arrived at the good sound rock, cut it out by wedges and picks in such masses as they required, so that the inside of the quarry presented a long gallery from whence the stone had been taken, worked in a very regular manner in steps one above the other, without any appearance of waste; in fact, the rock is so solid that when worked by pick and wedge no blasting is necessary; indeed, if blasting were adopted, it would entail considerable waste. At the same time, it appeared to me that if the solid rock was bared from the surface and a good length of face opened out, the pick-and-wedge system might be worked to almost any extent, with much greater advantage; and if inclined planes with railways were made to the port, and a proper embarking jetty, with cranes, carried out into deep water, so as to enable large vessels to come alongside at all times to receive their cargoes, this fine marble might be quarried and exported at a very moderate cost, infinitely below the price now charged for Carrara marble. As the Parian marble is of a beautiful white cream-colour, almost free from veins, and of an even, close texture, the sale would be immense and yield an excellent profit; and considering the enormous price of fine marble adapted for sculpture, amounting to one and two guineas and upwards per foot cube, according to the size of the block and fineness of the quality, it is astonishing that the value of these quarries has not been recognized before, and that capital has not been forthcoming to work them. The harbour is spacious, with ample depth, and well protected against all winds.
The following day we devoted to the examination of the celebrated stalactite caverns of Antiparos, a small island on the north-west of Paros, and only separated from it by a narrow strait. We accordingly went there after breakfast, and being accompanied by a sufficient number of guides with torches and wax lights, commenced the exploration. We entered by a lofty arch, and after proceeding some distance came to a magnificent chamber, from the roof of which depended the most magnificent stalactites, many of them eight and ten feet long, reflecting the light of our torches like so many diamonds. From this hall issued several galleries, some of which had not then been explored; we pursued our way through all which had been investigated, and returned, after a fatiguing walk, to the surface. This island, like that of Paros, is composed of fine, close marble, which might be developed in the same manner with considerable profit. We next set sail for Naxos; and here the whole party started in a native open boat to visit some ruins, which turned out to be not in the least worth seeing. We were first becalmed for many hours, and on our return were overtaken by a violent storm, and only escaped, as the entire coast was one wall of almost perpendicular rock, by one of the sailors accidentally remembering the vicinity of a small creek, into which the captain, a brave and skilful man, managed to steer us through the breakers. We ultimately returned to Naxos, after an absence of thirty-nine hours, by far the greater part of which we passed without food, as the ruins being only eight miles from Naxos, it was considered a mere morning’s sail. The day after our return we invited the English Consul, a Greek, and several of the principal inhabitants to dinner, and had a jovial party, for the Greeks like good cheer, and are certainly not water drinkers. The wine of Naxos, of which a considerable quantity is made, both for home and foreign consumption, is excellent; it is chiefly white wine, resembling a good deal brown sherry, and if well made is equally good. Besides wine they export Velança bark, wool, figs, currants, and other articles.
Having nothing further to see, we set sail from Naxos, with a lively and lasting recollection of our visit to the celebrated antiquities, and then steered for Scio, the ancient Chios, passing amongst numerous islands, many of them very beautiful; some were covered with woods and verdure to the water’s edge, others consisted of bold barren rocks rising perpendicularly from the water to a great height, and terminating in lofty peaks. The scene was ever changing, and we enjoyed views of wood, water, plain, and mountain, combined in the most charming manner, and of endless variety.
It was amusing also to see how well the Greek sailors managed our ship. At this time of the year strong northerly winds prevail during the day, against which we had to heat. In tacking about and manœuvring the vessel they showed considerable skill and activity.
Mitylene, where we next arrived, is a poor little place, surrounded by steep, lofty hills covered with wood almost to their summits. There is some trade of wine and oil, and wood and bark. I was much amused by a fight between my man Demetrius and a Turk who insulted him; fortunately they had neither firearms nor knives, but they used their hands in the most clumsy manner possible, and after a little time I parted them before they had done any mischief.
We spent about three days in the island, which is well worthy of a visit on account of its rich and beautiful scenery, and then returned to Scio, where our party separated.