DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0034
THE IONIAN ISLES 19
Rooms were then allotted to passengers, and a
guard, acting also as a servant, was assigned to each
group.
We hastened in the waning afternoon to put up
our tent. A large haystack stood in the middle of a
field not far from the quarantine building. This
would furnish a good backing and a protection from
the wind. We had but two oars for tent-poles; one
of these could serve as a ridgepole. We drove the
blade into the hay at the proper height, set the other
oar perpendicularly on the ground and lashed it to
the ridgepole. Not far away was a small fig-tree
which Ianni, our guard and guide, cut down and used
as an additional prop for the ridgepole. Across this
frame we hung our tent.
We had no tent-pins, but the English government
had spent five million dollars in furnishing us substi-
tutes. For fifty years, Corfu and the Ionian Isles
were under the protectorate of Great Britain. During
this period, that government erected vast and expen-
sive fortifications commanding the harbor of Corfu.
When the islands were relinquished to Greece in
1863, these fortifications were dismantled and blown
to pieces. We guyed our tent to some of the mass
of fragments and used smaller ones in place of tent-
pins to hold down our canvas. Meanwhile deft fin-
gers had sewed and hung Turkey-red curtains, giving
an oriental brilliancy to the interior and dividing it
into compartments.
A home-made Yankee tent and a manufactured
English ruin for our first night in Greece !
Our Greek and Italian fellow passengers were in-
clined to commiserate us for having only the shelter
Rooms were then allotted to passengers, and a
guard, acting also as a servant, was assigned to each
group.
We hastened in the waning afternoon to put up
our tent. A large haystack stood in the middle of a
field not far from the quarantine building. This
would furnish a good backing and a protection from
the wind. We had but two oars for tent-poles; one
of these could serve as a ridgepole. We drove the
blade into the hay at the proper height, set the other
oar perpendicularly on the ground and lashed it to
the ridgepole. Not far away was a small fig-tree
which Ianni, our guard and guide, cut down and used
as an additional prop for the ridgepole. Across this
frame we hung our tent.
We had no tent-pins, but the English government
had spent five million dollars in furnishing us substi-
tutes. For fifty years, Corfu and the Ionian Isles
were under the protectorate of Great Britain. During
this period, that government erected vast and expen-
sive fortifications commanding the harbor of Corfu.
When the islands were relinquished to Greece in
1863, these fortifications were dismantled and blown
to pieces. We guyed our tent to some of the mass
of fragments and used smaller ones in place of tent-
pins to hold down our canvas. Meanwhile deft fin-
gers had sewed and hung Turkey-red curtains, giving
an oriental brilliancy to the interior and dividing it
into compartments.
A home-made Yankee tent and a manufactured
English ruin for our first night in Greece !
Our Greek and Italian fellow passengers were in-
clined to commiserate us for having only the shelter