DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0102
78 FIRST SIGHT OF GREECE.
The first point Ave passed in Calabria was the Punta Degli Armi,
which Niger thinks is Leukopetra. Soon after sun-set, we passed
within ten miles of Cape Spartavento, a rocky point, with a tower
on its summit: it is fifty miles from Messina. The Avind was strong;
Ave sailed by the Herculean, and Zephyrian promontories, in the
country of the Locri Epi-Zephyrii, and faintly distinguished the
Iapygian rocks, at the entrance of the Tarentine gulph. We
arrived at Zakunthos, after a voyage of sixty hours, without any
accident; though the vessel Avas small, and old, and it bleAV hard
almost the Avhole time. The distance betAveen Messina and the
capital of Zakunthos, is about tAvo hundred and forty miles.
The first point of the island Avhich Ave passed, is called Cape Ski-
naro, Ioav and green; near it is the insular rock of Saint George,
Avith a small church inhabited by a feAV Greek monks. Nearer the
shore is Mikronesi (the small island), and further on, the rock called
Trenta-nove, on Avhich are the ruins of a church and hermitage; it
takes its name from thirty-nine thieves, Avho according to tradition,
Avere hanged and buried there. We passed the Cape of Kruo-nero-
(cold Avater), and entered the port of Zakunthos in the evening
of the 3d.
I cannot describe the sensations Avhich I experienced, on ap-
proaching the classic shores of Greece. My mind Avas agitated by
the delights of the present, and the recollections of the past. The
land Avhich had been familiar to my ideas from early impressions,
seemed as if by enchantment, throAvn before my eyes. I beheld
the native soil of the great men Avhom I had so often admired ; of
the poets, historians, and orators, Avhose Avorks I had perused Avith-
delight, and to whom Europe has been indebted for so much of her
high sentiment, and her intellectual cultivation. I gazed upon the
region Avhich had produced so many artists of unrivalled excellence,
Avhose Avorks are still admired as the models of perfection, and the
standards of taste. All these ideas croAvding into the mind, made a
deep impression ; and fixed me for some time, in a contemplative,
but pleasurable reverie. The vieAv before me comprehended the
The first point Ave passed in Calabria was the Punta Degli Armi,
which Niger thinks is Leukopetra. Soon after sun-set, we passed
within ten miles of Cape Spartavento, a rocky point, with a tower
on its summit: it is fifty miles from Messina. The Avind was strong;
Ave sailed by the Herculean, and Zephyrian promontories, in the
country of the Locri Epi-Zephyrii, and faintly distinguished the
Iapygian rocks, at the entrance of the Tarentine gulph. We
arrived at Zakunthos, after a voyage of sixty hours, without any
accident; though the vessel Avas small, and old, and it bleAV hard
almost the Avhole time. The distance betAveen Messina and the
capital of Zakunthos, is about tAvo hundred and forty miles.
The first point of the island Avhich Ave passed, is called Cape Ski-
naro, Ioav and green; near it is the insular rock of Saint George,
Avith a small church inhabited by a feAV Greek monks. Nearer the
shore is Mikronesi (the small island), and further on, the rock called
Trenta-nove, on Avhich are the ruins of a church and hermitage; it
takes its name from thirty-nine thieves, Avho according to tradition,
Avere hanged and buried there. We passed the Cape of Kruo-nero-
(cold Avater), and entered the port of Zakunthos in the evening
of the 3d.
I cannot describe the sensations Avhich I experienced, on ap-
proaching the classic shores of Greece. My mind Avas agitated by
the delights of the present, and the recollections of the past. The
land Avhich had been familiar to my ideas from early impressions,
seemed as if by enchantment, throAvn before my eyes. I beheld
the native soil of the great men Avhom I had so often admired ; of
the poets, historians, and orators, Avhose Avorks I had perused Avith-
delight, and to whom Europe has been indebted for so much of her
high sentiment, and her intellectual cultivation. I gazed upon the
region Avhich had produced so many artists of unrivalled excellence,
Avhose Avorks are still admired as the models of perfection, and the
standards of taste. All these ideas croAvding into the mind, made a
deep impression ; and fixed me for some time, in a contemplative,
but pleasurable reverie. The vieAv before me comprehended the