DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5504#0031
In 1817 an-d 1818.
125
the lineaments, the warm vapour of the distances, and the veil
of this mysterious hour, formed a soothing and melancholy en-
semble, superior to the finest landscapes of Claude of Lorraine.
One day, perhaps, I said to myself, a native of the Floridas,
influenced by similar motives, will visit the rains of my
country, where, as in Ephesus, a few names only will survive,
amid the mouldered remains of the cedar, the dust of marble,
and the rust of bronze. I shall not soon forget the soft but
gloomy impression this evening made on me : the echoes, con-
cealed in deep conduits, repeated the dullest sounds; the
rustling of the wind among the heath resembled subterraneous
noises ; and the imagination was impre^ed with the expiring
notes of the hymn of the priests of Diana, or the pious strains
of the primitive Christians around the apostle of Ephesus.
We had constant rains on our way back. We should have
halted, but swarms of insects drove us from the wretched
hovels established for the convenience of travellers on the
route. The caravan, therefore, galloping night and day,
reached Smyrna at length, worn out with fatigue.
I should have devoted a much greater portion of my time to
the study of this celebrated part of Asia, if I had not been
constrained to seize the opportunity the departure of the brig
le Lezard for Syria afforded me : I should have ascended the
course of the Meander, and have visited Magnesia, Sardes,
and Samos. The season was, however, too far advanced to en-
able me to undertake this; and I embarked for Palestine on
the 29th of October. I quitted M. Huyot with regret; but
not without exacting a promise from him, that he would join
me in the month of march following, by which time it was
thought he would be perfectly re-established at Alexandria.
If his health had permitted him to fulfil this engagement, the
result of our travels would have been much more satisfac-
tory.
After having got under way at four in the morning, with a
gentle breeze from the north-east, the brig had to work to
windward the whole of the day, and found considerable diffi-
culty in doubling Cape Carabournou. On the 31st, at seven
in the morning, we were abreast of" the island of Scio: the
city, which appeared to me to be of considerable extent, is
surrounded by country-houses. Pleasant villages are inter-
spersed in the valleys, which are in a high state of cultivation:
the rocks which encompass them resemble, in colour and form,
the mountains in the environs of Toulon. The inhabitants of
Scio are remarkable for the amenity of their manners. They
owe to the cultivation of the Lentiscus, the shrub which
yields the gum mastich, several privileges which make them
Voyages and Travels, No 5, Vol. I. 3 L
125
the lineaments, the warm vapour of the distances, and the veil
of this mysterious hour, formed a soothing and melancholy en-
semble, superior to the finest landscapes of Claude of Lorraine.
One day, perhaps, I said to myself, a native of the Floridas,
influenced by similar motives, will visit the rains of my
country, where, as in Ephesus, a few names only will survive,
amid the mouldered remains of the cedar, the dust of marble,
and the rust of bronze. I shall not soon forget the soft but
gloomy impression this evening made on me : the echoes, con-
cealed in deep conduits, repeated the dullest sounds; the
rustling of the wind among the heath resembled subterraneous
noises ; and the imagination was impre^ed with the expiring
notes of the hymn of the priests of Diana, or the pious strains
of the primitive Christians around the apostle of Ephesus.
We had constant rains on our way back. We should have
halted, but swarms of insects drove us from the wretched
hovels established for the convenience of travellers on the
route. The caravan, therefore, galloping night and day,
reached Smyrna at length, worn out with fatigue.
I should have devoted a much greater portion of my time to
the study of this celebrated part of Asia, if I had not been
constrained to seize the opportunity the departure of the brig
le Lezard for Syria afforded me : I should have ascended the
course of the Meander, and have visited Magnesia, Sardes,
and Samos. The season was, however, too far advanced to en-
able me to undertake this; and I embarked for Palestine on
the 29th of October. I quitted M. Huyot with regret; but
not without exacting a promise from him, that he would join
me in the month of march following, by which time it was
thought he would be perfectly re-established at Alexandria.
If his health had permitted him to fulfil this engagement, the
result of our travels would have been much more satisfac-
tory.
After having got under way at four in the morning, with a
gentle breeze from the north-east, the brig had to work to
windward the whole of the day, and found considerable diffi-
culty in doubling Cape Carabournou. On the 31st, at seven
in the morning, we were abreast of" the island of Scio: the
city, which appeared to me to be of considerable extent, is
surrounded by country-houses. Pleasant villages are inter-
spersed in the valleys, which are in a high state of cultivation:
the rocks which encompass them resemble, in colour and form,
the mountains in the environs of Toulon. The inhabitants of
Scio are remarkable for the amenity of their manners. They
owe to the cultivation of the Lentiscus, the shrub which
yields the gum mastich, several privileges which make them
Voyages and Travels, No 5, Vol. I. 3 L