Though we had been quite alone on the Atlantic, yet as soon as we entered the Mediterranean we found ourselves in company with a large fleet of vessels. We had a fair wind up the strait, and kept along with our companions for two or three days; but as the strait grew wider, and at length expanded into the broad Mediterranean sea, these vessels dispersed towards their several ports of destination. We sailed along the Spanish coast for nearly a week, and found the landscape everywhere picturesque and striking. The shore is high and abrupt at first; farther onward it rises into lofty mountains. Here the scenery became truly grand and sublime. It was mid-winter, and the mountains of Granada were covered with snow. A lofty ridge, called the Sierra Nevada, runs parallel to the shore, and rises to the height of 11,000 feet. At this time it presented a most noble sight—an immense wall of snow, glistening in the bright sunshine and towering up to the clouds.
Winds are commonly regulated by the direction of the shores, especially where the coasts are mountainous. At Cape de Gatt, where the coast makes a sudden bend to the north, a change of wind is always expected by vessels sailing up the Mediterranean; and so it happened with us. The fair breeze from the west, which had hitherto driven us on our course, now shifted to a strong easterly breeze, directly in our teeth. We had also a short chopping sea, peculiar to the Mediterranean, which brings on sea-sickness to one coming from the Atlantic, although the waves of the Mediterranean never rise so high as the Atlantic billows. We beat against the wind some days, till at length it sprung up astern again, when we ran before it till we came in sight of the island of Sicily.
We found the mountains of Sicily, like those of Spain, covered with snow; and considering the bleak wintry prospect which the country offered at the distance from which we viewed it, we never should have guessed that the gardens were full of green trees, bending under the weight of ripe oranges. This however was the fact, as we afterwards discovered. In steering from this quarter towards Malta, we sailed over the spot where a volcanic island suddenly rose up from the bottom of the sea a few years ago; a surprising phenomenon, of which the reader may like to hear a short account.
This part of the Mediterranean is known to abound in subterranean fires. Ætna is always burning; the Lipari islands contain volcanoes, and Vesuvius, with its terrible eruptions, has long been familiar to every reader. This whole region, both land and sea, probably rests on an immense bed of fire. Wherever this fire can get vent, it breaks out; the Lipari islands all present the appearance of having been formed in this manner. On the south coast of Sicily, the inhabitants were surprised one day to behold tremendous flames of fire breaking out of the sea in a spot where the water was known to be very deep. This alarming eruption continued for several days, with dreadful explosions, like the discharges of artillery, and showers of ashes and thick columns of smoke that obscured the light of the sun. When the eruption had partially subsided, a considerably large island was found to have emerged from the bottom of the sea. It continued smoking for many days, and at length several persons had the courage to venture off in small vessels, and land upon it. They found it to consist of black scoriæ, cinders and ashes, the substances which are commonly ejected from volcanoes. Pools of hot water stood here and there in the cavities of the surface; great heaps of dead fishes were scattered about, and the smoke of sulphur was steaming up from the hollows and crevices that abounded in the island. Such was the singular appearance of a spot that rose up from the sea, as it were out of the bowels of the earth. It would have been hazardous for a man to take up his permanent abode on this newly-formed territory, and we do not find that any one had the inclination to make any long stay on the spot. After standing a few months, the new island sunk as suddenly as it rose, and the sea over it appears to be as deep as ever.
A Volcanic Island thrown up from the Sea.
The little island of Gozo now came in sight ahead, warning us that we were approaching our port. At day-break we saw the island of Malta, and ran for the western extremity, after which we stood along the northern coast for the harbor of Valette. The island appeared of a moderate height, but I could hardly discern a tree or any marks of cultivation. Watch-towers at regular intervals along the shore, and some rude structures in the interior, were all that appeared to diversify the landscape. As we approached the harbor, we discovered a fleet of small boats putting off to meet us, and we were soon surrounded by them. The men were a wild-looking set, tawny and stout, wearing brown woollen caps that hung down over their shoulders. They rowed standing, instead of sitting, as our boatmen do. The boats were very neatly built, of olivewood, with high and ornamented prows. They were painted of a bright vermilion in the bows, and it is remarkable that Homer describes the ancient Grecian ships as painted in the same manner. A loud clamor and hubbub of voices now rose around us. All the boatmen had some service to offer. One offered a pilot, another offered to tow us into the harbor, which is highly necessary here, on account of the narrowness of the entrance. Others were ready to supply us with fresh provisions, fruit, &c., and others wanted our clothes to wash. Every vessel that arrives is beset in the same manner, and the number of persons who depend for a living upon what they get for these services must be quite large.
As we approached the entrance of the harbor, we came suddenly in sight of the city of Valette, with its castle and fortifications. They stand close to the sea, and burst upon the spectator before he is aware. We were much struck with their noble and commanding appearance—and the bells of the city chiming merrily at the time, the agreeable sensations they inspired were still further heightened. It was a great mortification to us, however, to find that we were to be subjected to a quarantine of more than a week. For this purpose our vessel was taken into that part of the harbor adjoining the lazaretto, where we were brought to anchor, and treated with a prospect of the shore close at hand without the privilege of setting foot upon it for a week to come.
The quarantine regulations are very troublesome in almost all parts of the Mediterranean. The people in this quarter are always afraid of contagious diseases, particularly the plague, which in former days committed terrible ravages. The quarantine on vessels from the Levant, or the eastern part of the Mediterranean, sometimes lasts for forty days. This restriction, when applied to ships from the United States, is very useless and absurd; yet it is rigidly enforced, for these people have heard that a contagious disease, called the yellow fever, sometimes prevails in America, and as they have little knowledge of geography, they make hardly any distinction between one portion of the western continent and another. The quarantine therefore is laid upon all vessels from America.
We found ourselves in company with fifteen or twenty other vessels performing quarantine, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Austrian and Greek. There was an Austrian brig, loaded with beans from Alexandria in Egypt. She had forty days quarantine, and as the weather was rainy and the vessel’s deck leaked, the captain was afraid his cargo would sprout and shoot up into a forest of bean-stalks before he could get it on shore.