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diff --git a/41263-0.txt b/41263-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73ab9ce --- /dev/null +++ b/41263-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11007 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41263 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 41263-h.htm or 41263-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41263/41263-h/41263-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41263/41263-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/mediterraneanits00bonnrich + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + The original text includes Greek characters that have been + replaced with transliterations in this text-file version. + + + + + +THE MEDITERRANEAN + +[Illustration] + + +THE MEDITERRANEAN + +Its Storied Cities and Venerable Ruins + +by + +T. G. BONNEY, E. A. R. BALL, H. D. TRAILL, GRANT ALLEN, +ARTHUR GRIFFITHS AND ROBERT BROWN + +Illustrated with Photogravures + + + + + + +New York +James Pott & Company +1907 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + I. THE PILLARS OF HERCULES, 1 + + Portals of the ancient world--Bay of Tangier at sunrise-- + Tarifa--The Rock of Gibraltar--Wonders of its + fortifications--Afternoon promenade in the Alameda Gardens-- + Ascending the Rock--View from the highest point--The Great + Siege--Ceuta, the principal Spanish stronghold on the + Moorish coast--The rock of many names. + + + II. ALGIERS, 28 + + "A Pearl set in Emeralds"--Two distinct towns; one ancient, + one modern--The Great Mosque--A Mohammedan religious + festival--Oriental life in perfection--The road to Mustapha + Supérieur--A true Moorish villa described--Women praying to + a sacred tree--Excessive rainfall. + + + III. MALAGA, 42 + + A nearly perfect climate--Continuous existence of thirty + centuries--Granada and the world-renowned Alhambra--Systems + of irrigation--Vineyards the chief source of wealth--Esparto + grass--The famous Cape de Gatt--The highest peak of the + Sierra Nevada--Last view of Granada. + + + IV. BARCELONA, 61 + + The flower market of the Rambla--Streets of the old town-- + The Cathedral of Barcelona--Description of the Columbus + monument--All Saints' Day in Spain--Mont Tibidaho--Diverse + centers of intellectual activity--Ancient history-- + Philanthropic and charitable institutions. + + + V. MARSEILLES, 94 + + Its Greek founders and early history--Superb view from the + sea--The Cannebière--The Prado and Chemin de la Corniche-- + Château d'If and Monte-Cristo--Influence of the Greeks in + Marseilles--Ravages by plague and pestilence--Treasures of + the Palais des Arts--The Chapel of Nôtre Dame de la Garde-- + The new Marseilles and its future. + + + VI. NICE, 124 + + The Queen of the Riviera--The Port of Limpia--Castle Hill-- + Promenade des Anglais--The Carnival and Battle of Flowers-- + Place Masséna, the center of business--Beauty of the + suburbs--The road to Monte Carlo--The quaintly picturesque + town of Villefranche--Aspects of Nice and its environs. + + + VII. THE RIVIERA, 145 + + In the days of the Doges--Origin of the name--The blue bay + of Cannes--Ste. Marguerite and St. Honorat--Historical + associations--The Rue L'Antibes--The rock of Monaco--"Nôtre + Dame de la Roulette"--From Monte Carlo to Mentone--San + Remo--A romantic railway. + + + VIII. GENOA, 160 + + Early history--Old fortifications--The rival of Venice-- + Changes of twenty-five years--From the parapet of the + Corso--The lower town--The Genoese palazzi--Monument to + Christopher Columbus--The old Dogana--Memorials in the + Campo Santo--The Bay of Spezzia--The Isola Palmeria--Harbor + scenes. + + + IX. THE TUSCAN COAST, 192 + + Shelley's last months at Lerici--Story of his death--Carrara + and its marble quarries--Pisa--Its grand group of + ecclesiastical buildings--The cloisters of the Campo Santo-- + Napoleon's life on Elba--Origin of the Etruscans--The ruins + of Tarquinii--Civita Vecchia, the old port of Rome--Ostia. + + + X. VENICE, 220 + + Its early days--The Grand Canal and its palaces--Piazza of + St. Mark--A Venetian funeral--The long line of islands-- + Venetian glass--Torcello, the ancient Altinum--Its two + unique churches. + + + XI. ALEXANDRIA, 234 + + The bleak and barren shores of the Nile Delta--Peculiar + shape of the city--Strange and varied picture of Alexandrian + street life--The Place Mehemet Ali--Glorious panorama from + the Cairo citadel--Pompey's Pillar--The Battle of the Nile-- + Discovery of the famous inscribed stone at Rosetta--Port + Said and the Suez Canal. + + + XII. MALTA, 267 + + "England's Eye in the Mediterranean"--Vast systems of + fortifications--Sentinels and martial music--The Strada + Reale of Valletta--Church of St. John--St. Elmo--The + Military Hospital, the "very glory of Malta"--Citta + Vecchia--Saint Paul and his voyages. + + + XIII. SICILY, 295 + + Scylla and Charybdis--Messina, the chief commercial center + of Sicily--The magnificent ruins of the Greek Theater at + Taormina--Omnipresence of Mt. Etna--Approach to Syracuse-- + The famous Latomia del Paradiso--Girgenti, the City of + Temples--Railway route to Palermo--Mosaics--Cathedral and + Abbey of Monreale--Monte Pellegrino at the hour of sunset. + + + XIV. NAPLES, 325 + + The Bay of Naples--Vesuvius--Characteristic scenes of street + life--The _al fresco_ restaurants--Chapel of St. Januarius-- + Virgil's Tomb--Capri, the Mecca of artists and lovers of the + picturesque--The Emperor Tiberius--Description of the Blue + Grotto--The coast-road from Castellamare to Sorrento-- + Amalfi--Sorrento, "the village of flowers and the flower of + villages"--The Temples of Pæstum. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + CAPRI.--The Marina Grande _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + + GIBRALTAR.--View from the Old Mole 14 + + ALGIERS.--Government Square and the Street, La Marine 28 + + ALGIERS.--Interior of the Governor's Palace 36 + + MALAGA.--General View from Castle 52 + + BARCELONA.--View of Harbor 70 + + MARSEILLES.--Panorama of the Old Port 98 + + NICE.--Promenade des Anglais 132 + + THE RIVIERA.--San Remo 158 + + GENOA.--The Doria Palace--Garden and Doorway 172 + + THE TUSCAN COAST.--Pisa--Cathedral Square and Monuments 198 + + VENICE.--The Piazza of St. Mark 226 + + ALEXANDRIA.--General View of the City 240 + + ALEXANDRIA.--Scene on Canal 260 + + MALTA.--General View 274 + + SICILY.--View of Taormina and Mt. Etna 298 + + NAPLES.--Panorama from Virgil's Tomb 334 + + + + +The Mediterranean + + + + +I + +THE PILLARS OF HERCULES + + Portals of the ancient world--Bay of Tangier at sunrise--Tarifa--The + Rock of Gibraltar--Wonders of its fortifications--Afternoon promenade + in the Alameda Gardens--Ascending the Rock--View from the highest + point--The Great Siege--Ceuta, the principal Spanish stronghold on the + Moorish coast--The rock of many names. + + +The "Pillars of Hercules!" The portals of the Ancient World! To how many a +traveller just beginning to tire of his week on the Atlantic, or but +slowly recovering, it may be, in his tranquil voyage along the coasts of +Portugal and Southern Spain, from the effects of thirty unquiet hours in +the Bay of Biscay, has the nearing view of this mighty landmark of history +brought a message of new life! That distant point ahead, at which the +narrowing waters of the Strait that bears him disappear entirely within +the clasp of the embracing shores, is for many such a traveller the +beginning of romance. He gazes upon it from the westward with some dim +reflection of that mysterious awe with which antiquity looked upon it from +the East. The progress of the ages has, in fact, transposed the center of +human interest and the human point of view. Now, as in the Homeric era, +the Pillars of Hercules form the gateway of a world of wonder; but for us +of to-day it is within and not without those portals that that world of +wonder lies. To the eye of modern poetry the Atlantic and Mediterranean +have changed places. In the waste of waters stretching westward from the +rock of Calpe and its sister headland, the Greek of the age of Homer found +his region of immemorial poetic legend and venerable religious myth, and +peopled it with the gods and heroes of his traditional creed. Here, on the +bosom of the wide-winding river Oceanus, lay the Islands of the +Blest--that abode of eternal beauty and calm, where "the life of mortals +is most easy," where "there is neither snow nor winter nor much rain, but +ocean is ever sending up the shrilly breezes of Zephyrus to refresh man." +But for us moderns who have explored this mighty "river Oceanus," this +unknown and mysterious Atlantic to its farthest recesses, the glamor of +its mystery has passed away for ever; and it is eastward and not westward, +through the "Pillars of Hercules," that we now set our sails in search of +the region of romance. It is to the basin of the Mediterranean--fringed +with storied cities and venerable ruins, with the crumbling sanctuaries of +a creed which has passed away, and the monuments of an art which is +imperishable--that man turns to-day. The genius of civilization has +journeyed far to the westward, and has passed through strange experiences; +it returns with new reverence and a deeper awe to that _enclave_ of +mid-Europe which contains its birthplace, and which is hallowed with the +memories of its glorious youth. The grand cliff-portal which we are +approaching is the entrance, the thoughtful traveller will always feel, to +a region eternally sacred in the history of man; to lands which gave birth +to immortal models of literature and unerring canons of philosophic truth; +to shrines and temples which guard the ashes of those "dead but sceptered +sovereigns" who "rule our spirits from their urns." + +As our vessel steams onward through the rapidly narrowing Straits, the eye +falls upon a picturesque irregular cluster of buildings on the Spanish +shore, wherefrom juts forth a rocky tongue of land surmounted by a tower. +It is the Pharos of Tarifa, and in another half hour we are close enough +to distinguish the exact outlines of the ancient and famous city named of +Tarif Ibn Malek, the first Berber sheikh who landed in Spain, and itself, +it is said--though some etymologists look askance at the derivation--the +name-mother of a word which is little less terrible to the modern trader +than was this pirate's nest itself to his predecessor of old times. The +arms of Tarifa are a castle on waves, with a key at the window, and the +device is not unaptly symbolical of her mediæval history, when her +possessors played janitors of the Strait, and merrily levied +blackmail--the irregular _tariff_ of those days--upon any vessel which +desired to pass. The little town itself is picturesquely situated in the +deepest embrace of the curving Strait, and the view looking westward--with +the lighthouse rising sharp and sheer against the sky, from the jutting +cluster of rock and building about its base, while dimly to the left in +the farther distance lie the mountains of the African coast, descending +there so cunningly behind the curve that the two continents seem to touch +and connect the channel into a lake--is well worth attentive study. An +interesting spot, too, is Tarifa, as well as a picturesque--interesting at +least to all who are interested either in the earlier or the later +fortunes of post-Roman Europe. It played its part, as did most other +places, on this common battle-ground of Aryan and Semite, in the secular +struggle between European Christendom and the Mohammedan East. And again, +centuries later, it was heard of in the briefer but more catastrophic +struggle of the Napoleonic wars. From the day when Alonzo Perez de Guzman +threw his dagger down from its battlements in disdainful defiance of the +threat to murder his son, dragged bound before him beneath its walls by +traitors, it is a "far cry" to the day when Colonel Gough of the 87th (the +"Eagle-Catchers") beat off Marshal Victor's besieging army of 1,800 +strong, and relieved General Campbell and his gallant little garrison; but +Tarifa has seen them both, and it is worth a visit not only for the sake +of the ride from it over the mountains to Algeciras and Gibraltar, but for +its historical associations also, and for its old-world charm. + +We have taken it, as we propose also to take Tangier, a little out of its +turn; for the voyaging visitor to Gibraltar is not very likely to take +either of these two places on his way. It is more probable that he will +visit them, the one by land and the other by sea, from the Rock itself. +But Tangier in particular it is impossible to pass without a strong desire +to make its acquaintance straightway; so many are the attractions which +draw the traveller to this some-time appanage of the British Crown, this +African _pied à terre_, which but for the insensate feuds and factions of +the Restoration period might be England's to-day. There are few more +enchanting sights than that of the Bay of Tangier as it appears at +sunrise to the traveller whose steamer has dropped down the Straits in +the afternoon and evening hours of the previous day and cast anchor after +nightfall at the nearest point off shore to which a vessel of any draught +can approach. Nowhere in the world does a nook of such sweet tranquillity +receive, and for a season, quiet, the hurrying waters of so restless a +sea. Half a mile or so out towards the center of the Strait, a steamer +from Gibraltar has to plough its way through the surface currents which +speed continually from the Atlantic towards the Pillars of Hercules and +the Mediterranean beyond. Here, under the reddening daybreak, all is calm. +The blue waters of the bay, now softly flushing at the approach of +sunrise, break lazily in mimic waves and "tender curving lines of creamy +spray" upon the shining beach. To the right lies the city, spectral in the +dawn, save where the delicate pale ivory of some of its higher houses is +warming into faintest rose; while over all, over sea and shore and city, +is the immersing crystal atmosphere of Africa, in which every rock, every +ripple, every housetop, stands out as sharp and clear as the filigree work +of winter on a frosted pane. + +Nothing in Tangier, it must be honestly admitted, will compare with the +approach to it by its incomparable bay. In another sense, too, there is +nothing here or elsewhere which exactly resembles this "approach," since +its last stage of all has to be performed alike for man and woman--unless +man is prepared to wade knee-deep in the clear blue water--on the back of +a sturdy Moor. Once landed, he will find that the picturesqueness of +Tangier, like that of most Eastern cities, diminishes rather than +increases on a nearer view. A walk through its main street yields nothing +particularly worthy of note, unless it be the minaret of the +Djama-el-Kebir, the principal mosque of the city. The point to which every +visitor to Tangier directs his steps, or has them directed for him, is the +Bab-el-Sok, the gate of the market place, where the scene to be witnessed +at early morning presents an unequaled picture of Oriental life. Crouching +camels with their loads of dates, chaffering traders, chattering women, +sly and servile looking Jews from the city, fierce-eyed, heavily armed +children of the desert, rough-coated horses, and the lank-sided mules, +withered crones squatting in groups by the wayside, tripping damsels +ogling over the _yashmak_ as they pass, and the whole enveloped in a +blinding, bewildering, choking cloud of such dust as only Africa, "_arida +nutrix_," can produce--such dust as would make the pulverulent particles +of the dryest of turnpikes in the hottest of summers, and under the most +parching of east winds, appear by comparison moist and cool, and no more +than pleasingly titillatory of the mouth and nostrils--let the reader +picture to himself such a scene with such accessories, and he will know +what spectacle awaits him at early morning at the Bab-el-Sok of Tangier. + +But we must resume our journey eastward towards the famous "Rock." There +at last it is! There "dawns Gibraltar grand and gray," though Mr. Browning +strains poetic license very hard in making it visible even "in the dimmest +north-east distance," to a poet who was at that moment observing how +"sunset ran one glorious blood-red recking into Cadiz Bay." We, at any +rate, are far enough away from Cadiz before it dawns upon us in all its +Titanic majesty of outline; grand, of course, with the grandeur of Nature, +and yet with a certain strange air of human menace as of some piece of +Atlantean ordnance planted and pointed by the hand of man. This +"armamental" appearance of the Rock--a look visible, or at any rate +imaginable in it, long before we have approached it closely enough to +discern its actual fortifications, still less its artillery--is much +enhanced by the dead flatness of the land from which its western wall +arises sheer, and with which by consequence it seems to have no closer +physical connection than has a gun-carriage with the parade ground on +which it stands. As we draw nearer this effect increases in intensity. The +surrounding country seems to sink and recede around it, and the Rock +appears to tower ever higher and higher, and to survey the Strait and the +two continents, divided by it with a more and more formidable frown. As we +approach the port, however, this impression gives place to another, and +the Rock, losing somewhat of its "natural-fortress" air, begins to assume +that resemblance to a couchant lion which has been so often noticed in it. +Yet alas! for the so-called famous "leonine aspect" of the famous height, +or alas! at least for the capricious workings of the human imagination! +For while to the compiler of one well-reputed guidebook, the outlines of +Gibraltar seem "like those of a lion asleep, and whose head, somewhat +truncated, is turned towards Africa as if with a dreamy and steadfast deep +attention;" to another and later observer the lion appears to have "his +kingly head turned towards Spain, as if in defiance of his former master, +every feature having the character of leonine majesty and power!" The +truth is, of course, that the Rock assumes entirely different aspects, +according as it is looked at from different points of view. There is +certainly a point from which Gibraltar may be made, by the exercise of a +little of Polonius's imagination, to resemble some couchant animal with +its head turned towards Africa--though "a head somewhat truncated," is as +odd a phrase as a "body somewhat decapitated"--and contemplating that +continent with what we may fancy, if we choose, to be "dreamy and +steadfast attention." But the resemblance is, at best, but a slender one, +and a far-fetched. The really and strikingly leonine aspect of Gibraltar +is undoubtedly that which it presents to the observer as he is steaming +towards the Rock from the west, but has not yet come into full view of the +slope on which the town is situated. No one can possibly mistake the lion +then. His head is distinctly turned towards Spain, and what is more, he +has a foot stretched out towards the mainland, as though in token of his +mighty grasp upon the soil. Viewed, however, from the neutral ground, this +Protean cliff takes on a new shape altogether, and no one would suppose +that the lines of that sheer precipice, towering up into a jagged +pinnacle, could appear from any quarter to melt into the blunt and massive +curves which mark the head and shoulders of the King of Beasts. + +At last, however, we are in the harbor, and are about to land. To land! +How little does that phrase convey to the inexperienced in sea travel, or +to those whose voyages have begun and ended in stepping from a +landing-stage on to a gangway, and from a gangway on to a deck, and +_vice-versâ_! And how much does it mean for him to whom it comes fraught +with recollections of steep descents, of heaving seas, of tossing +cock-boats, perhaps of dripping garments, certainly of swindling boatmen! +There are disembarkations in which you come in for them all; but not at +Gibraltar, at least under normal circumstances. The waters of the port are +placid, and from most of the many fine vessels that touch there you +descend by a ladder, of as agreeable an inclination as an ordinary flight +of stairs. All you have to fear is the insidious bilingual boatman, who, +unless you strictly covenant with him before entering his boat, will have +you at his mercy. It is true that he has a tariff, and that you might +imagine that the offense of exceeding it would be punished in a place like +Gibraltar by immediate court-martial and execution; but the traveller +should not rely upon this. There is a deplorable relaxation of the bonds +of discipline all over the world. Moreover, it is wise to agree with the +boatmen for a certain fixed sum, as a salutary check upon undue +liberality. Most steamers anchor at a considerable distance from the +shore, and on a hot day one might be tempted by false sentiment to give +the boatman an excessive fee. + +Your hosts at Gibraltar--"spoiling" as they always are for the sight of +new civilian faces--show themselves determined from the first to make you +at home. Private Thomas Atkins on sentry duty grins broad welcome to you +from the Mole. The official to whom you have to give account of yourself +and your belongings greets you with a pleasant smile, and, while your +French or Spanish fellow-traveller is strictly interrogated as to his +identity, profession, purpose of visit, &c., your English party is passed +easily and promptly in, as men "at home" upon the soil which they are +treading. Fortunate is it, if a little bewildering, for the visitor to +arrive at midday, for before he has made his way from the landing-place to +his hotel he will have seen a sight which has few if any parallels in the +world. Gibraltar has its narrow, quiet, sleepy alleys as have all Southern +towns; and any one who confined himself to strolling through and along +these, and avoiding the main thoroughfare, might never discover the +strangely cosmopolitan character of the place. He must walk up Waterport +Street at midday in order to see what Gibraltar really is--a conflux of +nations, a mart of races, an Exchange for all the multitudinous varieties +of the human product. Europe, Asia, and Africa meet and jostle in this +singular highway. Tall, stately, slow-pacing Moors from the north-west +coast; white-turbaned Turks from the eastern gate of the Mediterranean; +thick-lipped, and woolly-headed negroids from the African interior; +quick-eyed, gesticulating Levantine Greeks; gabardined Jews, and +black-wimpled Jewesses; Spanish smugglers, and Spanish sailors; +"rock-scorpions," and red-coated English soldiers--all these compose, +without completing, the motley moving crowd that throngs the main street +of Gibraltar in the forenoon, and gathers densest of all in the market +near Commercial Square. + +It is hardly then as a fortress, but rather as a great entrepôt of +traffic, that Gibraltar first presents itself to the newly-landed visitor. +He is now too close beneath its frowning batteries and dominating walls of +rock to feel their strength and menace so impressive as at a distance; and +the flowing tide of many-colored life around him overpowers the senses and +the imagination alike. He has to seek the outskirts of the town on either +side in order to get the great Rock again, either physically or morally, +into proper focus. And even before he sets out to try its height and +steepness by the ancient, if unscientific, process of climbing it--nay, +before he even proceeds to explore under proper guidance its mighty +elements of military strength--he will discover perhaps that sternness is +not its only feature. Let him stroll round in the direction of the +race-course to the north of the Rock, and across the parade-ground, which +lies between the town and the larger area on which the reviews and +field-day evolutions take place, and he will not complain of Gibraltar as +wanting in the picturesque. The bold cliff, beneath which stands a Spanish +café, descends in broken and irregular, but striking, lines to the plain, +and it is fringed luxuriantly from stair to stair with the vegetation of +the South. Marching and counter-marching under the shadow of this lofty +wall, the soldiers show from a little distance like the tin toys of the +nursery, and one knows not whether to think most of the physical +insignificance of man beside the brute bulk of Nature, or of the moral--or +immoral--power which has enabled him to press into his service even the +vast Rock which stands there beetling and lowering over him, and to turn +the blind giant into a sort of Titanic man-at-arms. + +Such reflections as these, however, would probably whet a visitor's desire +to explore the fortifications without delay; and the time for that is not +yet. The town and its buildings have first to be inspected; the life of +the place, both in its military and--such as there is of it--its civil +aspect, must be studied; though this, truth to tell, will not engage even +the minutest observer very long. Gibraltar is not famous for its shops, or +remarkable, indeed, as a place to buy anything, except tobacco, which, as +the Spanish Exchequer knows to its cost (and the Spanish Customs' +officials on the frontier too, it is to be feared, their advantage), is +both cheap and good. Business, however, of all descriptions is fairly +active, as might be expected, when we recollect that the town is pretty +populous for its size, and numbers some 20,000 inhabitants, in addition to +its garrison of from 5,000 to 6,000 men. With all its civil activity, +however, the visitor is scarcely likely to forget--for any length of +time--that he is in a "place of arms." Not to speak of the shocks +communicated to his unaccustomed nerves by morning and evening gun-fire; +not to speak of the thrilling fanfare of the bugles, executed as only the +bugler of a crack English regiment can execute it, and echoed and +re-echoed to and fro, from face to face of the Rock, there is an +indefinable air of stern order, of rigid discipline, of authority whose +word is law, pervading everything. As the day wears on toward the evening +this aspect of things becomes more and more unmistakable; and in the +neighborhood of the gates, towards the hour of gun-fire, you may see +residents hastening in, and non-residents quickening the steps of their +departure, lest the boom of the fatal cannon-clock should confine or +exclude them for the night. After the closing of the gates it is still +permitted for a few hours to perambulate the streets; but at midnight this +privilege also ceases, and no one is allowed out of doors without a +night-pass. On the 31st of December a little extra indulgence is allowed. +One of the military bands will perhaps parade the main thoroughfare +discoursing the sweet strains of "Auld Lang Syne," and the civil +population are allowed to "see the old year out and the new year in." But +a timid and respectful cheer is their sole contribution to the ceremony, +and at about 12.15 they are marched off again to bed: such and so vigilant +are the precautions against treachery within the walls, or surprise from +without. In Gibraltar, undoubtedly, you experience something of the +sensations of men who are living in a state of siege, or of those Knights +of Branksome who ate and drank in armor, and lay down to rest with +corslet laced, and with the buckler for a pillow. + +The lions of the town itself, as distinguished from the wonders of its +fortifications, are few in number. The Cathedral, the Garrison Library, +Government House, the Alameda Gardens, the drive to Europa Point exhaust +the list; and there is but one of these which is likely to invite--unless +for some special purpose or other--a repetition of the visit. In the +Alameda, however, a visitor may spend many a pleasant hour, and--if the +peace and beauty of a hillside garden, with the charms of subtropical +vegetation in abundance near at hand, and noble views of coast and sea in +the distance allure him--he assuredly will. Gibraltar is immensely proud +of its promenade, and it has good reason to be so. From the point of view +of Nature and of Art the Alameda is an equal success. General Don, who +planned and laid it out some three-quarters of a century ago, +unquestionably earned a title to the same sort of tribute as was bestowed +upon a famous military predecessor, Marshal Wade. Anyone who had "seen" +the Alameda "before it was made," might well have "lifted up his hands and +blessed" the gallant officer who had converted "the Red Sands," as the +arid desert once occupying this spot was called, into the paradise of +geranium-trees which has taken its place. Its monuments to Elliot and +Wellington are not ideal: the mysterious curse pronounced upon English +statuary appears to follow it even beyond seas; but the execution of the +effigies of these national heroes may, perhaps, be forgotten in the +interest attaching to their subjects. The residents at any rate, whether +civil or military, are inured to these efforts of the sculptor's art, and +have long since ceased to repine. And the afternoon promenade in these +gardens--with the English officers and their wives and daughters, English +nursemaids and their charges, tourists of both sexes and all ages, and the +whole surrounded by a polyglot and polychromatic crowd of Oriental +listeners to the military band--is a sight well worth seeing and not +readily to be forgotten. + +But we must pursue our tour round the peninsula of the Rock; and leaving +the new Mole on our right, and farther on the little land-locked basin of +Rosia Bay, we pass the height of Buena Vista, crowned with its barracks, +and so on to the apex of the promontory, Europa Point. Here are more +barracks and, here on Europa Flats, another open and level space for +recreation and military exercises beneath the cliff wall. Doubling the +point, and returning for a short distance along the eastern side of the +promontory, we come to the Governor's Cottage, a cool summer retreat +nestling close to the Rock, and virtually marking the limits of our +exploration. For a little way beyond this the cliff rises inaccessible, +the road ends, and we must retrace our steps. So far as walking or driving +along the flat is concerned, the visitor who has reached the point may +allege, with a certain kind of superficial accuracy, that he has "done +Gibraltar." No wonder that the seasoned globe-trotter from across the +Atlantic thinks nothing of taking Calpe in his stride. + +To those, however, who visit Gibraltar in a historic spirit, it is not to +be "done" by any means so speedily as this. Indeed, it would be more +correct to say that the work of a visitor of this order is hardly yet +begun. For he will have come to Gibraltar not mainly to stroll on a sunny +promenade, or to enjoy a shady drive round the seaward slopes of a Spanish +headland, or even to feast his eyes on the glow of Southern color and +the picturesque varieties of Southern life; but to inspect a great +world-fortress, reared almost impregnable by the hand of Nature, and +raised into absolute impregnability by the art of man; a spot made +memorable from the very dawn of the modern period by the rivalries of +nations, and famous for all time by one of the most heroic exploits +recorded in the annals of the human race. To such an one, we say, the name +of Gibraltar stands before and beyond everything for the Rock of the Great +Siege; and he can no more think of it in the light of a Mediterranean +watering-place, with, a romantic, if somewhat limited, sea-front, than he +can think of the farmhouse of La Haye as an "interesting Flemish +homestead," or the Chateau of Hougoumont as a Belgian gentleman's +"eligible country house." + +[Illustration] + +For him the tour of the renowned fortifications will be the great event of +his visit. Having furnished himself with the necessary authorization from +the proper military authorities (for he will be reminded at every turn of +the strict martial discipline under which he lives), he will proceed to +ascend the Rock, making his first halt at a building which in all +probability he will often before this have gazed upon and wondered at from +below. This is the Moorish Castle, the first object to catch the eye of +the newcomer as he steps ashore at the Mole, and looks up at the houses +that clamber up the western slope of the Rock. Their ascending tiers are +dominated by this battlemented pile, and it is from the level on which it +stands that one enters the famous galleries of Gibraltar. The castle is +one of the oldest Moorish buildings in Spain, the Arabic legend over the +south gate recording it to have been built in 725 by Abu-Abul-Hajez. Its +principal tower, the Torre del Homenaje, is riddled with shot marks, the +scars left behind it by the ever-memorable siege. The galleries, which are +tunneled in tiers along the north front of the Rock, are from two to three +miles in extent. At one extremity they widen out into the spacious crypt +known as the Hall of St. George, in which Nelson was feasted. No arches +support these galleries; they are simply hewn from the solid rock, and +pierced every dozen yards or so by port-holes, through each of which the +black muzzle of a gun looks forth upon the Spanish mainland. They front +the north, these grim watchdogs, and seeing that the plain lies hundreds +of feet beneath them, and with that altitude of sheer rock face between +them and it, they may perhaps be admitted to represent what a witty +Frenchman has called _le luxe et la coquetterie d' imprenable_, or as we +might put it, a "refinement on the impregnable." Artillery in position +implies the possibility of regular siege operations, followed perhaps by +an assault from the quarter which the guns command; but though the Spanish +threw up elaborate works on the neutral ground in the second year of the +great siege, neither then nor at any other time has an assault on the Rock +from its northern side been contemplated. Yet it has once been "surprised" +from its eastern side, which looks almost equally inaccessible; and +farther on in his tour of exploration, the visitor will come upon traces +of that unprecedented and unimitated exploit. After having duly inspected +the galleries, he will ascend to the Signal Tower, known in Spanish days +as El Hacho, or the Torch, the spot at which beacon fires were wont on +occasion to be kindled. It is not quite the highest point of the Rock, but +the view from it is one of the most imposing in the world. To the north +lie the mountains of Ronda, and to the far east the Sierra of the Snows +that looks down on Granada, gleams pale and spectral on the horizon. Far +beneath you lie town and bay, the batteries with their tiny ordnance, and +the harbor with its plaything ships; while farther onward, in the same +line of vision, the African "Pillar of Hercules," Ceuta, looks down upon +the sunlit waters of the Strait. + +A little farther on is the true highest point of the Rock, 1,430 feet; and +yet a little farther, after a descent of a few feet, we come upon the +tower known as O'Hara's Folly, from which also the view is magnificent, +and which marks the southernmost point of the ridge. It was built by an +officer of that name as a watch tower, from which to observe the movements +of the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, which, even across the cape as the crow +flies, is distant some fifty or sixty miles. The extent, however, of the +outlook which it actually commanded has probably never been tested, +certainly not with modern optical appliances, as it was struck by +lightning soon after its completion. Retracing his steps to the northern +end of the height, the visitor historically interested in Gibraltar will +do well to survey the scene from here once more before descending to +inspect the fortifications of the coast line. Far beneath him, looking +landward, lies the flat sandy part of the isthmus, cut just where its neck +begins to widen by the British lines. Beyond these, again, extends the +zone some half mile in breadth of the neutral ground; while yet farther +inland, the eye lights upon a broken and irregular line of earthworks, +marking the limit, politically speaking, of Spanish soil. These are the +most notable, perhaps the only surviving, relic of the great siege. In the +third year of that desperate leaguer--it was in 1781--the Spaniards +having tried in vain, since June, 1779, to starve out the garrison, +resorted to the idea of bombarding the town into surrender, and threw up +across the neutral ground the great earthworks, of which only these ruins +remain. They had reason, indeed, to resort to extraordinary efforts. Twice +within these twenty-four months had they reduced the town to the most +dreadful straits of hunger, and twice had it been relieved by English +fleets. In January, 1780, when Rodney appeared in the Straits with his +priceless freight of food, the inhabitants were feeding on thistles and +wild onions; the hind quarter of an Algerian sheep was selling for seven +pounds ten, and an English milch cow for fifty guineas. In the spring of +1781, when Admiral Darby relieved them for the second time, the price of +"bad ship's biscuits full of vermin"--says Captain John Drinkwater of the +72nd, an actor in the scenes which he has recorded--was a shilling a +pound; "old dried peas, a shilling and fourpence; salt, half dirt, the +sweepings of ships' bottoms, and storehouses, eightpence; and English +farthing candles, sixpence apiece." These terrible privations having +failed to break the indomitable spirit of the besieged, bombardment had, +before the construction of these lines, been resorted to. Enormous +batteries, mounting 170 guns and 80 mortars, had been planted along the +shore, and had played upon the town, without interruption, for six weeks. +Houses were shattered and set on fire, homeless and half-starved families +were driven for shelter to the southern end of the promontory, where again +they were harried by Spanish ships sailing round Europa Point and firing +indiscriminately on shore. The troops, shelled out of their quarters, were +living in tents on the hillside, save when these also were swept away by +the furious rainstorms of that region. And it was to put, as was hoped, +the finishing stroke to this process of torture, that the great +fortifications which have been spoken of were in course of construction +all through the spring and summer of 1781 on the neutral ground. General +Elliot--that tough old Spartan warrior, whose food was vegetables and +water, and four hours his maximum of continuous sleep, and the contagion +of whose noble example could alone perhaps have given heart enough even to +this sturdy garrison--watched the progress of the works with anxiety, and +had made up his mind before the winter came that they must be assaulted. +Accordingly, at three A. M. on the morning of November 27, 1781, he +sallied forth with a picked band of two thousand men--a pair of regiments +who had fought by his side at Minden two-and-twenty years before--and +having traversed the three-quarters of a mile of intervening country in +swift silence, fell upon the Spanish works. The alarm had been given, but +only just before the assailants reached the object of their attack; and +the affair was practically a surprise. The gunners, demoralized and +panic-stricken, were bayoneted at their posts, the guns were spiked, and +the batteries themselves set on fire with blazing faggots prepared for the +purpose. In an hour the flames had gained such strength as to be +inextinguishable, and General Elliot drew off his forces and retreated to +the town, the last sound to greet their ears as they re-entered the gates +being the roar of the explosion of the enemy's magazines. For four days +the camp continued to burn, and when the fire had exhausted itself for +want of materials, the work of laborious months lay in ruins, and the +results of a vast military outlay were scattered to the winds. It was the +last serious attempt made against the garrison by the Spaniards from the +landward side. The fiercest and most furious struggle of the long siege +was to take place on the shore and waters to the west. + +And so after all it is to the "line-wall"--to that formidable bulwark of +masonry and gun-metal which fringes the town of Gibraltar from the Old +Mole to Rosia Bay--that one returns as to the chief attraction from the +historical point of view, of the mighty fortress. For two full miles it +runs, zigzagging along the indented coast, and broken here and there by +water-gate or bastion, famous in military story. Here, as we move +southward from the Old Mole, is the King's Bastion, the most renowned of +all. Next comes Ragged Staff Stairs, so named from the heraldic insignia +of Charles V.; and farther on is Jumper's Battery, situated at what is +held to be the weakest part of the Rock, and which has certainly proved +itself to be so on one ever memorable occasion. For it was at the point +where Jumper's Battery now stands that the first English landing-party set +foot on shore; it was at this point, it may be said, that Gibraltar was +carried. The fortunes of nomenclature are very capricious, and the +name of Jumper--unless, indeed, it were specially selected for its +appropriateness--has hardly a better right to perpetuation in this fashion +than the name of Hicks. For these were the names of the two gallant +officers who were foremost in their pinnaces in the race for the South +Mole, which at that time occupied the spot where the landing was effected; +and we are not aware that history records which was the actual winner. It +was on the 23rd of July, 1704, as all the world knows, that these two +gallant seamen and their boats' crews made their historic leap on shore; +and after all, the accident which had preserved the name of one of them is +not more of what is familiarly called a "fluke" than the project of the +capture itself, and the retention of the great fortress when captured. It +is almost comic to think that when Sir George Rooke sailed from England, +on the voyage from which he returned, figuratively speaking, with the key +of the Mediterranean in his pocket, he had no more notion of attacking +Gibraltar than of discovering the North-West Passage. He simply went to +land England's candidate for the Spanish throne, "King Charles III.," at +Lisbon; which service performed, he received orders from the English +Government to sail to the relief of Nice and Villa Franca, which were +supposed to be in danger from the French, while at the same time he was +pressed by Charles to "look round" at Barcelona, where the people, their +aspirant-sovereign thought, were ready to rise in his favor. Rooke +executed both commissions. That is to say, he ascertained that there was +nothing for him to do in either place--that Barcelona would not rise, and +that Nice was in no danger of falling; and the admiral accordingly dropped +down the Mediterranean towards the Straits--where he was joined by Sir +Cloudesley Shovel with another squadron--with the view of intercepting the +Brest Fleet of France, which he had heard was about to attempt a junction +with that of Toulon. The Brest Fleet, however, he found had already given +him the slip, and thus it came about that on the 17th of July these two +energetic naval officers found themselves about seven leagues to the east +of Tetuan with nothing to do. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the +attack on Gibraltar was decreed as the distraction of an intolerable +ennui. The stronghold was known to be weakly garrisoned, though, for that +time, strongly armed; it turned out afterwards that it had only a hundred +and fifty gunners to a hundred guns, and it was thought possible to carry +the place by a _coup-de-main_. On the 21st the whole fleet came to anchor +in Gibraltar Bay. Two thousand men under the Prince of Hesse were landed +on what is now the neutral ground, and cut off all communication with the +mainland of Spain. On the 23rd Rear-Admirals Vanderdussen and Byng (the +father of a less fortunate seaman) opened fire upon the batteries, and +after five or six hours' bombardment silenced them, and Captain Whittaker +was thereupon ordered to take all the boats, filled with seamen and +marines, and possess himself of the South Mole Head. Captains Jumper and +Hicks were, as has been said, in the foremost pinnaces, and were the first +to land. A mine exploded under their feet, killing two officers and a +hundred men, but Jumper and Hicks pressed on with their stout followers, +and assaulted and carried a redoubt which lay between the Mole and the +town. Whereupon the Spanish Governor capitulated, the gates on the side of +the isthmus were thrown open to the Prince of Hesse and his troops, and +Gibraltar was theirs. Or rather it was not theirs, except by the title of +the "man in possession." It was the property of his Highness the Archduke +Charles, styled his Majesty King Charles III. of Spain, and had he +succeeded in making good that title in arms, England should, of course, +have had to hand over to him the strongest place in his dominions, at the +end of the war. But she profited by the failure of her protégé. The war of +the Spanish Succession ended in the recognition of Philip V.; and almost +against the will of the nation--for George I. was ready enough to give it +up, and the popular English view of the matter was that it was "a barren +rock, an insignificant fort, and a useless charge"--Gibraltar remained on +her hands. + +Undoubtedly, the King's Bastion is the center of historic military +interest in Gibraltar, but the line-wall should be followed along its +impregnable front to complete one's conception of the sea defenses of the +great fortress. A little farther on is Government House, the quondam +convent, which now forms the official residence of the Governor; and +farther still the landing-place, known as Ragged Staff Stairs. Then +Jumper's Bastion, already mentioned; and then the line of fortification, +running outwards with the coast line towards the New Mole and +landing-place, returns upon itself, and rounding Rosia Bay trends again +southward towards Buena Vista Point. A ring of steel indeed--a coat of +mail on the giant's frame, impenetrable to the projectiles of the most +terrible of the modern Titans of the seas. The casemates for the artillery +are absolutely bomb-proof, the walls of such thickness as to resist the +impact of shots weighing hundreds of pounds, while the mighty arches +overhead are constructed to defy the explosion of the heaviest shells. As +to its offensive armament, the line-wall bristles with guns of the largest +caliber, some mounted on the parapet above, others on the casemates nearer +the sea-level, whence their shot could be discharged with the deadliest +effect at an attacking ship. + +He who visits Gibraltar is pretty sure, at least if time permits, to visit +Algeciras and San Roque, while from farther afield still he will be +tempted by Estepona. The first of these places he will be in a hurry, +indeed, if he misses; not that the place itself is very remarkable, as +that it stands so prominently in evidence on the other side of the bay as +almost to challenge a visit. Add to this the natural curiosity of a +visitor to pass over into Spanish territory and to survey Gibraltar from +the landward side, and it will not be surprising that the four-mile trip +across the bay is pretty generally made. On the whole it repays; for +though Algeciras is modern and uninteresting enough, its environs are +picturesque, and the artist will be able to sketch the great rock-fortress +from an entirely new point, and in not the least striking of its aspects. + +And now, before passing once for all through the storied portal of the +Mediterranean, it remains to bestow at least a passing glance upon the +other column which guards the entrance. Over against us, as we stand on +Europa Point and look seaward, looms, some ten or a dozen miles away, the +Punta de Africa, the African Pillar of Hercules, the headland behind which +lies Ceuta, the principal Spanish stronghold on the Moorish coast. Of a +truth, one's first thought is that the great doorway of the inland sea has +monstrously unequal jambs. Except that the Punta de Africa is exactly +opposite the Rock of Gibraltar, and that it is the last eminence on the +southern side of the Straits--the point at which the African coast turns +suddenly due southward, and all is open sea--it would have been little +likely to have caught the eye of an explorer, or to have forced itself +upon the notice of the geographer. Such as it is, however, it must stand +for the African Pillar of Hercules, unless that demi-god is to content +himself with only one. It is not imposing to approach as we make our way +directly across the Straits from Gibraltar, or down and along them from +Algeciras towards it: a smooth, rounded hill, surmounted by a fort with +the Spanish flag floating above it, and walled on the sea side, so little +can its defenders trust to the very slight natural difficulties offered +even by its most difficult approach. Such is Ceuta in the distance, and it +is little, if at all, more impressive on a closer inspection. Its name is +said to come from Sebta, a corruption of Septem, and to have been given it +because of the seven hills on which it is built. Probably the seven hills +would be difficult to find and count, or with a more liberal +interpretation of the word, it might very likely be as easy to find +fourteen. + +Ceuta, like almost every other town or citadel on this battle-ground of +Europe and Africa, has played its part in the secular struggle between +Christendom and Islam. It is more than four centuries and a half since it +was first wrested from the Moors by King John of Portugal, and in the +hands of that State it remained for another two hundred years, when in +1640, it was annexed to the Crown of Castille. King John's acquisition of +the place, however, was unfortunate for his family. He returned home, +leaving the princes of Portugal in command of his new possession; which, +after the repulse of an attempt on the part of the Moors to recapture it, +he proceeded to strengthen with new fortifications and an increased +garrison. Dying in 1428, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward, who +undertook an expedition against Tangier, which turned out so unluckily +that the Portuguese had to buy their retreat from Africa by a promise to +restore Ceuta, the king's son, Don Ferdinand, being left in the hands of +the Moors as a hostage for its delivery. In spite of this, however, the +King and Council refused on their return home to carry out their +undertaking; and though preparations were made for recovering the +unfortunate hostage, the death of Edward prevented the project from being +carried out, and Prince Ferdinand remained a prisoner for several years. +Ceuta was never surrendered, and passing, as has been said, in the +seventeenth century from the possession of Portugal into that of Spain, it +now forms one of the four or five vantage-points held by Spain on the +coast of Africa and in its vicinity. Surveyed from the neighboring +heights, the citadel, with the town stretching away along the neck of land +at its foot, looks like anything but a powerful stronghold, and against +any less effete and decaying race than the Moors who surround it, it might +not possibly prove very easy to defend. Its garrison, however, is strong, +whatever its forts may be, and as a basis of military operations, it +proved to be of some value to Spain in her expedition against Morocco +thirty years ago. In times of peace it is used by the Spaniards as a +convict station. + +The internal attractions of Ceuta to a visitor are not considerable. There +are Roman remains in the neighborhood of the citadel, and the walls of the +town, with the massive archways of its gates, are well worthy of remark. +Its main feature of interest, however, is, and always will be, that rock +of many names which it thrusts forth into the Straits, to form, with its +brother column across the water, the gateway between the Eastern and the +Western World. We have already looked upon it in the distance from El +Hacho, the signal tower on the summit of the Rock of Gibraltar. Abyla, +"the mountain of God," it was styled by the Phoenicians; Gibel Mo-osa, the +hill of Musa, was its name among the Moors; it is the Cabo de Bullones of +the Spaniard, and the Apes' Hill of the Englishman. It may be well seen, +though dwarfed a little by proximity, from its neighboring waters; a +curious sight, if only for its strange contrast with the European Pillar +that we have left behind. It is shaped like a miniature Peak of Teneriffe, +with a pointed apex sloping away on either side down high-shouldered +ridges towards its companion hills, and presenting a lined and furrowed +face to the sea. It is its situation, as has been noted already, and not +its conformation, which procured it its ancient name. But however earned, +its mythical title, with all the halo of poetry and romance that the +immortal myths of Hellas have shed around every spot which they have +reached, remains to it for ever. And here we take our farewell look of the +Pillars of Hercules to right and left, and borne onwards amidstream by the +rushing current of the Straits, we pass from the modern into the ancient +world. + + + + +II + +ALGIERS + + "A Pearl set in Emeralds"--Two distinct towns, one ancient, one + modern--The Great Mosque--A Mohammedan religious festival--Oriental + life in perfection--The road to Mustapha Supérieur--A true Moorish + villa described--Women praying to a sacred tree--Excessive rainfall. + + +"Algiers," says the Arab poet, with genuine Oriental love of precious +stones in literature, "is a pearl set in emeralds." And even in these +degenerate days of Frank supremacy in Islam, the old Moorish town still +gleams white in the sun against a deep background of green hillside, a +true pearl among emeralds. For it is a great mistake to imagine North +Africa, as untravelled folk suppose, a dry and desert country of arid +rocky mountains. The whole strip of laughing coast which has the Atlas for +its backbone may rank, on the contrary, as about the dampest, greenest, +and most luxuriant region of the Mediterranean system. The home of the +Barbary corsairs is a land of high mountains, deep glens, great gorges; a +land of vast pine forests and thick, verdant undergrowth. A thousand rills +tumble headlong down its rich ravines; a thousand rivers flow fast through +its fertile valleys. For wild flowers Algeria is probably unequaled in the +whole world; its general aspect in many ways recalls on a smaller scale +the less snow-clad parts of eastern Switzerland. + +[Illustration] + +When you approach the old pirate-nest from the sea, the first glimpse of +the African coast that greets your expectant eye is a long, serrated chain +of great sun-smitten mountains away inland and southward. As the steamer +nears the land, you begin, after a while, to distinguish the snowy ridge +of the glorious Djurjura, which is the Bernese Oberland of Algeria, a huge +block of rearing peaks, their summits thick-covered by the virgin snow +that feeds in spring a score of leaping torrents. By-and-by, with still +nearer approach, a wide bay discloses itself, and a little range of green +hills in the foreground detaches itself by degrees from the darker mass of +the Atlas looming large in the distance behind. This little range is the +Sahel, an outlier just separated from the main chain in the rear by the +once marshy plain of the Metidja, now converted by drainage and scientific +agriculture into the most fertile lowland region of all North Africa. + +Presently, on the seaward slopes of the Sahel, a white town bursts upon +the eye, a white town so very white, so close, so thick-set, that at first +sight you would think it carved entire, in tier after tier, from a solid +block of marble. No street or lane or house or public building of any sort +stands visible from the rest at a little distance; just a group of white +steps, you would say, cut out by giant hands from the solid hillside. The +city of the Deys looks almost like a chalk-pit on the slope of an English +down; only a chalk-pit in relief, built out, not hewn inwards. + +As you enter the harbor the strange picture resolves itself bit by bit +with charming effect into its component elements. White houses rise up +steep, one above the other, in endless tiers and rows, upon a very abrupt +acclivity. Most of them are Moorish in style, square, flat-roofed boxes; +all are whitewashed without, and smiling like pretty girls that show their +pearly teeth in the full southern sunshine. From without they have the +aspect of a single solid block of stone; you would fancy it was impossible +to insert a pin's head between them. From within, to him that enters, +sundry narrow and tortuous alleys discover themselves here and there on +close inspection; but they are too involved to produce much effect as of +streets or rows on the general _coup d'oeil_ from the water. + +Land at the quay, and you find at once Algiers consists of two distinct +towns: one ancient, one modern; one Oriental, one Western. Now and again +these intersect, but for the most part they keep themselves severely +separate. + +The lower town has been completely transformed within half a century by +its French masters. What it has gained in civilization it has lost in +picturesqueness. A spacious port has been constructed, with massive mole +and huge arcaded breakwater. Inside, vast archways support a magnificent +line of very modern quays, bordered by warehouses on a scale that would do +honor to Marseilles or to Liverpool. Broad streets run through the length +and breadth of this transformed Algiers, streets of stately shops where +ladies can buy all the fripperies and fineries of Parisian dressmakers. +Yet even here the traveller finds himself already in many ways _en plein +Orient_. The general look of the new town itself is far more Eastern than +that of modernized Alexandria since the days of the bombardment. Arabs, +Moors and Kabyles crowd the streets and market-places; muffled women in +loose white robes, covered up to the eyes, flit noiselessly with slippered +feet over the new-flagged pavement; turbaned Jews, who might have stepped +straight out of the "Arabian Nights," chaffer for centimes at the +shop-doors with hooded mountain Berbers. All is strange and incongruous; +all is Paris and Bagdad shaking hands as if on the Devonshire hillsides. + +Nor are even Oriental buildings of great architectural pretensions wanting +to this newer French city. The conquerors, in reconstructing Algiers on +the Parisian model, have at least forborne to Haussmannise in every +instance the old mosques and palaces. The principal square, a broad place +lined with palm-trees, is enlivened and made picturesque by the white +round dome and striking minarets of the Mosquée de la Pêcherie. Hard by +stands the Cathedral, a religious building of Mussulman origin, half +Christianized externally by a tower at each end, but enclosing within +doors its old Mohammedan _mimbar_ and many curious remains of quaint +Moorish decoration. The Archbishopric at its side is a Moorish palace of +severe beauty and grandeur; the museum of Græco-Roman antiques is oddly +installed in the exquisite home raised for himself by Mustapha Pasha. The +Great Mosque, in the Rue Bab-el-Oued, remains to us unspoiled as the +finest architectural monument of the early Mohammedan world. That glorious +pile was built by the very first Arab conquerors of North Africa, the +companions of the Prophet, and its exquisite horse-shoe arches of pure +white marble are unsurpassed in the Moslem world for their quaintness, +their oddity, and their originality. + +The interior of this mosque is, to my mind, far more impressive than +anything to be seen even in Cairo itself, so vast it is, so imposing, so +grand, so gloomy. The entire body of the building is occupied throughout +by successive arcades, supported in long rows by plain, square pillars. +Decoration there is none; the mosque depends for effect entirely on its +architectural features and its noble proportions. But the long perspective +of these endless aisles, opening out to right and left perpetually as you +proceed, strikes the imagination of the beholder with a solemn sense of +vastness and mystery. As you pick your way, shoeless, among the loose mats +on the floor, through those empty long corridors, between those +buttress-like pillars, the soul shrinks within you, awe-struck. The very +absence of images or shrines, the simplicity and severity, gives one the +true Semitic religious thrill. No gauds or gewgaws here. You feel at once +you are in the unseen presence of the Infinite and the Incomprehensible. + +The very first time I went into the Great Mosque happened, by good luck, +to be the day of a Mohammedan religious festival. Rows and rows of Arabs +in white robes filled up the interspaces of the columns, and rose and fell +with one accord at certain points of the service. From the dim depths by +the niche that looks towards Mecca a voice of some unseen ministrant +droned slowly forth loud Arabic prayers or long verses from the Koran. At +some invisible signal, now and again, the vast throng of worshippers, all +ranged in straight lines at even distances between the endless pillars, +prostrated themselves automatically on their faces before Allah, and +wailed aloud as if in conscious confession of their own utter +unworthiness. The effect was extraordinary, electrical, contagious. No +religious service I have ever seen elsewhere seemed to me to possess such +a profundity of earnest humiliation, as of man before the actual presence +of his Maker. It appeared to one like a chapter of Nehemiah come true +again in our epoch. We few intrusive Westerns, standing awe-struck by the +door, slunk away, all abashed, from this scene of deep abasement. We had +no right to thrust ourselves upon the devotions of these intense +Orientals. We felt ourselves out of place. We had put off our shoes, for +the place we stood upon was holy ground. But we slunk back to the porch, +and put them on again in silence. Outside, we emerged upon the nineteenth +century and the world. Yet even so, we had walked some way down the Place +de la Régence, among the chattering negro pedlers, before one of us dared +to exchange a single word with the other. + +If the new town of Algiers is interesting, however, the old town is +unique, indescribable, incomprehensible. No map could reproduce it; no +clue could unravel it. It climbs and clambers by tortuous lanes and steep +staircases up the sheer side of a high hill to the old fortress of the +Deys that crowns the summit. Not one gleam of sunshine ever penetrates +down those narrow slits between the houses, where two people can just pass +abreast, brushing their elbows against the walls, and treading with their +feet in the poached filth of the gutter. The dirt that chokes the sides is +to the dirt of Italy as the dirt of Italy is to the dirt of Whitechapel. +And yet so quaint, so picturesque, so interesting is it all, that even +delicate ladies, with the fear of typhoid fever for ever before their +eyes, cannot refuse themselves the tremulous joy of visiting it and +exploring it over and over again; nay, more, of standing to bargain for +old brass-work or Algerian embroidery with keen Arab shopkeepers in its +sunless labyrinths. Except the Mooskee at Cairo, indeed, I know no place +yet left where you can see Oriental life in perfection as well as the old +town of Algiers. For are there not tramways nowadays even in the streets +of Damascus? Has not a railway station penetrated the charmed heart of +Stamboul? The Frank has done his worst for the lower town of his own +building, but the upper town still remains as picturesque, as mysterious, +and as insanitary as ever. No Pasteur could clean out those Augean +stables. + +In those malodorous little alleys, where every prospect pleases and every +scent is vile, nobody really walks; veiled figures glide softly as if to +inaudible music; ladies, muffled up to their eyes, use those solitary +features with great effect upon the casual passer-by; old Moors, in +stately robes, emerge with stealthy tread from half-unseen doorways; boys +clad in a single shirt sit and play pitch-and-toss for pence on dark +steps. Everything reeks impartially of dirt and of mystery. All is gloom +and shade. You could believe anything on earth of that darkling old town. +There all Oriental fancies might easily come true, all fables might +revive, all dead history might repeat itself. + +These two incongruous worlds, the ancient and the modern town, form the +two great divisions of Algiers as the latter-day tourist from our cold +North knows it. The one is antique, lazy, sleepy, unprogressive; the other +is bustling, new-world, busy, noisy, commercial. But there is yet a third +Algiers that lies well without the wall, the Algiers of the stranger and +of the winter resident. Hither Mr. Cook conducts his eager neophytes; +hither the Swiss innkeeper summons his cosmopolitan guests. It reaches its +culminating point about three miles from the town, on the heights of +Mustapha Supérieur, where charming villas spread thick over the sunlit +hills, and where the Western visitor can enjoy the North African air +without any unpleasant addition of fine old crusted Moorish perfumes. + +The road to Mustapha Supérieur lies through the Bab-Azzoun gate, and +passes first along a wide street thronged with Arabs and Kabyles from the +country and the mountains. This is the great market road of Algiers, the +main artery of supplies, a broad thoroughfare lined with _fondouks_ or +caravanserais, where the weary camel from the desert deposits his bales of +dates, and where black faces of Saharan negroes smile out upon the curious +stranger from dense draping folds of some dirty burnouse. The cafés are +filled with every variety of Moslem, Jew, Turk, and infidel. Nowhere else +will you see to better advantage the wonderful variety of races and +costumes that distinguishes Algiers above most other cosmopolitan +Mediterranean cities. The dark M'zabite from the oases, arrayed like +Joseph in a coat of many colors, stands chatting at his own door with the +pale-faced melancholy Berber of the Aurès mountains. The fat and dusky +Moor, over-fed on kous-kous, jostles cheek by jowl with the fair Jewess in +her Paisley shawl and quaint native head-gear. Mahonnais Spaniards from +the Balearic Isles, girt round their waists with red scarves, talk gaily +to French missionary priests in violet bands and black cassocks. Old Arabs +on white donkeys amble with grave dignity down the center of the broad +street, where chasseurs in uniform and spahis in crimson cloaks keep them +company on fiery steeds from the Government stud at Blidah. All is noise +and bustle, hurry, scurry, and worry, the ant-hill life of an English +bazaar grotesquely superimposed on the movement and stir of a great +European city. + +You pass through the gates of the old Moorish town and find yourself at +once in a modern but still busy suburb. Then on a sudden the road begins +to mount the steep Mustapha slope by sharp zigzags and bold gradients. In +native Algerian days, before Allah in his wisdom mysteriously permitted +the abhorred infidel to bear sway in the Emerald City over the Faithful of +Islam, a single narrow mule-path ascended from the town wall to the breezy +heights of Mustapha. It still exists, though deserted, that old breakneck +Mussulman road a deep cutting through soft stone, not unlike a Devonshire +lane, all moss-grown and leafy, a favorite haunt of the naturalist and the +trap-door spider. But the French engineers, most famous of road-makers, +knew a more excellent way. Shortly after the conquest they carved a zigzag +carriage-drive of splendid dimensions up that steep hill-front, and paved +it well with macadam of most orthodox solidity. At the top, in proof of +their triumph over nature and the Moslem, they raised a tiny commemorative +monument, the Colonne Voirol, after their commander's name, now the +Clapham Junction of all short excursions among the green dells of the +Sahel. + +The Mustapha road, on its journey uphill, passes many exquisite villas of +the old Moorish corsairs. The most conspicuous is that which now forms the +Governor-General's Summer Palace, a gleaming white marble pile of rather +meretricious and over-ornate exterior, but all glorious within, to those +who know the secret of decorative art, with its magnificent heirloom of +antique tiled dados. Many of the other ancient villas, however, and +notably the one occupied by Lady Mary Smith-Barry, are much more really +beautiful, even if less externally pretentious, than the Summer Palace. +One in particular, near the last great bend of the road, draped from the +ground to the flat roof with a perfect cataract of bloom by a crimson +bougainvillea, may rank among the most picturesque and charming homes in +the French dominions. + +[Illustration] + +It is at Mustapha, or along the El Biar road, that the English colony of +residents or winter visitors almost entirely congregates. Nothing can be +more charming than this delicious quarter, a wilderness of villas, with +its gleaming white Moorish houses half lost in rich gardens of orange, +palm, and cypress trees. How infinitely lovelier these Eastern homes than +the fantastic extravagances of the Californie at Cannes, or the sham +antiques on the Mont Boron! The native North African style of architecture +answers exactly to the country in whose midst it was developed. In our +cold northern climes those open airy arcades would look chilly and out of +place, just as our castles and cottages would look dingy and incongruous +among the sunny nooks of the Atlas. But here, on the basking red African +soil, the milk-white Moorish palace with its sweeping Saracenic arches, +its tiny round domes, its flat, terraced roofs, and its deep perspective +of shady windows, seems to fit in with land and climate as if each were +made for the other. Life becomes absolutely fairy-like in these charming +old homes. Each seems for the moment while you are in it just a dream in +pure marble. + +I am aware that to describe a true Moorish villa is like describing the +flavor of a strawberry; the one must be tasted, the other seen. But still, +as the difficulty of a task gives zest to the attempt at surmounting it, +I will try my hand at a dangerous word-picture. Most of the Mustapha +houses have an outer entrance-court, to which you obtain admission from +the road by a plain, and often rather heavy, archway. But, once you have +reached the first atrium, or uncovered central court, you have no reason +to complain of heaviness or want of decoration. The court-yard is +generally paved with parti-colored marble, and contains in its center a +Pompeian-looking fountain, whose cool water bubbles over into a shallow +tank beneath it. Here reeds and tall arums lift their stately green +foliage, and bright pond-blossoms rear on high their crimson heads of +bloom. Round the quadrangle runs a covered arcade (one might almost say a +cloister) of horse-shoe arches, supported by marble columns, sometimes +Græco-Roman antiques, sometimes a little later in date, but admirably +imitated from the originals. This outer court is often the most charming +feature of the whole house. Here, on sultry days, the ladies of the family +sit with their books or their fancy-work; here the lord of the estate +smokes his afternoon cigar; here the children play in the shade during the +hottest African noon-day. It is the place for the siesta, for the +afternoon tea, for the lounge in the cool of the evening, for the joyous +sense of the delight of mere living. + +From the court-yard a second corridor leads into the house itself, whose +center is always occupied by a large square court, like the first in +ground-plan, but two-storied and glass-covered. This is the hall, or first +reception room, often the principal apartment of the whole house, from +which the other rooms open out in every direction. Usually the +ground-floor of the hall has an open arcade, supporting a sort of balcony +or gallery above, which runs right round the first floor on top of it. +This balcony is itself arcaded; but instead of the arches being left open +the whole way up, they are filled in for the first few feet from the floor +with a charming balustrade of carved Cairene woodwork. Imagine such a +court, ringed round with string-courses of old Oriental tiles, and +decorated with a profusion of fine pottery and native brasswork, and you +may form to yourself some faint mental picture of the common remodeled +Algerian villa. It makes one envious again to remember how many happy days +one has spent in some such charming retreats, homes where all the culture +and artistic taste of the West have been added to all the exquisite +decorative instinct and insight of the Oriental architect. + +Nor are fair outlooks wanting. From many points of view on the Mustapha +Hill the prospect is among the most charming in the western Mediterranean. +Sir Lambert Playfair, indeed, the learned and genial British +Consul-General whose admirable works on Algeria have been the delight of +every tourist who visits that beautiful country, is fond of saying that +the two finest views on the Inland Sea are, first, that from the Greek +Theater at Taormina, and, second, that from his own dining-room windows on +the hill-top at El Biar. This is very strong praise, and it comes from the +author of a handbook to the Mediterranean who has seen that sea in all +aspects, from Gibralta to Syria; yet I fancy it is too high, especially +when one considers that among the excluded scenes must be put Naples, +Sorrento, Amalfi, Palermo, and the long stretch of Venice as seen from the +Lido. I would myself even rank the outlook on Monaco from the slopes of +Cap Martin, and the glorious panorama of Nice and the Maritime Alps from +the Lighthouse Hill at Antibes, above any picture to be seen from the +northern spurs of the Sahel. Let us be just to Piræus before we are +generous to El Biar. But all this is, after all, a mere matter of taste, +and no lover of the picturesque would at any rate deny that the Bay of +Algiers, as viewed from the Mustapha Hill, ranks deservedly high among the +most beautiful sights of the Mediterranean. And when the sunset lights up +in rosy tints the white mole and the marble town, the resulting scene is +sometimes one of almost fairy-like splendor. + +Indeed, the country round Mustapha is a district of singular charm and +manifold beauty. The walks and drives are delicious. Great masses of pale +white clematis hang in sheets from the trees, cactus and aloe run riot +among the glens, sweet scents of oleander float around the deep ravines, +delicious perfumes of violets are wafted on every breeze from unseen and +unsuspected gardens. Nowhere do I know a landscape so dotted with houses, +and nowhere are the houses themselves so individually interesting. The +outlook over the bay, the green dells of the foreground, the town on its +steep acclivity, the points and headlands, and away above all, in the +opposite direction, the snow-clad peaks of the Djurjura, make up a picture +that, after all, has few equals or superiors on our latter-day planet. + +One of the sights of Mustapha is the Arab cemetery, where once a week the +women go to pray and wail, with true Eastern hyperbole, over the graves of +their dead relations. By the custom of Islam they are excluded from the +mosques and from all overt participation in the public exercises of +religion; but these open-air temples not made with hands, even the Prophet +himself has never dared to close to them. Ancestor-worship and the +veneration of the kindred dead have always borne a large part in the +domestic creed of the less civilized Semites, and, like many other traces +of heathenism, this antique cult still peeps sturdily through the thin +veil of Mohammedan monotheism. Every hillock in the Atlas outliers is +crowned by the tiny domed tomb, or _koubba_, of some local saint; every +sacred grove overshadows the relics of some reverend Marabout. Nay, the +very oldest forms of Semitic idolatry, the cult of standing stones, of +holy trees, and of special high places on the mountain-tops, survive to +this day even in the midst of Islam. It is the women in particular who +keep alive these last relics of pre-Moslem faith; it is the women that one +may see weeping over the narrow graves of their loved ones, praying for +the great desire of the Semitic heart, a man-child from Allah, before the +sacred tree of their pagan ancestors, or hanging rags and dolls as +offerings about the holy grove which encloses the divine spring of pure +and hallowed water. + +Algiers is thus in many ways a most picturesque winter resort. But it has +one great drawback: the climate is moist and the rainfall excessive. Those +who go there must not expect the dry desert breeze that renders Luxor and +Assiout so wholesome and so unpleasant. Beautiful vegetation means rain +and heat. You will get both in Algiers, and a fine Mediterranean tossing +on your journey to impress it on your memory. + + + + +III + +MALAGA + + A nearly perfect climate--Continuous existence of thirty + centuries--Granada and the world-renowned Alhambra--Systems of + irrigation--Vineyards the chief source of wealth--Esparto grass--The + famous Cape de Gatt--The highest peak of the Sierra Nevada--Last view + of Granada. + + +Malaga has been very differently described and appreciated. The Arab +chroniclers who knew it in the palmy days of the Moorish domination +considered it "a most beautiful city, densely peopled, large and most +excellent." Some rose to poetical rhapsody in describing it; they praised +it as "the central jewel of a necklace, a land of paradise, the pole star, +the diadem of the moon, the forehead of a bewitching beauty unveiled." A +Spanish poet was not less eloquent, and sang of Malaga as "the +enchantress, the home of eternal spring, bathed by the soft sea, nestling +amidst flowers." Ford, on the other hand, that prince of guide-book +makers, who knew the Spain of his day intimately from end to end, rather +despised Malaga. He thought it a fine but purely commercial city, having +"few attractions beyond climate, almonds and raisins, and sweet wine." +Malaga has made great strides nevertheless in the fifty-odd years since +Ford so wrote of it. While preserving many of the charming characteristics +which evoked such high-flown encomiums in the past, it has developed +considerably in trade, population, and importance. It grows daily; +building is constantly in progress, new streets are added year after year +to the town. Its commerce flourishes; its port is filled with shipping +which carry off its many manufactures: chocolate, liquorice, porous jars, +and clay figures, the iron ores that are smelted on the spot; the +multifarious products of its fertile soil, which grows in rich profusion +the choicest fruits of the earth: grapes, melons, plantains, guava, +quince, Japanese medlars, oranges, lemons, and prickly pears. All the +appliances and luxurious aids to comfort known to our latter-day +civilization are to be found in Malaga: several theaters, one of them an +opera house, clubs, grand hotels, bankers, English doctors, cabs. It +rejoices too in an indefeasible and priceless gift, a nearly perfect +climate, the driest and balmiest in Southern Europe. Rain falls in Malaga +but half a dozen days in the year, and its winter sun would shame that of +an English summer. It has a southern aspect, and is sheltered from the +north by an imposing range of mountains; its only trouble is the _terral_ +or north-west wind, the same disagreeable visitor as that known on the +Italian Riviera as the Tramontana, and in the south of France as the +Mistral. These climatic advantages have long recommended Malaga as a +winter health resort for delicate and consumptive invalids, and an +increasingly successful rival to Madeira, Malta, and Algiers. The general +view of this city of sunshine, looking westward, to which point it lies +open, is pleasing and varied; luxuriant southern vegetation, aloes, +palmetto, and palms, fill up the foreground; in the middle distance are +the dazzling white façades and towers of the town, the great amphitheater +of the bull ring, the tall spire of the Cathedral a very conspicuous +object, the whole set off by the dark blue Mediterranean, and the +reddish-purple background of the Sierra Bermeja or Vermilion Hills. + +There is active enjoyment to be got in and near Malaga as well as the mere +negative pleasure of a calm, lazy life amid beautiful scenes. It is an +excellent point of departure for interesting excursions. Malaga lies on +the fringe of a country full of great memories, and preserving many +curious antiquarian remains. It is within easy reach by rail of Granada +and the world-renowned Alhambra, whence the ascent of the great southern +snowy range, the Sierra Nevada, may be made with pleasurable excitement +and a minimum of discomfort. Other towns closely associated with great +events may also be visited: Alhama, the mountain key of Granada, whose +capture preluded that of the Moorish capital and is enshrined in Byron's +beautiful verse; Ronda, the wildly picturesque town lying in the heart of +its own savage hills; Almeria, Antequera, Archidona, all old Moorish +towns. By the coast road westward, a two days' ride, through Estepona and +Marbella, little seaside towns bathed by the tideless Mediterranean, +Gibraltar may be reached. Inland, a day's journey, are the baths of +Caratraca, delightfully situated in a narrow mountain valley, a cleft of +the rugged hill, and famous throughout Spain. The waters are akin to those +of Harrogate, and are largely patronized by crowds of the bluest-blooded +hidalgos, the most fashionable people, Spaniards from La Corte (Madrid), +and all parts of the Peninsula. Yet another series of riding excursions +may be made into the wild Alpujarras, a desolate and uncultivated district +gemmed with bright oases of verdure, which are best reached by the coast +road leading from Malaga through Velez Malaga, Motril to Adra, and which +is perhaps the pleasantest route to Granada itself. On one side is the +dark-blue sea; on the other, vine-clad hills: this is a land, to use +Ford's words, "overflowing with oil and wine; here is the palm without the +desert, the sugar-cane without the slave;" old Moorish castles perched +like eagles' eyries crown the hills; below cluster the spires and towers +of churches and convents, hemmed in by the richest vegetation. The whole +of this long strip of coast is rich with the alluvial deposits brought +down by the mountain torrents from the snowy Sierras above; in spring +time, before the summer heats have parched the land, everything flourishes +here, the sweet potato, indigo, sugar-cane and vine; masses of wild +flowers in innumerable gay colors, the blue iris, the crimson oleander, +geraniums, and luxuriant festoons of maidenhair ferns bedeck the landscape +around. It is impossible to exaggerate the delights of these riding trips; +the traveller relying upon his horse, which carries a modest kit, enjoys a +strange sense of independence: he can go on or stop, as he chooses, +lengthen or shorten his day's journey, which takes him perpetually and at +the leisurely pace which permits ample observation of the varied views. +The scene changes constantly: now he threads a half-dried watercourse, +thick with palmetto and gum cistus; now he makes the slow circuit of a +series of little rocky bays washed by the tideless calm of the blue sea; +now he breasts the steep slope, the seemingly perilous ascent of bold +cliffs, along which winds the track made centuries since when the most +direct was deemed the shortest way to anywhere in spite of the +difficulties that intervened. + +Malaga as a seaport and place of settlement can claim almost fabulous +antiquity. It was first founded by the Phoenicians three thousand years +ago, and a continuous existence of thirty centuries fully proves the +wisdom of their choice. Its name is said to be Phoenician, and is +differently derived from a word meaning salt, and another which would +distinguish it as "the king's town." From the earliest ages Malaga did a +thriving business in salt fish; its chief product and export were the same +anchovies and the small _boquerones_, not unlike an English whitebait, +which are still the most highly prized delicacies of the Malaga fish +market. Southern Spain was among the richest and most valued of Phoenician +possessions. It was a mine of wealth to them, the Tarshish of Biblical +history from which they drew such vast supplies of the precious metals +that their ships carried silver anchors. Hiram, King of Tyre, was a sort +of goldsmith to Solomon, furnishing the wise man's house with such stores +of gold and silver utensils that silver was "accounted nothing therein," +as we read in the First Book of Kings. When the star of Tyre and Sidon +waned, and Carthage became the great commercial center of the +Mediterranean, it controlled the mineral wealth of Spain and traded +largely with Malaga. Later, when Spain passed entirely into Roman hands, +this southern province of Boetica grew more and more valuable, and the +wealth of the country passed through its ports eastward to the great marts +of the world. Malaga however, was never the equal either in wealth or +commercial importance of its more eastern and more happily placed neighbor +Almeria. The latter was the once famous "Portus Magnus," or Great Port, +which monopolized most of the maritime traffic with Italy and the more +distant East. But Malaga rose in prosperity as Roman settlers crowded +into Boetica, and Roman remains excavated in and around the town attest +the size and importance of the place under the Romans. It was a +municipium, had a fine ampitheater, the foundations of which were laid +bare long afterwards in building a convent, while many bronzes, fragments +of statuary, and Roman coins found from time to time prove the intimate +relations between Malaga and the then Mistress of the World. The Goths, +who came next, overran Boetica, and although their stay was short, they +rechristened the province, which is still known by their name, the modern +Andal-, or Vandalucia. Malaga was a place of no importance in the time of +the Visigoths, and it declined, only to rise with revived splendor under +the Moors, when it reached the zenith of its greatness, and stood high in +rank among the Hispano-Mauresque cities. + +It was the same one-eyed Berber General, Tarik, who took Gibraltar who was +the first Moorish master of Malaga. Legendary story still associates a +gate in the old Moorish castle, the Gibralfaro, with the Moorish invasion. +This Puerta de la Cava was called, it has been said, after the ill-used +daughter of Count Julyan whose wrongs led to the appeal to Moorish +intervention. But it is not known historically that Count Julyan had a +daughter named La Cava, or any daughter at all; nor is it likely that the +Moors would remember the Christian maiden's name as sponsor for the gate. +After the Moorish conquest Malaga fell to the tribes that came from the +river Jordan, a pastoral race who extended their rule to the open lands as +far as Archidona. The richness of their new possession attracted great +hordes of Arabs from their distant homes; there was a general exodus, and +each as it came to the land of promise settled where they found anything +that recalled their distant homes. Thus the tribes from the deserts of +Palmyra found a congenial resting-place on the arid coast near Almeria and +the more rugged kingdom of Murcia; the Syrian mountaineers established +themselves amidst the rocky fastness of the Ronda Serranía; while those +from Damascus and Bagdad reveled in the luxuriant beauty of the fertile +plains watered by the Xenil and Darro, the great Vega, with its +orange-groves and jeweled gardens that still make Granada a smiling +paradise. + +These Moslem conquerors were admirable in their administration and +development of the land they seized, quick to perceive its latent +resources and make the most of them. Malaga itself became the court and +seat of government of a powerful dynasty whose realms extended inland as +far as Cordova, and the region around grew under their energetic and +enlightened management into one great garden teeming with the most varied +vegetation. What chiefly commended Malaga to the Moors was the beauty of +its climate and the amazing fertility of the soil. The first was a +God-sent gift, the latter made unstinting return for the labor freely but +intelligently applied. Water was and still is the great need of those +thirsty and nearly rainless southern lands, and the Moorish methods of +irrigation, ample specimens of which still survive, were most elaborate +and effective contrivances for distributing the fertilizing fluid. Many of +these ancient systems of irrigation are still at work at Murcia, Valencia, +Granada, and elsewhere. The Moors were masters of hydraulic science, which +was never more widely or intelligently practiced than in the East. So the +methods adopted and still seen in Spain have their Oriental prototypes and +counterparts. They varied, of course, with the character of the district +to be irrigated and the sources of supply. Where rivers and running water +gave the material, it was conveyed in canals; one main trunk-line or +artery supplied the fluid to innumerable smaller watercourses or veins, +the _acequias_, which formed a reticulated network of minute +ramifications. The great difficulty in the plains, and this was especially +the case about Malaga, was to provide a proper fall, which was effected +either by carrying the water to a higher level by an aqueduct, or sinking +it below the surface in subterranean channels. Where the water had to be +raised from underground, the simple pole, on which worked an arm or lever +with a bucket, was used, the identical "shadoof" of the Nile; or the more +elaborate water-wheel, the Arab _Anaoura_, a name still preserved in the +Spanish _Noria_, one of which is figured in the Almeria washing-place, +where it serves the gossiping _lavanderas_ at their work. In these norias +the motive power is usually that of a patient ox, which works a revolving +wheel, and so turns a second at right angles armed with jars or buckets. +These descend in turn, coming up charged with water, which falls over into +a reservoir or pipe, whence it flows to do its business below. + +Under this admirable system the land gives forth perpetual increases. It +knows no repose. Nothing lies fallow. "Man is never weary of sowing, nor +the sun of calling into life." Crop succeeds crop with astonishing +rapidity; three or four harvests of corn are reaped in the year, twelve or +fifteen of clover and lucerne. All kinds of fruit abound; the margins of +the watercourses blossom with flowers that would be prized in a hothouse, +and the most marvelous fecundity prevails. By these means the Moors of +Malaga, the most scientific and successful of gardeners, developed to the +utmost the marvelously prolific soil. Moorish writers described the +pomegranates of Malaga as red as rubies, and unequaled in the whole world. +The _brevas_, or small green figs, were of exquisitely delicious flavor, +and still merit that encomium. Grapes were a drug in the markets, cheap as +dirt; while the raisins into which they were converted, by a process that +dates back to the Phoenicians, found their way into the far East and were +famous in Palestine, Arabia, and beyond. The vineyards of the Malaga +district, a wide tract embracing all the southern slopes towards the +Mediterranean, were, and still are, the chief source of its wealth. The +wine of Malaga could tempt even Mohammedan Moors to forget their prophet's +prohibition; it was so delicious that a dying Moor when commending his +soul to God asked for only two blessings in Paradise, enough to drink of +the wines of Malaga and Seville. As the "Mountains," this same wine was +much drunk and appreciated by our forefathers. To this day "Malaga" is +largely consumed, both dry and sweet, especially that known as the +Lagrimas, or Tears, a cognate term to the famous Lachrymæ Christi of +Naples, and which are the very essence of the rich ripe grapes, which are +hung up in the sun till the juice flows from them in luscious drops. +Orange groves and lemon groves abound in the Vega, and the fruit is +largely exported. The collection and packing are done at points along the +line of railway to which Malaga is the maritime terminus, as at La +Pizarra, a small but important station which is the starting point for the +Baths of Caratraca, and the mountain ride to Ronda through the +magnificent pass of El Burgo. Of late years Malaga has become a species +of market garden, in which large quantities of early vegetables are +raised, the _primeurs_ of French gourmets, the young peas, potatoes, +asparagus, and lettuce, which are sent north to Paris during the winter +months by express trains. This is probably a more profitable business than +the raising of the sugar-cane, an industry introduced (or more exactly, +revived, for it was known to and cultivated by the Moors) in and around +Malaga by the well-known General Concha, Marques del Duero. He spent the +bulk of a large fortune in developing the cane cultivation, and almost +ruined himself in this patriotic endeavor. Others benefited largely by his +well-meant enterprise, and the sugar fields of southern Spain prospered +until the German beet sugar drove the homegrown hard. The climate of +Malaga, with its great dryness and absolute immunity from frost, is +exceedingly favorable to the growth of the sugar-cane, and the sugar +fields at the time of the cutting are picturesque centers of activity. The +best idea, however, of the amazing fertility of this gifted country will +be obtained from a visit to one of the private residential estates, or +_fincas_, such as that of La Concepcion, where palms, bamboos, arums, +cicads and other tropical plants thrive bravely in the open air. It is +only a short drive, and is well worth a visit. The small Grecian temple is +full of Roman remains, chiefly from Cartama, the site of a great Roman +city which Livy has described. Some of these remains are of beautiful +marble figures, which were found, like ordinary stones, built into a +prison wall and rescued with some difficulty. The Malaga authorities +annexed them, thinking they contained gold, then threw them away as old +rubbish. Other remains at La Concepcion are fragments of the Roman +municipal law, on bronze tablets, found at Osuna, between Antequera and +Seville. + +Malaga possesses many mementoes of the Moors besides their methods of +irrigation. The great citadel which this truly militant race erected upon +the chief point of vantage and key to the possession of Malaga still +remains. This, the Castle of Gibralfaro, the rock of the lighthouse, was +built by a prince of Granada, Mohammed, upon the site of a Phoenician +fortress, and it was so strongly fortified and held that it long resisted +the strenuous efforts of Ferdinand and Isabella in the memorable siege +which prefaced the fall of Granada. How disgracefully the Catholic kings +ill-treated the conquered Moors of Malaga, condemning them to slavery or +the _auto da fé_, may be read in the pages of Prescott. The towers of the +Gibralfaro still standing have each a story of its own: one was the +atalaya, or watch-tower; on another, that of La Vela, a great silver cross +was erected when the city surrendered. Below the Gibralfaro, but connected +with it and forming part of the four deep city walls, is the Alcazaba, +another fortification utilized by the Moors, but the fortress they raised +stands upon Phoenician foundations. The quarter that lies below these +Moorish strongholds is the most ancient part of Malaga, a wilderness of +dark, winding alleys of Oriental aspect, and no doubt of Moorish origin. +This is the home of the lower classes, of the turbulent masses who have in +all ages been a trial and trouble to the authorities of the time. The +Malagueños, the inhabitants of Malaga, whether Moors or Spaniards, have +ever been rebellious subjects of their liege lords, and uncomfortable +neighbors to one another. In all their commotions they have generally +espoused the cause which has ultimately failed. + +[Illustration] + +Thus, in 1831, Riego and Torrijos having been in open revolt against the +Government, were lured into embarking for Malaga from Gibraltar, where +they had assembled, by its military commandant Moreno, and shot down to a +man on the beach below the Carmen Convent. Among the victims was an +Englishman, Mr. Boyd, whose unhappy fate led to sharp protests from +England. Since this massacre a tardy tribute has been raised to the memory +of the slain; it stands in the shape of a monument in the Plaza de Riego, +the Alameda. Again, Malaga sided with Espartero in 1843, when he +"pronounced" but had to fly into exile. Once more, in 1868, the Malagueños +took up arms upon the losing side, fighting for the dethroned Isabella +Segunda against the successful soldiers who had driven her from Madrid. +Malaga was long and obstinately defended, but eventually succumbed after a +sanguinary struggle. Last of all, after the abdication of Amadeus in 1873, +the Republicans of Malaga rose, and carried their excesses so far as to +establish a Communistic régime, which terrorized the town. The troops +disbanded themselves, their weapons were seized by the worst elements of +the population, who held the reins of power, the local authorities having +taken to flight. The mob laid hands on the customhouse and all public +moneys, levied contributions upon the more peaceable citizens, then +quarreled among themselves and fought out their battles in the streets, +sweeping them with artillery fire, and threatening a general bombardment. +Order was not easily restored or without the display of armed force, but +the condign punishment of the more blameworthy has kept Malaga quiet ever +since. + +While the male sex among the masses of Malaga enjoy an indifferent +reputation, her daughters of all classes are famed for their +attractiveness, even in Spain, the home, _par excellence_, of a +well-favored race. "Muchachas Malagueñas, muy halagueñas" (the girls of +Malaga are most bewitching) is a proverbial expression, the truth of which +has been attested by many appreciative observers. Théophile Gautier's +description of them is perhaps the most complimentary. The Malagueña, he +tells us, is remarkable for the even tone of her complexion (the cheek +having no more color than the forehead), the rich crimson of her lips, the +delicacy of her nostril, and above all the brilliancy of her Arab eyes, +which might be tinged with henna, they are so languorous and so +almond-shaped. "I cannot tell whether or not it was the red draperies of +their headgear, but their faces exhibited gravity combined with passion +that was quite Oriental in character." Gautier drew this picture of the +Malagueñas as he saw them at a bull-fight, and he expresses a not +unnatural surprise that sweet, Madonna-like faces, which might well +inspire the painter of sacred subjects, should look on unmoved at the +ghastly episodes of the blood-stained ring. It shocked him to see the deep +interest with which these pale beauties followed the fight, to hear the +feats of the arena discussed by sweet lips that might speak more suitably +of softer things. Yet he found them simple, tender-hearted, good, and +concluded that it was not cruelty of disposition but the custom of the +country that drew them to this savage show. Since then the bull-fight, +shorn, however, of its worst horrors, has become acclimatized and most +popular amidst M. Gautier's own country-women in Paris. That the beauty of +the higher ranks rivals that of the lowest may be inferred from the fact +that a lady whose charms were once celebrated throughout Europe is of +Malagueñan descent. The mother of the Empress Eugénie, who shared with +Napoleon III. the highest honors in France, was a Malaga girl, a Miss +Fitzpatrick, the daughter of the British consul, but she had also Spanish +blood in her veins. + +A near neighbor and old rival, as richly endowed, may again pass Malaga in +the great race for commercial expansion. This is Almeria, which lies +farther eastward and which owns many natural advantages; its exposed port +has been improved by the construction of piers and breakwaters, and it now +offers a secure haven to the shipping that should ere long be attracted in +increasing tonnage to carry away the rich products of the neighboring +districts. Almeria is the capital of a province teeming with mineral +wealth, and whose climate and soil favor the growth of the most varied and +valuable crops. The silver mines of the mountains of Murcia and the +fertile valleys of the Alpujarras would find their best outlet at Almeria, +while Granada would once more serve as its farm. So ran the old proverb, +"When Almería was really Almería, Granada was only its alquería," or +source of supply. What this time-honored but almost forgotten city most +needs is to be brought into touch with the railway systems of Spain. +Meanwhile, Almeria, awaiting better fortune, thrives on the exports of its +own products, chief among which are grapes and esparto. The first has a +familiar sound to British ears, from the green grapes known as "Almerias," +which are largely consumed in British households. These are not equal to +the delicately flavored Muscatels, but they are stronger and will bear the +packing and rough usages of exportation under which the others perish. +Esparto is a natural product of these favored lands, which, after long +supplying local wants, has now become an esteemed item in their list of +exports. It is known to botanists as the Spanish rush, or bass feather +grass, the Genet d'Espagne, and is compared by Ford to the "spear grass +which grows on the sandy sea-shores of Lancashire." It is still +manufactured, as in the days of Pliny, into matting, baskets, ropes, and +the soles for the celebrated Alpargatas, or rope sandal shoes, worn +universally by Spanish peasants in the south and Spanish soldiers on the +line of march. The ease and speed with which the Spanish infantry cover +long distances are greatly attributed to their comfortable chaussures. +Nowadays a much wider outlet has been found for esparto grass, and it is +grown artificially. When rags became more and more scarce and unequal to +the demands of the paper-makers, experiments were made with various +substitutes, and none answered the purpose better than the wild +spear-grass of southern Spain. + +Almeria, while awaiting the return of maritime prosperity, can look with +some complacency upon a memorable if not altogether glorious past. Its +very names, Portus Magnus under the Romans, and Al Meriah, the +"Conspicuous," under the Moors, attest its importance. All the +agricultural produce of the prolific Vega, the silks that were woven on +Moorish looms and highly prized through the East, were brought to Almeria +for transmission abroad. The security and convenience of this famous port +gave it an evil reputation in after years, when it became an independent +kingdom under Ibn Maymum. Almeria was the terror of the Mediterranean; its +pirate galleys roved to and fro, making descents upon the French and +Italian coasts, and carrying back their booty, slaves, and prizes to their +impregnable home. Spaniards and Genoese presently combined against the +common enemy, and Almeria was one of the earliest Christian conquests +regained from the Moors. Later still the Algerian Moors took fresh +revenge, and their corsairs so constantly threatened Almeria that Charles +V. repaired its ancient fortifications, the old Moorish castle now called +the Alcazaba, the center or keep, and hung a great tocsin bell upon its +cathedral tower to give notice of the pirates' approach. This cathedral is +the most imposing object in the decayed and impoverished town. Pigs and +poultry roam at large in the streets, amidst dirt and refuse; but in the +strong sunlight, white and blinding as in Africa, the mean houses glisten +brightly, and the abundant color seen on awnings and lattice, upon the +women's skirts and kerchiefs, in the ultramarine sea, is brought out in +the most vivid and beautiful relief. + +The scenery on the coast from Malaga eastward is fine, in some parts and +under certain aspects magnificent. Beyond Almeria is the famous Cape de +Gatt, as it is known to our mariners, the Cabo de Gata of local parlance, +the Agate Cape, to give it its precise meaning. This remarkable +promontory, composed of rocks encrusted with gems, is worthy a place in +the "Arabian Nights." There are miles and miles of agates and crystal +spar, and in one particular spot amethysts are found. Wild winds gather +and constantly bluster about this richly constituted but often +storm-tossed landmark. Old sailor saws have perpetuated its character in +the form of a proverb, "At the Cape de Gatt take care of your hat." Other +portions of the coast nearer Malaga are still more forbidding and +dangerous: under the Sierra Tejada, for example, where the rocky barriers +which guard the land rise tier above tier as straight as a wall, in which +there are no openings, no havens of safety for passing craft in an inshore +gale. Behind all, a dim outline joining hands as it were with the clouds, +towers the great snowy range of southern Spain, the Sierra Nevada, +rejoicing in an elevation as high as the Swiss Alps, and in some respects +far more beautiful. + +There are, however, no such grim glaciers, no such vast snow-fields as in +Switzerland, for here in the south the sun has more power, and even at +these heights only the peaks and pinnacles wear white crests during the +summer heats. This more genial temperature encourages a richer vegetation, +and makes the ascents less perilous and toilsome. A member of the Alpine +Club would laugh to scorn the conquest of Muley Hacen, or of the Picacho +de la Veleta, the two crowning peaks of the range. The enterprise is +within the compass of the most moderate effort. The ascent of the +last-named and lowest, although the most picturesque, is the easiest made, +because the road from Granada is most direct. In both cases the greatest +part of the climbing is performed on horseback; but this must be done a +day in advance, and thus a night has to be passed near the summit under +the stars. The temperature is low, and the travellers can only defend +themselves against the cold by the wraps they have brought and the fuel +they can find (mere knotted roots) around their windy shelter. The ascent +to where the snow still lingers, in very dirty and disreputable patches, +is usually commenced about two in the morning, so that the top may be +reached before dawn. If the sky is clear, sunrise from the Picacho is a +scene that can never be forgotten, fairly competing with, if not +outrivaling, the most famous views of the kind. The Mediterranean lies +below like a lake, bounded to the north and west by the Spanish coast, to +the south by the African, the faintest outlines of which may often be seen +in the far, dim distance. Eastward the horizon is made glorious by the +bright pageants of the rising sun, whose majestic approach is heralded by +rainbow-hued clouds. All around are the strangely jagged and contorted +peaks, rolling down in diminishing grandeur to the lower peaks that seem +to rise from the sea. + +The highest peak of the Sierra Nevada is Muley Hacen, although it has only +the advantage over the Picacho de la Veleta by about a couple of hundred +feet. It is a longer and more difficult ascent, but in some ways the most +interesting, as it can best be reached through the Alpujarras, those +romantic and secluded valleys which are full of picturesque scenery and of +historical associations. The starting point, as a general rule, is +Trevelez, although the ascent may be equally made from Portugos, somewhat +nearer Granada. Trevelez is the other side and the most convenient coming +from Malaga by way of Motril. But no one would take the latter route who +could travel by the former, which leads through Alhendin, that well-known +village which is said to have seen the last of the departing Moors. This +is the point at which Granada is finally lost to view, and it was here +that Boabdil, the last king of Granada, took his last farewell of the city +whose loss he wept over, under the scathing sarcasm of his more heroic +mother, who told him he might well "weep like a woman for what he could +not defend as a man." Near this village is the little hill still known as +the site of "El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro, the last sigh of the Moor." This +same road leads through Lanjaron, an enchanting spot, posted high upon a +spur of the hills, and famous as a bathing place with health-giving +mineral springs. From Portugos or Trevelez the climb is easy enough: to be +accomplished a great part of the way on horseback, and in its earlier +levels ascending amid forests of evergreen oak; after that, long wastes of +barren rock are passed, till at length the summit is reached, on a narrow +strip of table-land, the highest in Southern Europe, and with an unrivaled +view. The charm of the Muley Hacen peak is its isolation, while the +Picacho looks better from it than Muley Hacen does from the Picacho, and +there is a longer vista across the Mediterranean Sea. + + + + +IV + +BARCELONA + + The flower market of the Rambla--Streets of the old town--The + Cathedral of Barcelona--Description of the Columbus monument--All + Saints' Day in Spain--Mont Tibidaho--Diverse centers of intellectual + activity--Ancient history--Philanthropic and charitable institutions. + + +"Barcelona, shrine of courtesy, harbor of the wayfarer, shelter of the +poor, cradle of the brave, champion of the outraged, nurse of friendship, +unique in position, unique in beauty!" + +Such was the eulogium bestowed upon Barcelona by the great Cervantes +several hundred years ago, an eulogium warranted by a stranger's +experience in our own day. The matchless site of the second city of Spain, +its luxuriant surroundings, awaken enthusiasm as of old, whilst even the +briefest possible sojourn suffices to make us feel at home. A winning +urbanity, a cosmopolitan amiableness, characterize the townsfolk, Spanish +hauteur is here replaced by French cordiality. Softness of manner and +graces of speech lend additional charm to a race conspicuous for personal +beauty. The Barcelonese are described by a contemporary as laborious and +energetic, ambitious of social advance, tenacious of personal dignity, +highly imaginative, at the same time eminently practical, steadfast in +friendship, vehement in hate. The stir and magnificence of the city +attest the progressive character of the inhabitants. + +Few European capitals can boast of finer public monuments, few indeed +possess such a promenade as its famous Rambla. The Rambla may be regarded +as an epitome, not only of the entire city, but of all Spain, and here the +curious traveller should take up his quarters. A dozen brilliant or moving +spectacles meet the eye in a day, whilst the normal aspect is one of +unimaginable picturesqueness and variety. The dark-eyed flower-girls with +their rich floral displays; the country folks still adhering to the +costume of Catalonia--the men sandaled and white-hosed, for headgear, +slouch caps of crimson, scarlet, or peach-colored felt, the women with +gorgeous silk kerchiefs pinned under the chin--the Asturian nursemaids in +poppy-red skirts barred with black, and dainty gold and lace caps; the +ladies fanning themselves as they go in November, with black lace +mantillas over their pretty heads; the Guardia Civile in big, +awe-inspiring cocked hats and long black cloaks reaching to the ankle; the +trim soldiery in black and red tunics, knickerbockers and buskins, their +officers ablaze with gold braid and lace; the spick-and-span city police, +each neat as a dandy in a melodrama, not a hair out of place, collars and +cuffs of spotless white, ironed to perfection, well-fitting costumes, +swords at their sides; the priests and nuns; the seafaring folk of many +nationalities; the shepherds of uncouth appearance from the neighboring +mountains--all these at first make us feel as if we were taking part in a +masquerade. + +Now way is made for the funeral train of some rich citizen, the lofty car +of sumptuous display of black and gold drapery, wreaths of fresh roses, +violet, and heliotrope, large as carriage-wheels, fastened to the sides, +the coffin, encased in black and violet velvet, studded with gold nails; +following slowly, a long procession of carriages bearing priests, +choristers, and mourners. And now the sounds of martial music summon the +newcomer a second time to his window. It is a soldier who is borne to his +rest. Six comrades accompany the bier, carrying long inverted tapers; +behind march commanding officers and men, the band playing strains all too +spirited it seems for such an occasion. There is always something going on +in this splendid avenue animated from early morning till past midnight, +market-place, parade ground, promenade in one. + +The daily flower-market of itself would almost repay the journey from +London. When northern skies are gloomiest, and fogs are daily fare, the +Rambla is at its best. The yellowing leaves of the plane-trees look golden +under the dazzling blue sky, and brilliant as in a picture are the +flower-sellers and their wares. These distractingly pretty girls, with +their dark locks pulled over the brow, their lovely eyes, rich olive +complexions, and gleaming white teeth, have nothing of the mendicant about +them. As they offer their flowers--perhaps fastening roses to a +half-finished garland with one hand, whilst with the other a pot of +heliotrope is reached down--the passer-by is engagingly invited to +purchase. The Spanish language, even the dialect of Catalonia, is music to +begin with, and the flower-maidens make it more musical still by their +gentle, caressing ways. Some wear little mantillas of black, blonde, or +cashmere; others, silk kerchiefs of brightest hue--orange, crimson, deep +purple, or fanciful patterns of many colors. Barcelona is a flower-garden +all the year round, and in mid-winter we stroll between piled-up masses +of rose, carnation, and violet, to say nothing of dahlias and +chrysanthemums. + +It is especially on All Saints' and All Souls' Days that the flower-market +of the Rambla is seen to advantage; enormous sums are spent upon wreaths +and garlands for the cemetery, the poorest then contriving to pay his +floral tribute to departed kith and kin. + +In striking contrast with the wide, airy, ever brilliantly illuminated +Rambla, electric light doing duty for sunshine at night, are the streets +of the old town. The stranger may take any turning--either to right or +left--he is sure to find himself in one of these dusky narrow +thoroughfares, so small ofttimes the space between window and opposite +window that neighbors might almost shake hands. With their open shops of +gay woolen stuffs, they vividly recall Cairene bazaars. Narrow as is the +accommodation without, it must be narrower still within, since when folks +move from one house to another their goods and chattels are hoisted up and +passed through the front windows. The sight of a chest of drawers or a +sofa in cloudland is comical enough, although the system certainly has its +advantages. Much manual labor is thereby spared, and the furniture +doubtless escapes injury from knocking about. + +The wise traveller will elect to live on the Rambla, but to spend his time +in the old town. Wherever he goes he is sure to come upon some piece of +antiquity, whilst here, in a great measure, he loses sight of the +cosmopolitan element characterizing the new quarters. Novel and striking +as is its aspect to the stranger, Barcelona must nevertheless be described +as the least Spanish of Spanish towns. The second seaport of Spain is +still--as it was in the Middle Ages--one of the most important seats of +international commerce on the Mediterranean. As we elbow our way along +the crowded Rambla we encounter a diversity of types and hear a perplexing +jargon of many tongues. A few minutes suffice to transport us into the +old-world city familiar to Ford--not, however, to be described by the +twentieth century tourist in Ford's own words. "A difficult language," he +wrote just upon half a century ago, "rude manners, and a distrust of +strangers, render Barcelona a disagreeable city." Nowhere nowadays is more +courtesy shown to the inquiring stranger. He is not even obliged to ask +his way in these narrow tortuous streets. The city police, to be found at +every turn, uninvited come to his aid, and, bringing out a pocket-map, +with an infinity of pains make clear to him the route he has to take. The +handsome Calle San Fernando leads to the somber but grandiose old +Cathedral with its lovely cloisters, magnificent towers and bells, +deep-voiced as that of Big Ben itself. All churches in Spain, by the way, +must be visited in the forenoon; even then the light is so dim that little +can be seen of their treasures--pictures, reliquaries, marble tombs. The +Cathedral of Barcelona forms no exception to the rule. Only lighted by +windows of richly stained old glass, we are literally compelled to grope +our way along the crowded aisles. Mass is going on from early morning till +noon, and in the glimmering jeweled light we can just discern the moving +figures of priests and acolytes before the high altar, and the scattered +worshippers kneeling on the floor. Equally vague are the glimpses we +obtain of the chapels, veritable little museums of rare and beautiful +things unfortunately consigned to perpetual obscurity, veiled in +never-fading twilight. What a change we find outside! The elegant Gothic +cloisters, rather to be described as a series of chapels, each differing +from the other, each sumptuously adorned, enclose a sunny open space or +patio, planted with palms, orange and lemon trees, the dazzlingly bright +foliage and warm blue sky in striking contrast to the somber gray of the +building-stone. A little farther off, on the other side, we may see the +figures of the bell-ringers high up in the open belfry tower, swinging the +huge bells backwards and forwards with tremendous effort, a sight never to +be missed on Sundays and fête days. + +This stately old Cathedral, like so many others, was never finished and +works of reparation and restoration are perpetually going on. Close by +stands the Palais de Justice, with its beautiful Gothic court and carved +stone staircase, the balustrade supported by lovely little statuettes or +gargoyles, each an artistic study in itself. Abutting this is the Palais +de Diputacion, Provincial or local Parliament House, a building of truly +Spanish grandeur. Its wide marble staircases, its elaborate ceilings of +carved wood, its majestic proportions, will, perhaps, have less interest +for some travellers than its art-treasures, two _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the +gifted Fortuny. Barcelona was the patron of this true genius--Catalan by +birth--so unhappily cut off in his early prime. With no little pride the +stately officials show these canvases--the famous "Odalisque" and the +"Battle of Tetuan"--the latter, alas! left unfinished. It is a superb +piece of life and color, but must be seen on a brilliant day as the hall +is somber. Nothing can exceed the courtesy of the Barcelonese to +strangers, and these pictures are shown out of the regular hours. But let +no one incautiously offer a fee. The proffered coin will be politely, even +smilingly, rejected, without humiliating reproof, much less a look of +affront. Ford's remark that "a silver key at all times secures admission" +does not hold good in these days. + +Near the Cathedral, law courts, and Provincial Parliament House stands +another picturesque old palace of comparatively modern date, yet Saracenic +aspect, and containing one of the most curious historic treasures in +Europe. This is the palace of the kings of Aragon, or Archivo General de +la Corona de Aragon. The exterior, as is usual with Spanish buildings, is +massive and gloomy. Inside is a look of Oriental lightness and gaiety. +Slender columns, painted red, enclose an open court, and support a little +terrace planted with shrubs and flowers. Here in perfect order and +preservation, without a break, are stored the records of upwards of a +thousand years, the earlier consisting of vellum scrolls and black letter, +the latter showing the progress of printing from its beginning down to our +own day. The first parchment bears date A. D. 875. Among the curiosities +of the collection are no less than eight hundred and two Papal Bulls from +the year 1017 to 1796. Besides the archives of Barcelona itself, and of +the kingdom of Aragon, to which it was annexed in the twelfth century, the +palace contains many deeply interesting manuscripts found in the +suppressed monasteries. + +The archives have been ingeniously arranged by the learned keeper of +records. The bookcases, which are not more than six feet high, stand on +either side of the vast library, at some distance from the wall, made +staircase-wise; one set of volumes just above the other, with the result +that no accumulation of dust is possible, and that each set is equally +accessible. The effect on the eye of these symmetrically-placed volumes in +white vellum is very novel and pleasing. We seem to be in a hall, the +walls of which are of fluted cream-colored marble. + +The little museum of local antiquities in the ruined Church of Santa +Agneda, the somber old churches of San Pablo del Campo, Santa Maria del +Mar and Belen, the fragments of mediæval domestic architecture remaining +here and there--all these will detain the archæologist. Of more general +interest are the modern monuments of Barcelona. In no city have civic +lavishness and public spirit shone forth more conspicuously. + +A penny tramway--you may go anywhere here for a penny--takes you to the +beautiful Park and Fountain of Neptune. The word "fountain" gives an +inadequate notion of the splendid pile, with its vast triple-storied +marble galleries, its sculptured Naiads and dolphins, and on the summit, +towering above park and lake and cascades, its three gigantic sea-horses +and charioteers richly gilt, gleaming as if indeed of massive gold. Is +there any more sumptuous fountain in the world? I doubt it. In spite of +the gilded sea-horses and chariot, there is no tawdriness here; all is +bold, splendid, and imposing. Below the vast terraced galleries and wide +staircases, all of pure marble, flows in a broad sheet the crystal-clear +water, home of myriads of gold fish. The _entourage_ is worthy of so +superb a construction. The fountain stands in the midst of a +scrupulously-kept, tastefully laid-out, ever-verdant park or public +pleasure-ground. In November all is fresh and blooming as in an English +June. Palms, magnolias, bananas, oleanders, camellias, the pepper-tree, +make up a rich, many-tinted foliage. Flowers in winter-time are supplanted +by beds of brilliant leaved plants that do duty for blossoms. The purple, +crimson, and sea-green leaves are arranged with great effect, and have a +brilliant appearance. Here surrounded by gold green turf, are little lakes +which may be sailed across in tiny pleasure skiffs. At the chief entrance, +conspicuously placed, stands the fine equestrian monument to Prim, +inaugurated with much civil and military pomp some years ago. It is a bold +statue in red bronze. The general sits his horse, hat in hand, his fine, +soldier-like face turned towards the city. On the sides of the pedestal +are bas-reliefs recording episodes of his career, and on the front these +words only, "Barcelona à Prim." The work is that of a Spanish artist, and +the monument as a whole reflects great credit alike to local art and +public spirit. + +But a few minutes' drive brings us within sight of a monument to one of +the world's heroes. I allude to the memorial column recently raised to +Columbus by this same public-spirited and munificent city of Barcelona. +Columbus, be it remembered, was received here by Ferdinand and Isabella +after his discovery of America in 1493. Far and wide over hills and city, +palm-girt harbor, and sea, as a lighthouse towers the tremendous obelisk, +the figure of the great Genoese surmounting it, his feet placed on a +golden sphere, his outstretched arm pointing triumphantly in the direction +of his newly-discovered continent as much as to say, "It is there!" + +Never did undertaking reflect more credit upon a city than this stupendous +work. The entire height of the monument is about two-thirds of the height +of the Monument of London. The execution was entrusted to Barcelonese +craftsmen and artists; the materials--bronze, stone, and marble--all being +supplied in the neighborhood. + +On the upper tier of the pedestal are statues of the four noble Catalans +who materially aided Columbus in his expedition--by name Fray Boyl, monk +of Montserrat, Pedro Margarit, Jaime Ferrer, and Luis Sentangel. Below are +allegorical figures representing, in the form of stately matrons, the four +kingdoms of Catalonia, Castille, Aragon, and Leon. Bas-reliefs, +illustrating scenes in the career of the discoverer, adorn the hexagonal +sides, six magnificent winged lions of greystone keep jealous watch over +the whole, and below these, softening the aspect of severity, is a belt of +turf, the following inscription being perpetually written in flowers: +"Barcelona à Colon." The column is surmounted by a globe burnished with +gold, and above rises the colossal figure of Columbus. + +No happier site could have been selected. The monument faces the sea, and +is approached from the town by a palm-bordered walk and public garden. The +first object to greet the mariner's eye as he sights land is the figure of +Columbus poised on his glittering ball; the last to fade from view is that +beacon-like column towering so proudly above city and shore. A little +excursion must be made by boat or steamer, in order to realize the +striking effect of this monument from the sea. + +To obtain a bird's-eye view of Barcelona itself, the stranger should go +some distance inland. The Fort of Montjuich, commanding the town from the +south, or Mont Tibidaho to the north, will equally answer his purpose. A +pretty winding path leads from the shore to a pleasure-garden just below +the fort, and here we see the entire city spread as in a map at our feet. +The panorama is somewhat monotonous, the vast congeries of white walls and +grey roofs only broken by gloomy old church towers and tall factory +chimneys, but thus is realized for the first time the enormous extent of +the Spanish Liverpool and Manchester in one. Thus, indeed, may +Barcelona be styled. Looking seaward, the picture is animated and +engaging--the wide harbor bristling with shipping, lateen-sailed fishing +boats skimming the deep-blue sunny waves, noble vessels just discernible +on the dim horizon. + +[Illustration] + +The once celebrated promenade of the Murallo del Mar, eulogized by Ford +and other writers, no longer exists, but the stranger will keep the +sea-line in search of the new cemetery. A very bad road leads thither, on +All Saints' and All Souls' days followed by an unbroken string of +vehicles, omnibuses, covered carts, hackney carriages, and private +broughams; their occupants, for the most part, dressed in black. The +women, wearing black Cashmere mantillas, are hardly visible, being hidden +by enormous wreaths, crosses, and bouquets of natural and also of +artificial flowers. The new cemetery is well placed, being several miles +from the city, on high ground between the open country and the sea. It is +tastefully laid out in terraces--the trees and shrubs testifying to the +care bestowed on them. Here are many costly monuments--mausoleums, we +should rather say--of opulent Barcelonese, each family possessing its tiny +chapel and burial-place. + +It is to be hoped that so progressive a city as Barcelona will ere long +adopt the system of cremation. Nothing can be less hygienic, one would +think, than the present mode of burial in Spain. To die there is +literally--not figuratively--to be laid on the shelf. The terrace-like +sides of the cemetery ground have been hollowed out into pigeon-holes, and +into these are thrust the coffins, the marble slab closing the aperture +bearing a memorial inscription. Ivy and other creepers are trained around +the various divisions, and wreaths of fresh flowers and immortelles adorn +them; the whole presenting the appearance of a huge chest of drawers +divided into mathematically exact segments. To us there is something +uncanny--nay, revolting--in such a form of burial; which, to say the least +of it, cannot be warranted on æsthetic, much less scientific, principles. +It is satisfactory to find that at last Protestants and Jews have their +own burial-place here, shut off from the rest, it is true by a wall at +least twenty feet high, but a resting-place for all that. It was not so +very long ago that Malaga was the only Spanish town according Protestants +this privilege, the concession being wrung from the authorities by the +late much-esteemed British consul, Mr. Mark. + +For some days preceding the festival of All Saints the cemetery presents a +busy scene. Charwomen, gardeners, masons, and painters then take +possession of the place. Marble is scoured, lettering is repainted, shrubs +clipped, turf cut--all is made spick and span, in time for the great +festival of the dead. It must be borne in mind that All Saints' Day in +Spain has no analogy with the same date in our own calendar. Brilliant +sunshine, air soft and balmy as of July, characterize the month of +November here. These visits to the cemetery are, therefore, less +depressing than they would be performed amid English fog and drizzle. We +Northerners, moreover, cannot cast off gloomy thoughts and sad +retrospection as easily as the more elastic, more joyous Southern +temperament. Mass over, the pilgrimage to the cemetery paid, all is +relaxation and gaiety. All Saints' and All Souls' days are indeed periods +of unmitigated enjoyment and relaxation. Public offices, museums, schools, +shops, are closed. Holiday folk pour in from the country. The city is as +animated as Paris on the 14th of July. + +In the forenoon it is difficult to elbow one's way through the crowded +thoroughfares. Every street is thronged, men flocking to mass as zealously +as devotees of the other sex. In these early hours most of the ladies wear +black; their mourning garb later in the day to be exchanged for +fashionable toilettes of all colors. The children are decked out gaily, as +for a fancy fair. Service is being held in every church, and from all +parts may be heard the sonorous Cathedral bells. Its vast, somber +interior, now blazing with wax-lights, is a sight to remember. Crowds in +rapt devotion are kneeling on the bare stones, the ladies heedless of +their silks; here and there the men kneeling on a glove or +pocket-handkerchief, in order to protect their Sunday pantaloons. Rows of +poor men--beggars, it would seem, tidied up for the occasion--sit in rows +along the aisle, holding lighted tapers. The choir is filled with +choristers, men and boys intoning the service so skilfully that they +almost seem to sing. Soon the crowds fall back, and a procession passes +from choir to high altar--priests and dignitaries in their gorgeous robes, +some of black, embroidered with crosses in gold, others of white and +purple or yellow, the bishop coming last, his long violet train borne by a +priest; all the time the well-trained voices of the choristers--sweet +treble of the boys, tenor, and base--making up for lack of music. At last +the long ceremony comes to an end, and the vast congregation pours out to +enjoy the balmy air, the warm sunshine, visits, confectionery, and other +distractions. + +Such religious holidays should not be missed by the traveller, since they +still stamp Spain as the most Catholic country in the world. Even in +bustling, cosmopolitan, progressive Barcelona people seem to spend half +their time in church. + +In the capital of Catalonia, twentieth-century civilization and the +mediæval spirit may still be called next-door neighbors. The airy +boulevards and handsome villas of suburban Algiers are not more strikingly +contrasted with the ancient Moorish streets than the new quarters of +Barcelona with the old. The Rambla, its electric lights, its glittering +shops, cafés, clubs, and theaters, recalls a Parisian boulevard. In many +of the tortuous, malodorous streets of the old town there is hardly room +for a wheelbarrow to be drawn along; no sunbeam has ever penetrated the +gloom. + +Let us take a penny tramway from the Rambla to the gloomy, grandiose old +church of Santa Maria del Mar. Between the city and the sea rises the +majestic monument to Columbus, conspicuous as a lighthouse alike from land +and sea. We follow a broad palm-bordered alley and pleasure garden beyond +which are seen the noble harbor bristling with masts and the soft blue +Mediterranean. Under the palms lounge idle crowds listening to a band, +shading themselves as best they can from the burning sun of November! What +a change when we leave the tramway and the airy, handsome precincts of the +park, and plunge into the dark, narrow street behind the Lonja Palace. The +somber picture is not without relief. Round about the ancient façade of +the church are cloth-shops, the gay wares hanging from each story, as if +the shopmen made a display of all their wares. Here were reds, yellows, +greens of brightest hue, some of these woolen blankets, shawls, and +garments of every description being gay to crudeness; grass green, +scarlet, orange, sky-blue, dazzled the eye, but the general effect was +picturesque and cheerful. The dingy little square looked ready for a +festival. In reality, a funeral service was taking place in the church. If +Spanish interiors are always dark and depressing, what must they be when +draped with black? No sooner does the door swing behind us here than +daylight is shut out completely as on entering a mine; we are obliged to +grope our way by the feeble rays of light penetrating the old stained +glass of the clerestory. The lovely lancets of the aisles are hidden by +huge black banners, the vast building being only lighted by a blaze of wax +tapers here and there. Sweet soft chanting of boys' voices, with a +delicious organ accompaniment, was going on when I entered, soon to be +exchanged for the unutterably monotonous and lugubrious intoning of +black-robed choristers. They formed a procession and, chanting as they +went, marched to a side altar before which a priest was performing mass. +The Host elevated, all marched back again, the dreary intoning now +beginning afresh. It is impossible to convey any adequate notion of the +dreariness of the service. If the Spaniards understand how to enjoy to the +uttermost what Browning calls "the wild joy of living," they also know how +to clothe death with all the terrors of mediæval superstition. It takes +one's breath away, too, to calculate the cost of a funeral here, what with +the priests accomplished in the mystic dance--so does a Spanish writer +designate the performance--the no less elaborate services of the +choristers, the lighting up of the church, the display of funeral drapery. +The expense, fortunately, can only be incurred once. These ancient +churches--all somberness and gloom, yet on fête days ablaze with light +and colors--symbolize the leading characteristics of Spanish character. No +sooner does the devotee rise from his knees than the Southern passion for +joy and animation asserts itself. Religious exercise and revel, penitence +and enjoyment, alternate one with the other; the more devout the first, +all the more eagerly indulged in the last. + +On the Sunday morning following the Festival of All Saints--the 4th of +November--the splendid old cathedral was the scene of a veritable pageant. +Wax lights illuminated the vast interior from end to end, the brocades and +satins of priestly robes blazed with gold embroidery, the rich adornments +and treasure of altar and chapels could be seen in full splendor. Before +the grand music of the organ and the elevation, a long, very long, sermon +had to be listened to, the enormous congregation for the most part +standing; scattered groups here and there squatted on the stone piers, not +a chair to be had anywhere, no one seeming to find the discourse too long. +When at last the preacher did conclude, the white-robed choristers, men +and boys, passed out of the choir, and formed a double line. Then the +bishop in solemn state descended from the high altar. He wore a crimson +gown with long train borne by a priest, and on his head a violet cap, with +pea-green tuft. The dresses of the attendant clergy were no less gorgeous +and rich in texture, some of crimson with heavy gold trimmings, others of +mauve, guinea-gold, peach color, or creamy white, several wearing fur +caps. The procession made the round of the choir, then returned to the +starting-point. As I sat behind the high altar on one of the high-backed +wooden benches destined for the aged poor, two tiny chorister boys came +up, both in white surplices, one with a pink, the other with sky-blue +collar. Here they chatted and laughed with their hands on the bell-rope, +ready to signal the elevation. On a sudden the tittering ceased, the +childish hands tugged at the rope, the tinkling of the bell was heard, and +the multitude, as one man, fell on its knees, the organ meantime being +played divinely. Service over, the crowds emerged into the dazzling +sunshine: pleasure parties, steamboat trips, visits, theaters, bull-fights +occupied the rest of the day, the Rambla presenting the appearance of a +masquerade. + +An excursion northwards of the city is necessary, in order to see its +charming, fast-increasing suburbs. Many, as is the case with those of +Paris, Passy, Auteuil, Belleville, and others, were formerly little towns, +but are fast becoming part of Barcelona itself. + +Most musically named is Gracia, approached by rail or tramway, where rich +citizens have their orange and lemon gardens, their chateaux and villas, +and where religious houses abound. In this delightful suburban retreat +alone no less than six nunneries may be counted; somber prison-like +buildings, with tiny barred windows, indicating the abode of cloistered +nuns of ascetic orders. That of the Order of St. Domingo has been recently +founded. The house looks precisely like a prison. Here also are several +congregations of the other sex--the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the +Fathers of San Filipe, and others. + +Gracia may be called the Hampstead of Barcelona. Hardly a house but +possesses its garden. Above the high walls trail gorgeous creepers and +datura, whilst through the iron gates we obtain glimpses of dahlias in +full splendor, roses red and white, and above these the glossy-leaved +orange and lemon trees with their ripening fruit. The pleasantest suburb +of Barcelona is well worthy of its name. As Sarria is approached, the +scenery becomes more rural, and under the brilliant November sunshine +reminds the traveller of the East, the square, white, low-roofed houses +rising amid olive and palm trees. The aloes and prickly pears on the waste +ground again and again recall Algeria. Here are vast stretches of +vegetable gardens and vineyards supplying the city markets, and standing +in their own grounds on sunny hill-sides, the quintas or country houses of +rich citizens and grandees. + +From the little town of Sarria--hardly as yet to be called suburban--a +glorious view is obtained of city, port, and sea. The narrow dusty +streets, with their close-shuttered houses, have a sleepy look; yet Sarria +possesses one of the largest cotton-mills in Spain, several thousand hands +being employed by one firm. The branch railway ends at Sarria. Here +tourists and holiday-makers alight; the hardy pedestrian to reach the +summit of Mont Tibidaho on foot--a matter of two hours or so--the less +enterprising, to accept one of the covered cars awaiting excursionists +outside the station. Mont Tibidaho is the favorite holiday ground of the +citizens. Even in November numerous pleasure parties are sure to be found +here, and the large restaurants indicate the extent of summer patronage. +On the breezy heights round about are the sumptuous mansions of nobles and +merchant princes; whilst down below are numerous picturesque valleys, +notably that of San Cugat. The stranger fortunate enough to obtain +admission will find himself in the kind of fairyland described by Tennyson +in his "Haroun-al-Raschid," Owen Meredith in "The Siege of +Constantinople," or Gayangos in his delightful translation of the +"Chronicles of Al-Makkari." Marble courts, crystal fountains, magnificent +baths, mosaic pavements, statuary, tapestries, aviaries, rare exotics, +gold and silver plate, are now combined with all modern appliances of +comfort. A sojourn in one of the well-appointed hotels will suffice to +give some notion of Spanish society. During the holidays many families +from the city take up their quarters here. Social gatherings, picnics, +excursions, concerts, are the order of the day, and good military bands +enliven the gardens on Sundays. + +To the south-east of Barcelona lies the suburb of Barceloneta, frequented +by the seafaring population. Penny boats ply between city and suburb, on +Sundays and holidays the music of a barrel-organ being thrown into the +bargain. The harbor is then black with spectators, and the boats and +little steamers, making the cruise of the port for half a franc, are +crowded with holiday-makers. The bright silk head-dresses of the women, +the men's crimson or scarlet sombreros and plaids, the uniforms of the +soldiers, the gay dresses of the ladies, make up a picturesque scene. On +board the boats the music of the barrel-organ must on no account be paid +for. A well-intentioned stranger who should offer the musician a penny is +given to understand that the treat is gratuitous and generously supplied +by the owners of the craft. Greed being almost universal in those parts of +the world frequented by tourists, it is gratifying to be able to chronicle +such exceptions. Seldom, indeed, has the sightseer at Barcelona to put his +hand in his pocket. + +If inferior to other Spanish cities in picturesqueness and interest +generally, the capital of Catalonia atones for the deficit by its +abundance of resources. It possesses nothing to be called a +picture-gallery; the museums are second-rate, the collections of +antiquities inconsiderable. But what other city in Spain can boast of so +many learned bodies and diverse centers of intellectual activity? +Excessive devotion and scientific inquiry do not here seem at variance. +Strange to say, a population that seems perpetually on its knees is the +first to welcome modern ideas. + +The Academy of Arts was founded in 1751, and owes its origin to the Junta, +or Tribunal of Commerce of Catalonia. This art school is splendidly lodged +in the Lonja Palace, and attached to it is a museum, containing a few +curious specimens of old Spanish masters, some rather poor copies of the +Italian schools, and one real artistic treasure of the first water. This +is a collection of studies in black and white by the gifted Fortuny, whose +first training was received here. The sketches are masterly, and atone for +the insignificance of the remaining collection. Students of both sexes are +admitted to the classes, the course of study embracing painting in all its +branches, modeling, etching, linear drawing and perspective, anatomy and +æsthetics. It is gratifying to find that girls attend these classes, +although as yet in small numbers. + +The movement in favor of the higher education of women marches at a +snail's pace in Spain. The vast number of convents and what are called +"Escuelas Pias," or religious schools, attest the fact that even in the +most cosmopolitan and enlightened Spanish town the education of girls +still remains chiefly in the hands of the nuns. Lay schools and colleges +exist, also a normal school for the training of female teachers, founded a +few years ago. Here and there we find rich families entrusting their girls +to English governesses, but such cases are rare. + +We must remember, however, that besides the numerous "Escuelas pias" and +secular schools, several exist opened under the auspices of the Spanish +Evangelical body, and also the League for the Promotion of lay Teaching. +We need not infer, then, that because they do not attend the municipal +schools the children go untaught. + +How reluctantly Catholic countries are won over to educate their women we +have witnessed in France. Here in the twentieth century the chief +occupation of an educated Spanish lady seems to be that of counting her +beads in church. + +Music is universally taught, the cultivation of the piano being nowhere +more assiduous. Pianoforte teachers may be counted by the hundred; and a +Conservatorium, besides academies due to private initiative, offers a +thorough musical training to the student. Elegant pianos, characterized by +great delicacy of tone and low price, are a leading feature of Barcelona +manufacture, notably of the firm Bernareggi. + +The University, attended by two thousand five hundred students, was +founded so long ago as 1430, and rebuilt in 1873. + +A technical school--the only complete school of arts and sciences existing +in Spain--was opened under the same roof in 1850; and, in connection with +it, night classes are held. Any workman provided with a certificate of +good conduct can attend these classes free of cost. Schools of +architecture and navigation are also attached to the University. + +Thirst after knowledge characterizes all classes of the community. A +workman's literary club, or Athenæum, founded a few years back, is now a +flourishing institution, aided by municipal funds. No kind of recreation +is allowed within its walls. Night-schools opened here are attended by +several hundred scholars. Barcelona also boasts of an Academy of _Belles +Lettres_, the first founded in Spain; schools of natural science, +chemistry, agriculture, of medicine and surgery, of jurisprudence, an +academy devoted to the culture of the Catalonian language, and containing +library and museum. This society has greatly contributed to the protection +of ancient buildings throughout the province, besides amassing valuable +treasure, legend, botanical and geological specimens and antiquities. The +Archæological Society of Barcelona has also effected good work: to its +initiative the city is mainly indebted for the charming little collection +of antiquities known as the "Museo Provincial," before alluded to. + +In places of public entertainment Barcelona is unusually rich. Its Opera +House, holding four thousand spectators, equals in spaciousness the +celebrated house of Moscow. The unpretentious exterior gives no idea of +the splendor within. A dozen theaters may be counted besides. Bull-fights, +alas! still disgrace the most advanced city of the Peninsula. The +bull-ring was founded in 1834, and the brutal spectacle still attracts +enormous crowds, chiefly consisting of natives. The bull-fight is almost +unanimously repudiated by foreign residents of all ranks. + +A few words must now be said about the history of this ancient place. The +city founded here by Hamilcar Barco, father of the great Hannibal, is +supposed to stand on the site of one more ancient still, existing long +before the foundation of Rome. The Carthaginian city in 206 B. C. became a +Roman colonia, under the title of "Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barzino," +which was eclipsed in importance, however, by Tarragona, the Roman +capital. In 409 A. D. it was taken by the Goths, and under their +domination increased in size and influence, coining its own money stamped +with the legend "Barcinona." On the destruction of Tarragona by the Moors +Barcelona capitulated, was treated with clemency, and again became a +metropolis. After many vicissitudes it was ruled in the ninth century by a +Christian chief of its own, whose descendants till the twelfth governed it +under the title of Counts of Barcelona, later assuming that of Kings of +Aragon, to which kingdom the province was annexed. During the Middle Ages +Barcelona played a foremost part in the history of commerce. In the words +of Ford, "Like Carthage of old, it was the lord and terror of the +Mediterranean. It divided with Italy the enriching commerce of the East. +It was then a city of commerce, conquest, and courtiers, of taste, +learning, and luxury--the Athens of the troubadour." + +Its celebrated commercial code, framed in the thirteenth century, obtained +acceptance throughout Europe. Here one of the first printing-presses in +Spain was set up, and here Columbus was received by Ferdinand and Isabella +after his discovery of a new world. A hundred years later a ship was +launched from the port, made to move by means of steam. The story of +Barcelona is henceforth but a catalogue of tyrannies and treacheries, +against which the brave, albeit turbulent, city struggled single-handed. +In 1711 it was bombarded and partly ruined by Philip V.; a few years +later, after a magnanimous defense, it was stormed by Berwick, on behalf +of Louis XIV., and given up to pillage, outrage, fire, and sword. +Napoleon's fraudulent seizure of Barcelona is one of the most shameful +pages of his shameful history. The first city--the key of Spain, as he +called it--only to be taken in fair war by eighty thousand men, was basely +entrapped, and remained in the hands of the French till the Treaty of +Paris in 1814. From that time Barcelona has only enjoyed fitful intervals +of repose. In 1827 a popular rising took place in favor of Don Carlos. In +1834 Queen Christina was opposed, and in 1840 public opinion declared for +Espartero. In 1856 and 1874 insurrections occurred, not without bloodshed. + +Barcelona is a great gathering-place of merchants from all parts of +Europe. In its handsome hotels is heard a very Babel of tongues. The +principal manufactures consist of woolen stuffs--said to be inferior to +English in quality--silk, lace, firearms, hats, hardware, pianos; the +last, as has been already stated, of excellent quality, and low in price. +Porcelain, crystal, furniture, and inlaid work, must be included in this +list, also ironwork and stone blocks. + +Beautifully situated on the Mediterranean between the mouths of two +rivers,--the Llobregat and the Besos--and possessing one of the finest +climates in the world, Barcelona is doubtless destined ere long to rival +Algiers as a health resort. Three lines of railway now connect it directly +with Paris, from which it is separated by twenty-eight hours' journey. The +traveller may leave Barcelona at five o'clock in the morning and reach +Lyons at midnight with only a change of carriages on the frontier. The +route _viâ_ Bordeaux is equally expeditious; that by way of +Clermont-Ferrand less so, but more picturesque. Hotels in the capital of +Catalonia leave nothing to desire on the score of management, hygiene, +comfort, and prices strictly regulated by tariff. The only drawback to be +complained of is the total absence of the feminine element--not a woman +to be seen on the premises. Good family hotels, provided with lady clerks +and chambermaids, is a decided desideratum. The traveller wishing to +attain a knowledge of the Spanish language, and see something of Spanish +life and manners, may betake himself to one of the numerous +boarding-houses. + +Barcelona is very rich in philanthropic and charitable institutions. +Foremost of these is its Hospital of Santa Cruz, numbering six hundred +beds. It is under the conjoint management of sisters and brothers of +charity and lay nurses of both sexes. An asylum for the insane forms part +of the building, with annexes for the convalescent. The Hospital del +Sagrado Corazon, founded by public subscription in 1870 for surgical +cases, also speaks volumes for the munificence of the citizens. The only +passport required of the patient is poverty. One interesting feature about +this hospital is that the committee of management consists of ladies. The +nursing staff is formed of French Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. Besides +these must be named the orphanage for upwards of two thousand children of +both sexes--Casa de Caridad de la Provincia de Barcelona--asylums for +abandoned infants, for the orphaned children of seamen, maternity +hospitals, crêches, etc. There is also a school for the blind and deaf +mutes, the first of the kind established in Spain. Here the blind of both +sexes receive a thorough musical training, and deaf mutes are taught +according to the system known as lip-speech. All teaching is gratuitous. + +Barcelona possesses thirty-eight churches, without counting the chapels +attached to convents, and a vast number of conventual houses. Several +evangelical services are held on Sundays both in the city and in the +suburb of Barceloneta. The Protestant communities of Spain, England, +France, Germany, Sweden, and other countries, have here their +representative and organization. Sunday-schools and night-schools for +adults are held in connection with these churches. The Protestant body +seems active. We find here a branch depôt of the Religious Tract Society; +various religious magazines, many of them translations from the English +and German, are published. Among these are the "Revista Christiana," +intended for the more thoughtful class of readers; "La Luz," organ of the +Reformed Church of Spain; and several illustrated periodicals for +children. Will Protestantism ever take deep root in the home of the +Inquisition? Time will show. + +That very advanced political opinions should be held here need hardly +surprise us. We find the following Democratic clubs in existence: The +Historic Republican Club ("Centro Republicano Historico"), the Possibilist +Republican Club ("Circulo Republicano Possibilista"), the Democratic +Progressist Club, the Federal Republican Club, and many others. When next +a great popular movement takes place in Spain--and already the event looms +in the distance--without doubt the first impulse will be given at +Barcelona. + +Electric lighting was early introduced here, a company being founded so +long back as 1880, and having branches in the capital, Seville, Valencia, +Bilbao, and other towns. The importance of Barcelona as a center of +commerce is attested by the extraordinary number of banks. At every turn +the stranger comes upon a bank. "Compared to the mighty hives of English +industry and skill, here everything is petty," wrote Ford, fifty years +ago. Very different would be his verdict could he revisit the Manchester +and Liverpool of Catalonia in our own day. + +One curious feature of social life in Spain is the extraordinary number of +religious fête days and public holidays. No Bank Holiday Act is needed, as +in the neighboring country of France. Here is a list of days during which +business is for the most part suspended in this recreation-loving city: +Twelfth-cake Day is the great festival of the little ones--carnival is +kept up, if with less of former splendor, nevertheless with much spirit; +on Ash Wednesday rich and poor betake themselves to the country; Holy +Thursday and Good Friday are celebrated with great pomp in the churches; +on Easter Eve takes place a procession of shepherds in the park; Easter +Monday is a day given up to rural festivity; the 19th of March St. José's +Day--is a universal fête, hardly a family in Spain without a José among +its number. The first Sunday in May is a feast of flowers and poetic +competitions; the days consecrated to St. Juan and St. Pedro are public +holidays, patronized by enormous numbers of country-folks; All Saints' and +All Souls' Days are given up, as we have seen, to alternate devotion and +festivity. On the 20th of December is celebrated the Feast of the +Nativity, the fair and the displays of the shops attracting strangers from +all parts. But it is especially the days sacred to the Virgin that are +celebrated by all classes. Balls, banquets, processions, miracle-plays, +illuminations, bull-fights, horse-races, scholastic fêtes, industrial +exhibitions, civic ceremonial, besides solemn services, occupy old and +young, rich and poor. Feasting is the order of the day, and the +confectioners' windows are wonderful to behold. + +Although many local customs are dying out, we may still see some of the +curious street sights described by Ford fifty years ago, and the +Mariolatry he deplored is still as active as ever. The goodly show of +dainties in the shops, however, belie his somewhat acrimonious description +of a Spanish reception. "Those who receive," he wrote, "provide very +little refreshment unless they wish to be covered with glory; space, +light, and a little bad music, are sufficient to amuse these merry, +easily-pleased souls, and satisfy their frugal bodies. To those who, by +hospitality and entertainment, can only understand eating and +drinking--food for man and beast--such hungry proceedings will be more +honored in the breach than in the observance; but these matters depend +much on latitude and longitude." Be this as it may, either the climate of +Barcelona has changed, or international communication has revolutionized +Spanish digestion. Thirty years ago, when travelling in Spain, it was no +unusual sight to see a spare, aristocratic hidalgo enter a restaurant, +and, with much form and ceremony, breakfast off a tiny omelette. Nowadays +we find plenty of Spanish guests at public ordinaries doing ample justice +to a plentiful board. English visitors in a Spanish house will not only +get good music, in addition to space and light, but abundant hospitality +of material sort. + +The Spain of which Ford wrote so humorously, and, it must be admitted, +often so maliciously, is undergoing slow, but sure, transformation. Many +national characteristics remain--the passion for the brutal bull-fight +still disgraces a polished people, the women still spend the greater +portion of their lives in church, religious intolerance at the beginning +of the twentieth century must be laid to the charge of a slowly +progressive nation. On the other hand, and nowhere is the fact more +patent than at Barcelona, the great intellectual and social revolution, +described by contemporary Spanish novelists, is bringing the peninsula in +closer sympathy with her neighbors. Many young Spaniards, _for_ instance, +are now educated in England, English is freely spoken at Malaga, and its +literature is no longer unknown to Spanish readers. These facts indicate +coming change. The exclusiveness which has hitherto barred the progress of +this richly-dowed and attractive country is on the wane. Who shall say? We +may ere long see dark-eyed students from Barcelona at Girton College, and +a Spanish society for the protection of animals prohibiting the torture of +bulls and horses for the public pleasure. + +Already--all honor to her name--a Spanish woman novelist, the gifted +Caballero, has made pathetic appeals to her country-folks for a gentler +treatment of animals in general. For the most part, it must be sadly +confessed, in vain! + +In spite of its foremost position, in intellectual and commercial +pre-eminence, Barcelona has produced no famous men. Her noblest monument +is raised to an alien; Lopez, a munificent citizen, honored by a statue, +was born at Santander. Prim, although a Catalan, did not first see the +light in the capital. By some strange concatenation of events, this noble +city owes her fame rather to the collective genius and spirit of her +children than to any one. A magnanimous stepmother, she has adopted those +identified with her splendor to whom she did not herself give birth. + +Balzac wittily remarks that the dinner is the barometer of the family +purse in Paris. One perceives whether Parisians are flourishing or no by a +glance at the daily board. Clothes afford a nice indication of +temperature all the world over. We have only to notice what people wear, +and we can construct a weather-chart for ourselves. Although the late +autumn was, on the whole, favorable, I left fires, furs, and overcoats in +Paris. At Lyons, a city afflicted with a climate the proper epithet of +which is "muggy," ladies had not yet discarded their summer clothes, and +were only just beginning to refurbish felt hats and fur-lined pelisses. + +At Montpellier the weather was April-like--mild, blowy, showery; +waterproofs, goloshes, and umbrellas were the order of the day. On +reaching Barcelona I found a blazing sun, windows thrown wide open, and +everybody wearing the lightest garments. Such facts do duty for a +thermometer. + +Boasting, as it does of one of the finest climates in the world, natural +position of rare beauty, a genial, cosmopolitan, and strikingly handsome +population, and lastly, accessibility, Barcelona should undoubtedly be a +health resort hardly second to Algiers. Why it is not, I will undertake to +explain. + +In the first place, there is something that invalids and valetudinarians +require more imperatively than a perfect climate. They cannot do without +the ministrations of women. To the suffering, the depressed, the nervous, +feminine influence is ofttimes of more soothing--nay, healing--power than +any medical prescription. + +Let none take the flattering unction to their souls--as well look for a +woman in a Bashaw's army, or on a man-of-war, as in the palatial, +well-appointed, otherwise irreproachable hotels of Barcelona! They boast +of marble floors, baths that would not have dissatisfied a Roman epicure, +salons luxurious as those of a West-end club, newspapers in a score of +languages, a phalanx of gentlemanly waiters, a varied ordinary, delicious +wines, but not a daughter of Eve, old or young, handsome or ugly--if, +indeed, there exists an ugly woman in Barcelona--to be caught sight of +anywhere! No charming landlady, as in French hotels, taking friendliest +interest in her guests, no housemaids, willing and nimble as the Marys and +Janes we have left at home, not even a rough, kindly, garrulous charwoman +scrubbing the floors. The fashionable hotel here is a vast barrack +conducted on strictly impersonal principles. Visitors obtain their money's +worth, and pay their bills. There the transaction between innkeeper and +traveller ends. + +Good family hotels or "pensions," in which invalids would find a home-like +element, are sadly needed in this engaging, highly-favored city. The next +desideratum is a fast train from Port Bou--the first Spanish town on the +frontier. An express on the Spanish line would shorten the journey to +Lyons by several hours. New carriages are needed as much as new iron +roads. Many an English third-class is cleaner and more comfortable than +the so-called "first" here. It must be added that the officials are all +politeness and attention, and that beyond slowness and shabbiness the +traveller has nothing to complain of. Exquisite urbanity is still a +characteristic of the Barcelonese as it was in the age of Cervantes. One +exception will be mentioned farther on. + +If there are no women within the hotel walls--except, of course, stray +lady tourists--heaven be praised, there are enough, and to spare, of most +bewitching kind without. Piquancy is, perhaps, the foremost charm of a +Spanish beauty, whether a high-born señora in her brougham, or a +flower-girl at her stall. One and all seem born to turn the heads of the +other sex, after the fashion of Carmen in Merimée's story. Nor is outward +attraction confined to women. The city police, cab-drivers, +tramway-conductors, all possess what Schopenhauer calls the best possible +letter of introduction, namely, good looks. + +The number of the police surprise us. These bustling, brilliant streets, +with their cosmopolitan crowds, seem the quietest, most orderly in the +world. It seems hard to believe that this tranquillity and contentment +should be fallacious--on the surface only. Yet such is the case, as shown +by the recent outbreak of rioting and bloodshed. + +"I have seen revolution after revolution," said to me a Spanish gentleman +of high position, an hidalgo of the old school; "I expect to see more if +my life is sufficiently prolonged. Spain has no government; each in power +seeks but self-aggrandizement. Our army is full of Boulangers, each ready +to usurp power for his own ends. You suggest a change of dynasty? We could +not hope to be thereby the gainers. A Republic, say you? That also has +proved a failure with us. Ah, you English are happy; you do not need to +change abruptly the existing order of things, you effect revolutions more +calmly." + +I observed that perhaps national character and temperament had something +to do with the matter. He replied very sadly, "You are right; we +Southerners are more impetuous, of fiercer temper. Whichever way I look, I +see no hope for unhappy Spain." + +Such somber reflections are difficult to realize by the passing traveller. +Yet, when we consider the tremendous force of such a city as Barcelona, +its progressive tendencies, its spirit of scientific inquiry, we can but +admit that an Ultramontane regency and reactionary government must be out +of harmony with the tendencies of modern Spain. + +There is only one occupation which seems to have a deteriorating effect +upon the Spanish temper. The atmosphere of the post-office, at any rate, +makes a Catalan rasping as an east wind, acrimonious as a sloe-berry. I +had been advised to provide myself with a passport before revisiting +Spain, but I refused to do so on principle. + +What business have we with this relic of barbarism at the beginning of the +twentieth century, in times of peace among a friendly people? The taking a +passport under such circumstances seemed to me as much of an anachronism +as the wearing of a scapular, or seeking the royal touch for scrofula. By +pure accident, a registered letter containing bank notes was addressed to +me at the Poste Restante. Never was such a storm in a teacup, such +groaning of the mountain before the creeping forth of a tiny mouse! The +delivery of registered letters in Spain is accompanied with as much form +as a marriage contract in France. Let future travellers in expectation of +such documents provide themselves, not only with a passport, but a copy of +their baptismal register, of the marriage certificate of their parents, +the family Bible--no matter its size--and any other proofs of identity +they can lay hands upon. They will find none superfluous. + + + + +V + +MARSEILLES + + Its Greek founders and early history--Superb view from the sea--The + Cannebière--The Parado and Chemin de la Corniche--Château d'If and + Monte-Cristo--Influence of the Greeks in Marseilles--Ravages by plague + and pestilence--Treasures of the Palais des Arts--The chapel of Notre + Dame de la Garde--The new Marseilles and its future. + + +About six hundred years before the birth of Christ, when the +Mediterranean, ringed round with a long series of commercial colonies, was +first beginning to transform itself with marvelous rapidity into "a Greek +lake," a body of adventurous Hellenic mariners--young Columbuses of their +day--full of life and vigor, sailed forth from Phocæa in Asia Minor, and +steered their course, by devious routes, to what was then the Far West, in +search of a fitting and unoccupied place in which to found a new trading +city. Hard pressed by the Persians on their native shore, these free young +Greeks--the Pilgrim Fathers of modern Marseilles--left behind for ever the +city of their birth, and struck for liberty in some distant land, where no +Cyrus or Xerxes could ever molest them. Sailing away past Greece and +Sicily, and round Messina into the almost unknown Tyrrhenian Sea, the +adventurous voyagers arrived at last, after various false starts in +Corsica and elsewhere, at some gaunt white hills of the Gaulish coast, +and cast anchor finally in a small but almost land-locked harbor, under +the shelter of some barren limestone mountains. Whether they found a +Phoenician colony already established on the spot or not, matters as +little to history nowadays as whether their leaders' names were really +Simos and Protis or quite otherwise. What does matter is the indubitable +fact that Massalia, as its Greek founders called it, preserved through all +its early history the impress of a truly Hellenic city; and that even to +this moment much good Greek blood flows, without question, in the hot +veins of all its genuine native-born citizens. + +The city thus founded has had a long, a glorious, and an eventful history. +Marseilles is to-day the capital of the Mediterranean, the true commercial +metropolis of that inland sea which now once more has become a single +organic whole, after its long division by the Mohammedan conquest of North +Africa and the Levant into two distinct and hostile portions. Naples, it +is true, has a larger population; but then, a population of Neapolitan +lazzaroni, mere human drones lounging about their hive and basking in the +sunlight, does not count for much, except for the macaroni trade. What +Venice once was, that Marseilles is to-day; the chief gate of +Mediterranean traffic, the main mart of merchants who go down in ships on +the inland sea. In the Cannebière and the Old Port, she possesses, indeed, +as Edmond About once graphically phrased it, "an open door upon the +Mediterranean and the whole world." The steamers and sailing vessels that +line her quays bind together the entire Mediterranean coast into a single +organic commercial whole. Here is the packet for Barcelona and Malaga; +there, the one for Naples, Malta, and Constantinople. By this huge liner, +sunning herself at La Joliette, we can go to Athens and Alexandria; by +that, to Algiers, Cagliari, and Tunis. Nay, the Suez Canal has extended +her bounds beyond the inland sea to the Indian Ocean; and the Pillars of +Hercules no longer restrain her from free use of the great Atlantic +water-way. You may take ship, if you will, from the Quai de la Fraternité +for Bombay or Yokohama, for Rio or Buenos Ayres, for Santa Cruz, +Teneriffe, Singapore, or Melbourne. And this wide extension of her +commercial importance Marseilles owes, mainly no doubt, to her exceptional +advantages of natural position, but largely also, I venture to think, to +the Hellenic enterprise of her acute and vigorous Græco-Gaulish +population. + +And what a marvelous history has she not behind her! First of all, no +doubt, a small fishing and trading station of prehistoric Gaulish or +Ligurian villagers occupied the site where now the magnificent façade of +the Bourse commemorates the names of Massalia's greatest Phocæan +navigators. Then the Phoenicians supervened upon the changeful scene, and +built those antique columns and forgotten shrines whose scanty remains +were recently unearthed in the excavations for making the Rue de la +République. Next came the early Phocæan colonists, reinforced a little +later by the whole strength of their unconquerable townsmen, who sailed +away in a body, according to the well-known legend preserved in Herodotus, +when they could no longer hold out against the besieging Persian. The +Greek town became as it were a sort of early Calcutta for the Gaulish +trade, with its own outlying colonies at Nice, Antibes, and Hyères, and +its inland "factories" (to use the old familiar Anglo-Indian word) at +Tarascon, Avignon, and many other ancient towns of the Rhône valley. Her +admirals sailed on every known sea: Euthymenes explored the coasts of +Africa as far as Senegal; Pytheas followed the European shore past Britain +and Ireland to the north of the Shetlands. Till the Roman arrived upon the +Gaulish coast with his dreaded short-sword, Massalia, in short, remained +undisputed queen of all the western Mediterranean waters. + +Before the wolf of the Capitol, however, all stars paled. Yet even under +the Roman Empire Massilia (as the new conquerors called the name, with a +mere change of vowel) retained her Greek speech and manners, which she +hardly lost (if we may believe stray hints in later historians) till the +very eve of the barbarian invasion. With the period of the Crusades, the +city of Euthymenes became once more great and free, and hardly lost her +independence completely up to the age of Louis XIV. It was only after the +French Revolution, however, that she began really to supersede Venice as +the true capital of the Mediterranean. The decline of the Turkish power, +the growth of trade with Alexandria and the Levant, the final crushing of +the Barbary pirates, the conquest of Algeria, and, last of all, the +opening of the Suez Canal--a French work--all helped to increase her +commerce and population by gigantic strides in half a dozen decades. At +the present day Marseilles is the chief maritime town of France, and the +acknowledged center of Mediterranean travel and traffic. + +The right way for the stranger to enter Marseilles is, therefore, by sea, +the old-established high road of her antique commerce. The Old Port and +the Cannebière are her front door, while the railway from Paris leads you +in at best, as it were, through shabby corridors, by a side entry. Seen +from the sea, indeed, Marseilles is superb. I hardly know whether the +whole Mediterranean has any finer approach to a great town to display +before the eyes of the artistic traveller. All round the city rises a +semicircle of arid white hills, barren and bare indeed to look upon; but +lighted up by the blue Provençal sky with a wonderful flood of borrowed +radiance, bringing out every jutting peak and crag through the clear dry +air in distinct perspective. Their sides are dotted with small square +white houses, the famous _bastides_ or country boxes of the good +Marseillais bourgeois. In front, a group of sunlit rocky isles juts out +from the bay, on one of which tower the picturesque bastions of the +Chateau d'If, so familiar to the reader of "Monte-Cristo." The foreground +is occupied by the town itself, with its forest of masts, and the new dome +of its checkered and gaudy Byzantine Cathedral, which has quite supplanted +the old cathedral of St. Lazare, of which only a few traces remain. In the +middle distance the famous old pilgrimage chapel of Notre Dame de la Garde +crowns the summit of a pyramidal hill, with its picturesque mass of +confused architecture. Away to right and left, those endless white hills +gleam on with almost wearying brightness in the sun for miles together; +but full in front, where the eye rests longest, the bustle and commotion +of a great trading town teem with varied life upon the quays and +landing-places. + +If you are lucky enough to enter Marseilles for the first time by the Old +Port, you find yourself at once in the very thick of all that is most +characteristic and vivid and local in the busy city. That little oblong +basin, shut in on its outer side by projecting hills, was indeed the +making of the great town. Of course the Old Port is now utterly +insufficient for the modern wants of a first-class harbor; yet it still +survives, not only as a historical relic but as a living reality, +thronged even to-day with the crowded ships of all nations. On the quay +you may see the entire varied Mediterranean world in congress assembled. +Here Greeks from Athens and Levantines from Smyrna jostle cheek by jowl +with Italians from Genoa and Arabs or Moors from Tangier or Tunis. All +costumes and all manners are admissible. The crowd is always excited, and +always animated. A babel of tongues greets your ears as you land, in which +the true Marseillais dialect of the Provençal holds the chief place--a +graceful language, wherein the predominant Latin element has not even yet +wholly got rid of certain underlying traces of Hellenic origin. Bright +color, din, life, movement: in a moment the traveller from a northern +climate recognizes the patent fact that he has reached a new world--that +vivid, impetuous, eager southern world, which has its center to-day on the +Provençal seaboard. + +[Illustration] + +Go a yard or two farther into the crowded Cannebière, and the difference +between this and the chilly North will at each step be forced even more +strikingly upon you. That famous thoroughfare is firmly believed by every +good son of old Marseilles to be, in the familiar local phrase, "la plus +belle rue de l'univers." My own acquaintance with the precincts of the +universe being somewhat limited (I have never travelled myself, indeed, +beyond the narrow bounds of our own solar system), I should be loth to +endorse too literally and unreservedly this sweeping commendation of the +Marseillais mind; but as regards our modest little planet at least, I +certainly know no other street within my own experience (save Broadway, +New York) that has quite so much life and variety in it as the Cannebière. +It is not long, to be sure, but it is broad and airy, and from morning +till night its spacious _trottoirs_ are continually crowded by such a +surging throng of cosmopolitan humanity as you will hardly find elsewhere +on this side of Alexandria. For cosmopolitanism is the true key-note of +Marseilles, and the Cannebière is a road that leads in one direction +straight to Paris, but opens in the other direction full upon Algiers and +Italy, upon Egypt and India. + +What a picture it offers, too, of human life, that noisy Cannebière! By +day or by night it is equally attractive. On it centers all that is alive +in Marseilles--big hotels, glittering cafés, luxurious shops, scurrying +drays, high-stepping carriage-horses, and fashionably-dressed humanity; an +endless crowd, many of them hatless and bonnetless in true southern +fashion, parade without ceasing its ringing pavements. At the end of all, +the Old Port closes the view with its serried masts, and tells you the +wherefore of this mixed society. The Cannebière, in short, is the Rue de +Rivoli of the Mediterranean, the main thoroughfare of all those teeming +shores of oil and wine, where culture still lingers by its ancient cradle. + +Close to the Quai, and at the entrance of the Cannebière, stands the +central point of business in new Marseilles, the Bourse, where the filial +piety of the modern Phocæans has done ample homage to the sacred memory of +their ancient Hellenic ancestors. For in the place of honor on the façade +of that great palace of commerce the chief post has been given, as was +due, to the statues of the old Massaliote admirals, Pytheas and +Euthymenes. It is this constant consciousness of historical continuity +that adds so much interest to Mediterranean towns. One feels as one stands +before those two stone figures in the crowded Cannebière, that after all +humanity is one, and that the Phocæans themselves are still, in the +persons of their sons, among us. + +The Cannebière runs nearly east and west, and is of no great length, under +its own name at least; but under the transparent alias of the Rue de +Noailles it continues on in a straight line till it widens out at last +into the Allées de Meilhan, the favorite haunt of all the gossips and +quidnuncs of Marseilles. The Allées de Meilhan, indeed, form the _beau +idéal_ of the formal and fashionable French promenade. Broad avenues of +plane trees cast a mellow shade over its well-kept walks, and the neatest +of nurses in marvelous caps and long silk streamers dandle the laciest and +fluffiest of babies, in exquisite costumes, with ostentatious care, upon +their bountiful laps. The stone seats on either side buzz with the latest +news of the town; the Zouave flirts serenely with the bonnetless +shop-girls; the sergeant-de-ville stalks proudly down the midst, and +barely deigns to notice such human weaknesses. These Allées are the +favorite haunt of all idle Marseilles, below the rank of "carriage +company," and it is probable that Satan finds as much mischief still for +its hands to do here as in any other part of that easy-going city. + +At right angles to the main central artery thus constituted by the +Cannebière, the Rue de Noailles, and the Allées de Meilhan runs the second +chief stream of Marseillais life, down a channel which begins as the Rue +d'Aix and the Cours Belzunce, and ends, after various intermediate +disguises, as the Rue de Rome and the Prado. Just where it crosses the +current of the Cannebière, this polyonymous street rejoices in the title +of the Cours St. Louis. Close by is the place where the flower-women sit +perched up quaintly in their funny little pulpits, whence they hand down +great bunches of fresh dewy violets or pinky-white rosebuds, with +persuasive eloquence to the obdurate passer-by. This flower-market is one +of the sights of Marseilles, and I know no other anywhere--not even at +Nice--so picturesque or so old-world. It keeps up something of the true +Provençal flavor, and reminds one that here, in this Greek colony, we are +still in the midst of the land of roses and of Good King René, the land of +troubadours, and gold and flowers, and that it is the land of sun and +summer sunshine. + +As the Rue de Rome emerges from the town and gains the suburb, it clothes +itself in overhanging shade of plane-trees, and becomes known forthwith as +the Prado--that famous Prado, more sacred to the loves and joys of the +Marseillais than the Champs Elysées are to the born Parisian. For the +Prado is the afternoon-drive of Marseilles, the Rotten Row of local +equestrianism, the rallying-place and lounge of all that is fashionable in +the Phocæan city as the Allées de Meilhan are of all that is bourgeois or +frankly popular. Of course the Prado does not differ much from all other +promenades of its sort in France: the upper-crust of the world has grown +painfully tame and monotonous everywhere within the last twenty-five +years: all flavor and savor of national costume or national manners has +died out of it in the lump, and left us only in provincial centers the +insipid graces of London and Paris, badly imitated. Still, the Prado is +undoubtedly lively; a broad avenue bordered with magnificent villas of the +meretricious Haussmannesque order of architecture; and it possesses a +certain great advantage over every other similar promenade I know of in +the world--it ends at last in one of the most beautiful and picturesque +sea-drives in all Europe. + +This sea-drive has been christened by the Marseillais, with pardonable +pride, the Chemin de la Corniche, in humble imitation of that other great +Corniche road which winds its tortuous way by long, slow gradients over +the ramping heights of the Turbia between Nice and Mentone. And a "ledge +road" it is in good earnest, carved like a shelf out of the solid +limestone. When I first knew Marseilles there was no Corniche: the Prado, +a long flat drive through a marshy plain, ended then abruptly on the +sea-front; and the hardy pedestrian who wished to return to town by way of +the cliffs had to clamber along a doubtful and rocky path, always +difficult, often dangerous, and much obstructed by the attentions of the +prowling _douanier_, ever ready to arrest him as a suspected smuggler. +Nowadays, however, all that is changed. The French engineers--always +famous for their roads--have hewn a broad and handsome carriage-drive out +of the rugged rock, here hanging on a shelf sheer above the sea; there +supported from below by heavy buttresses of excellent masonwork; and have +given the Marseillais one of the most exquisite promenades to be found +anywhere on the seaboard of the Continent. It somewhat resembles the new +highway from Villefranche to Monte Carlo; but the islands with which the +sea is here studded recall rather Cannes or the neighborhood of Sorrento. +The seaward views are everywhere delicious; and when sunset lights up the +bare white rocks with pink and purple, no richer coloring against the +emerald green bay, can possibly be imagined in art or nature. It is as +good as Torquay; and how can cosmopolitan say better? + +On the Corniche, too, is the proper place nowadays to eat that famous old +Marseillais dish, immortalized by Thackeray, and known as _bouillabaisse_. +The Réserve de Roubion in particular prides itself on the manufacture of +this strictly national Provençal dainty, which proves, however, a little +too rich and a little too mixed in its company for the fastidious taste of +most English gourmets. Greater exclusiveness and a more delicate +eclecticism in matters of cookery please our countrymen better than such +catholic comprehensiveness. I once asked a white-capped Provençal _chef_ +what were the precise ingredients of his boasted _bouillabaisse_; and the +good man opened his palms expansively before him as he answered with a +shrug, "Que voulez-vous? Fish to start with; and then--a handful of +anything that happens to be lying about loose in the kitchen." + +Near the end of the Prado, at its junction with the Corniche, modern +Marseilles rejoices also in its park or Public Garden. Though laid out on +a flat and uninteresting plain, with none of the natural advantages of the +Bois de Boulogne or of the beautiful Central Park at New York, these +pretty grounds are nevertheless interesting to the northern visitor, who +makes his first acquaintance with the Mediterranean here, by their curious +and novel southern vegetation. The rich types of the south are everywhere +apparent. Clumps of bamboo in feathery clusters overhang the ornamental +waters; cypresses and araucarias shade the gravel walks; the eucalyptus +showers down its fluffy flowers upon the grass below; the quaint +Salisburia covers the ground in autumn with its pretty and curious +maidenhair-shaped foliage. Yuccas and cactuses flourish vigorously in the +open air, and even fan-palms manage to thrive the year round in cosy +corners. It is an introduction to the glories of Rivieran vegetation, and +a faint echo of the magnificent tones of the North African flora. + +As we wind in and out on our way back to Marseilles by the Corniche road, +with the water ever dashing white from the blue against the solid crags, +whose corners we turn at every tiny headland, the most conspicuous object +in the nearer view is the Château d'If, with the neighboring islets of +Pomègues and Ratonneau. Who knows not the Château d'If, by name at least, +has wasted his boyhood. The castle is not indeed of any great +antiquity--it was built by order of François I--nor can it lay much claim +to picturesqueness of outline or beauty of architecture; but in historical +and romantic associations it is peculiarly rich, and its situation is +bold, interesting, and striking. It was here that Mirabeau was imprisoned +under a _lettre de cachet_ obtained by his father, the friend of man; and +it was here, to pass from history to romance, that Monte-Cristo went +through those marvelous and somewhat incredible adventures which will keep +a hundred generations of school-boys in breathless suspense long after +Walter Scott is dead and forgotten. + +But though the Prado and the Corniche are alive with carriages on sunny +afternoons, it is on the quays themselves, and around the docks and +basins, that the true vivacious Marseillais life must be seen in all its +full flow and eagerness. The quick southern temperament, the bronzed +faces, the open-air existence, the hurry and bustle of a great seaport +town, display themselves there to the best advantage. And the ports of +Marseilles are many and varied: their name is legion, and their shipping +manifold. As long ago as 1850, the old square port, the Phocæan harbor, +was felt to have become wholly insufficient for the needs of modern +commerce in Marseilles. From that day to this, the accommodation for +vessels has gone on increasing with that incredible rapidity which marks +the great boom of modern times. Never, surely, since the spacious days of +great Elizabeth, has the world so rapidly widened its borders as in these +latter days in which we are all living. The Pacific and the Indian Ocean +have joined the Atlantic. In 1853 the Port de la Joliette was added, +therefore, to the Old Harbor, and people thought Marseilles had met all +the utmost demands of its growing commerce. But the Bassin du Lazaret and +the Bassin d'Arenc were added shortly after; and then, in 1856, came the +further need for yet another port, the Bassin National. In 1872 the Bassin +de la Gare Maritime was finally executed; and now the Marseillais are +crying out again that the ships know not where to turn in the harbor. +Everywhere the world seems to cosmopolitanize itself and to extend its +limits: the day of small things has passed away for ever; the day of vast +ports, huge concerns, gigantic undertakings is full upon us. + +Curiously enough, however, in spite of all this rapid and immense +development, it is still to a great extent the Greek merchants who hold in +their hands--even in our own time--the entire commerce and wealth of the +old Phocæan city. A large Hellenic colony of recent importation still +inhabits and exploits Marseilles. Among the richly-dressed crowd of +southern ladies that throngs the Prado on a sunny afternoon in full +season, no small proportion of the proudest and best equipped who loll +back in their carriages were born at Athens or in the Ionic Archipelago. +For even to this day, these modern Greeks hang together wonderfully with +old Greek persistence. Their creed keeps them apart from the Catholic +French, in whose midst they live, and trade, and thrive; for, of course, +they are all members of the "Orthodox" Church, and they retain their +orthodoxy in spite of the ocean of Latin Christianity which girds them +round with its flood on every side. The Greek community, in fact, dwells +apart, marries apart, worships apart, and thinks apart. The way the +marriages, in particular, are most frequently managed, differs to a very +curious extent from our notions of matrimonial proprieties. The system--as +duly explained to me one day under the shady plane-trees of the Allées de +Meilhan, in very choice modern Greek, by a Hellenic merchant of +Marseilles, who himself had been "arranged for" in this very manner--is +both simple and mercantile to the highest degree yet practised in any +civilized country. It is "marriage by purchase" pure and simple; only +here, instead of the husband buying the wife, it is the wife who +practically buys the husband. + +A trader or ship-owner of Marseilles, let us say, has two sons, partners +in his concern, who he desires to marry. It is important, however, that +the wives he selects for them should not clash with the orthodoxy of the +Hellenic community. Our merchant, therefore, anxious to do the best in +both worlds at once, writes to his correspondents of the great Greek +houses in Smyrna, Constantinople, Beyrout, and Alexandria; nay, perhaps +even in London, Manchester, New York, and Rio, stating his desire to +settle his sons in life, and the amount of _dot_ they would respectively +require from the ladies upon whom they decided to bestow their name and +affections. The correspondents reply by return of post, recommending to +the favorable attention of the happy swains certain Greek young ladies in +the town of their adoption, whose _dot_ and whose orthodoxy can be +equally guaranteed as beyond suspicion. Photographs and lawyers' letters +are promptly exchanged; settlements are drawn up to the mutual +satisfaction of both the high contracting parties; and when all the +business portion of the transaction has been thoroughly sifted, the young +ladies are consigned, with the figs and dates, as per bill of lading, to +the port of entry, where their lords await them, and are duly married, on +the morning of their arrival, at the Greek church in the Rue de la Grande +Armée, by the reverend archimandrite. The Greeks are an eminently +commercial people, and they find this idyllic mode of conducting a +courtship not only preserves the purity of the orthodox faith and the +Hellenic blood, but also saves an immense amount of time which might +otherwise be wasted on the composition of useless love-letters. + +It was not so, however, in the earlier Greek days. Then, the colonists of +Marseilles and its dependent towns must have intermarried freely with the +native Gaulish and Ligurian population of all the tributary Provençal +seaboard. The true antique Hellenic stock--the Aryan Achæans of the +classical period--were undoubtedly a fair, a light-haired race, with a far +more marked proportion of the blond type than now survives among their +mixed and degenerate modern descendants. In Greece proper, a large +intermixture of Albanian and Sclavonic blood, which the old Athenians +would have stigmatized as barbarian or Scythian, has darkened the +complexion and blackened the hair of a vast majority of the existing +population. But in Marseilles, curiously enough, and in the surrounding +country, the genuine old light Greek type has left its mark to this day +upon the physique of the inhabitants. In the ethnographical map of +France, prepared by two distinguished French savants, the other +Mediterranean departments are all, without exception, marked as "dark" or +"very dark," while the department of the Bouches du Rhône is marked as +"white," having, in fact, as large a proportion of fair complexions, blond +hair, and light eyes as the eastern semi-German provinces, or as Normandy +and Flanders. This curious survival of a very ancient type in spite of +subsequent deluges, must be regarded as a notable instance of the way in +which the popular stratum everywhere outlasts all changes of conquest and +dynasty, of governing class and ruling family. + +Just think, indeed, how many changes and revolutions in this respect that +fiery Marseilles has gone through since the early days of her Hellenic +independence! First came that fatal but perhaps indispensable error of +inviting the Roman aid against her Ligurian enemies, which gave the Romans +their earliest foothold in Southern Gaul. Then followed the foundation of +Aquæ Sextiæ or Aix, the first Roman colony in what was soon to be the +favorite province of the new conquerors. After that, in the great civil +war, the Greeks of Marseilles were unlucky enough to espouse the losing +cause; and, in the great day of Cæsar's triumph, their town was reduced +accordingly to the inferior position of a mere Roman dependency. Merged +for a while in the all-absorbing empire, Marseilles fell at last before +Visigoths and Burgundians in the stormy days of that vast upheaval, during +which it is impossible for even the minutest historian to follow in detail +the long list of endless conquests and re-conquests, while the wandering +tribes ebbed and flowed on one another in wild surging waves of refluent +confusion. Ostrogoth and Frank, Saracen and Christian, fought one after +another for possession of the mighty city. In the process her Greek and +Roman civilization was wholly swept away and not a trace now remains of +those glorious basilicas, temples, and arches, which must once, no doubt, +have adorned the metropolis of Grecian Gaul far more abundantly than they +still adorn mere provincial centers like Arles and Nîmes, Vienne, and +Orange. But at the end of it all, when Marseilles emerges once more into +the light of day as an integral part of the Kingdom of Provence, it still +retains its essentially Greek population, fairer and handsomer than the +surrounding dark Ligurian stock; it still boasts its clear-cut Greek +beauty of profile, its Hellenic sharpness of wit and quickness of +perception. And how interesting in this relation to note, too, that +Marseilles kept up, till a comparatively late period in the Middle Ages, +her active connection with the Byzantine Empire; and that her chief +magistrate was long nominated--in name at least, if not in actual fact--by +the shadowy representative of the Cæsars at Constantinople. + +May we not attribute to this continuous persistence of the Greek element +in the life of Marseilles something of that curious local and +self-satisfied feeling which northern Frenchmen so often deride in the +born Marseillais? With the Greeks, the sense of civic individuality and +civic separateness was always strong. Their _Polis_ was to them their +whole world--the center of everything. They were Athenians, Spartans, +Thebans first; Greeks or even Boeotians and Lacedæmonians in the second +place only. And the Marseillais bourgeois, following the traditions of his +Phocæan ancestry, is still in a certain sense the most thoroughly +provincial, the most uncentralized and anti-Parisian of modern French +citizens. He believes in Marseilles even more devoutly than the average +boulevardier believes in Paris. To him the Cannebière is the High Street +of the world, and the Cours St. Louis the hub of the universe. How pleased +with himself and all his surroundings he is, too! "At Marseilles, we do +so-and-so," is a frequent phrase which seems to him to settle off-hand all +questions of etiquette, of procedure, or of the fitness of things +generally. "Massilia locuta est; causa finita est." That anything can be +done better anywhere than it is done in the Cannebière or the Old Port is +an idea that never even so much as occurs to his smart and quick but +somewhat geographically limited intelligence. One of the best and +cleverest of Mars's clever Marseillais caricatures exhibits a good +bourgeois from the Cours Pierre Puget, in his Sunday best, abroad on his +travels along the Genoese Riviera. On the shore at San Remo, the happy, +easy-going, conceited fellow, brimming over to the eyes with the +happy-go-lucky Cockney joy of the South, sees a couple of pretty Italian +fisher-girls mending their nets, and addresses them gaily in his own soft +dialect: "Hé bien, més pitchounettes, vous êtes tellement croussetillantes +que, sans ézaggérer, bagasse! ze vous croyais de Marseille!" To take +anyone elsewhere for a born fellow-citizen was the highest compliment his +good Marseillais soul could possibly hit upon. + +Nevertheless, the Marseillais are not proud. They generously allow the +rest of the world to come and admire them. They throw their doors open to +East and West; they invite Jew and Greek alike to flow in unchecked, and +help them make their own fortunes. They know very well that if Marseilles, +as they all firmly believe, is the finest town in the round world, it is +the trade with the Levant that made and keeps it so. And they take good +care to lay themselves out for entertaining all and sundry as they come, +in the handsomest hotels in Southern Europe. The mere through passenger +traffic with India alone would serve to make Marseilles nowadays a +commercial town of the first importance. + +Marseilles, however, has had to pay a heavy price, more than once, for her +open intercourse with the Eastern world, the native home of cholera and +all other epidemics. From a very early time, the city by the Rhône has +been the favorite haunt of the Plague and like oriental visitants; and +more than one of its appalling epidemics has gained for itself a memorable +place in history. To say the truth, old Marseilles laid itself out almost +deliberately for the righteous scourge of zymotic disease. The _vieille +ville_, that trackless labyrinth of foul and noisome alleys, tortuous, +deeply worn, ill-paved, ill-ventilated, has been partly cleared away by +the works of the Rue de la République now driven through its midst; but +enough still remains of its Dædalean maze to show the adventurous +traveller who penetrates its dark and drainless dens how dirty the +strenuous Provençal can be when he bends his mind to it. There the +true-blooded Marseillais of the old rock and of the Greek profile still +lingers in his native insanitary condition; there the only scavenger is +that "broom of Provence," the swooping _mistral_--the fierce Alpine wind +which, blowing fresh down with sweeping violence from the frozen +mountains, alone can change the air and cleanse the gutters of that filthy +and malodorous mediæval city. Everywhere else the _mistral_ is a curse: in +Marseilles it is accepted with mitigated gratitude as an excellent +substitute for main drainage. + +It is not to be wondered at that, under such conditions, Marseilles was +periodically devastated by terrible epidemics. Communications with +Constantinople, Alexandria, and the Levant were always frequent; +communications with Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco were far from uncommon. +And if the germs of disease were imported from without, they found at +Marseilles an appropriate nest provided beforehand for their due +development. Time after time the city was ravaged by plague or pestilence; +the most memorable occasion being the great epidemic of 1720, when, +according to local statistics (too high, undoubtedly), as many as forty +thousand persons died in the streets, "like lambs on the hill-tops." +Never, even in the East itself, the native home of the plague, says Méry, +the Marseilles poet-romancer, was so sad a picture of devastation seen as +in the doomed streets of that wealthy city. The pestilence came, according +to public belief, in a cargo of wool in May, 1720: it raged till, by +September, the tale of dead per diem had reached the appalling number of a +thousand. + +So awful a public calamity was not without the usual effect in bringing +forth counterbalancing examples of distinguished public service and noble +self-denial. Chief among them shines forth the name of the Chevalier Rose, +who, aided by a couple of hundred condemned convicts, carried forth to +burial in the ditches of La Tourette no less than two thousand dead bodies +which infected the streets with their deadly contagion. There, quicklime +was thrown over the horrible festering mass, in a spot still remembered as +the "Graves of the Plague-stricken." But posterity has chosen most +especially to select for the honors of the occasion Monseigneur +Belzunce--"Marseilles' good bishop," as Pope calls him, who returned in +the hour of danger to his stricken flock from the salons of Versailles, +and by offering the last consolations of religion to the sick and dying, +aided somewhat in checking the orgy of despair and of panic-stricken +callousness which reigned everywhere throughout the doomed city. The +picture is indeed a striking and romantic one. On a high altar raised in +the Cours which now bears his name, the brave bishop celebrated Mass one +day before the eyes of all his people, doing penance to heaven in the name +of his flock, his feet bare, a rope round his neck, and a flaming torch +held high in his hand, for the expiation of the sins that had brought such +punishment. His fervent intercession, the faithful believed, was at last +effectual. In May, 1721, the plague disappeared; but it left Marseilles +almost depopulated. The bishop's statue in bronze, by Ramus, on the Cours +Belzunce, now marks the site of this strange and unparalleled religious +service. + +From the Belzunce Monument, the Rue Tapis Vert and the Allées des Capucins +lead us direct by a short cut to the Boulevard Longchamp, which terminates +after the true modern Parisian fashion, with a vista of the great +fountains and the Palais des Arts, a bizarre and original but not in its +way unpleasing specimen of recent French architecture. It is meretricious, +of course--that goes without the saying: what else can one expect from the +France of the Second Empire? But it is distinctly, what the children call +"grand," and if once you can put yourself upon its peculiar level, it is +not without a certain queer rococo beauty of its own. As for the Château +d'Eau, its warmest admirer could hardly deny that it is painfully +_baroque_ in design and execution. Tigers, panthers, and lions decorate +the approach; an allegorical figure representing the Durance, accompanied +by the geniuses of the Vine and of Corn, holds the seat of honor in the +midst of the waterspouts. To right and left a triton blows his shelly +trumpet; griffins and fauns crown the summit; and triumphal arches flank +the sides. A marvelous work indeed, of the Versailles type, better fitted +to the ideas of the eighteenth century than to those of the age in which +we live at present. + +The Palais des Arts, one wing of this monument, encloses the usual French +provincial picture-gallery, with the stereotyped Rubens, and the +regulation Caraccio. It has its Raffael, its Giulio Romano, and its Andrea +del Sarto. It even diverges, not without success, into the paths of Dutch +and Flemish painting. But it is specially rich, of course, in Provençal +works, and its Pugets in particular are both numerous and striking. There +is a good Murillo and a square-faced Holbein, and many yards of modern +French battles and nudities, alternating for the most part from the +sensuous to the sanguinary. But the gem of the collection is a most +characteristic and interesting Perugino, as beautiful as anything from the +master's hand to be found in the galleries of Florence. Altogether, the +interior makes one forgive the façade and the Château d'Eau. One good +Perugino covers, like charity, a multitude of sins of the Marseillais +architects. + +Strange to say, old as Marseilles is, it contains to-day hardly any +buildings of remote antiquity. One would be tempted to suppose beforehand +that a town with so ancient and so continuous a history would teem with +Græco-Roman and mediæval remains. As Phocæan colony, imperial town, +mediæval republic, or Provençal city, it has so long been great, famous, +and prosperous that one might not unnaturally expect in its streets to +meet with endless memorials of its early grandeur. Nothing could be +farther from the actual fact. While Nîmes, a mere second-rate provincial +municipality, and Arles, a local Roman capital, have preserved rich +mementoes of the imperial days--temples, arches, aqueducts, +amphitheaters--Marseilles, their mother city, so much older, so much +richer, so much greater, so much more famous, has not a single Roman +building; scarcely even a second-rate mediæval chapel. Its ancient +cathedral has been long since pulled down; of its oldest church but a +spire now remains, built into a vulgar modern pseudo-Gothic Calvary. St. +Victor alone, near the Fort St. Nicolas, is the one really fine piece of +mediæval architecture still left in the town after so many ages. + +St. Victor itself remains to us now as the last relic of a very ancient +and important monastery, founded by St. Cassian in the fifth century, and +destroyed by the Saracens--those incessant scourges of the Provençal +coast--during one of their frequent plundering incursions. In 1040 it was +rebuilt, only to be once more razed to the ground, till, in 1350, Pope +Urban V., who himself had been abbot of this very monastery restored it +from the base, with those high, square towers, which now, in their worn +and battered solidity, give it rather the air of a castellated fortress +than of a Christian temple. Doubtless the strong-handed Pope, warned by +experience, intended his church to stand a siege, if necessary, on the +next visit to Marseilles of the Paynim enemy. The interior, too, is not +unworthy of notice. It contains the catacombs where, according to the +naïve Provençal faith, Lazarus passed the last days of his second life; +and it boasts an antique black image of the Virgin, attributed by a +veracious local legend to the skilful fingers of St. Luke the Evangelist. +Modern criticism ruthlessly relegates the work to a nameless but +considerably later Byzantine sculptor. + +By far the most interesting ecclesiastical edifice in Marseilles, however, +even in its present charred and shattered condition, is the ancient +pilgrimage chapel of Notre Dame de la Garde, the antique High Place of +primitive Phoenician and Ligurian worship. How long a shrine for some +local cult has existed on the spot it would be hard to say, but, at least, +we may put it at two dozen centuries. All along the Mediterranean coast, +in fact, one feels oneself everywhere thus closely in almost continuous +contact with the earliest religious beliefs of the people. The paths that +lead to these very antique sacred sites, crowning the wind-swept hills +that overlook the valley, are uniformly worn deep by naked footsteps into +the solid rock--a living record of countless generations of fervent +worshipers. Christianity itself is not nearly old enough to account for +all those profoundly-cut steps in the schistose slate or hard white +limestone of the Provençal hills. The sanctity of the High Places is more +ancient by far than Saint or Madonna. Before ever a Christian chapel +crested these heights they were crested by forgotten Pagan temples; and +before the days of Aphrodite or Pallas, in turn, they were crested by the +shrines of some long since dead-and-buried Gaulish or Ligurian goddess. +Religions change, creeds disappear, but sacred sites remain as holy as +ever; and here where priests now chant their loud hymns before the high +altar, some nameless bloody rites took place, we may be sure, long ages +since, before the lonely shrine of some Celtic Hesus or some hideous and +deformed Phoenician Moloch. + +It is a steep climb even now from the Old Port or the Anse des Catalans to +the Colline Notre Dame; several different paths ascend to the summit, all +alike of remote antiquity, and all ending at last in fatiguing steps. +Along the main road, hemmed in on either side by poor southern hovels, +wondrous old witches of true Provençal ugliness drive a brisk trade in +rosaries, and chaplets, and blessed medals. These wares are for the +pilgrim; but to suit all tastes, the same itinerant chapwomen offer to the +more worldly-minded tourist of the Cookian type appropriate gewgaws, in +the shape of photographs, images, and cheap trinkets. At the summit stand +the charred and blackened ruins of Notre Dame de la Garde. Of late years, +indeed, that immemorial shrine has fallen on evil times and evil days in +many matters. To begin with, the needs of modern defence compelled the +Government some years since to erect on the height a fort, which encloses +in its midst the ancient chapel. Even military necessities, however, had +to yield in part to the persistent religious sentiment of the community; +and though fortifications girt it round on every side, the sacred site of +Our Lady remained unpolluted in the center of the great defensive works of +the fortress. Passing through the gates of those massive bastions a +strongly-guarded path still guided the faithful sailor-folk of Marseilles +to the revered shrine of their ancestral Madonna. Nay, more; the antique +chapel of the thirteenth century was superseded by a gorgeous Byzantine +building, from designs by Espérandieu, all glittering with gold, and +precious stones, and jewels. On the topmost belfry stood a gigantic gilded +statue of Our Lady. Dome and apse were of cunning workmanship--white +Carrara marble and African _rosso antico_ draped the interior with +parti-colored splendor. Corsican granite and Esterel porphyry supported +the massive beams of the transepts; frescoes covered every inch of the +walls: the pavement was mosaic, the high altar was inlaid with costly +Florentine stonework. Every Marseilles fisherman rejoiced in heart that +though the men of battle had usurped the sanctuary, their Madonna was now +housed by the sons of the Faithful in even greater magnificence and glory +than ever. + +But in 1884 a fire broke out in the shrine itself, which wrecked almost +irreparably the sumptuous edifice. The statue of the Virgin still crowns +the façade, to be sure, and the chapel still shows up bravely from a +modest distance; but within, all the glory has faded away, and the +interior of the church is no longer accessible. Nevertheless, the visitor +who stands upon the platform in front of the doorway and gazes down upon +the splendid panoramic view that stretches before him in the vale beneath, +will hardly complain of having had his stiff pull uphill for nothing. +Except the view of Montreal and the St. Lawrence River from Mont Royal +Mountain, I hardly know a town view in the world to equal that from Notre +Dame de la Garde, for beauty and variety, on a clear spring morning. + +Close at our feet lies the city itself, filling up the whole wide valley +with its mass, and spreading out long arms of faubourg, or roadway, up the +lateral openings. Beyond rise the great white limestone hills, dotted +about like mushrooms, with their glittering _bastides_. In front lies the +sea--the blue Mediterranean--with that treacherous smile which has so +often deceived us all the day before we trusted ourselves too rashly, with +ill-deserved confidence, upon its heaving bosom. Near the shore the waves +chafe the islets and the Château d'If; then come the Old Port and the busy +bassins; and, beyond them all, the Chain of Estaques, rising grim and gray +in serrated outline against the western horizon. A beautiful prospect +though barren and treeless, for nowhere in the world are mountains barer +than those great white guardians of the Provençal seaboard. + +The fortress that overhangs the Old Port at our feet itself deserves a few +passing words of polite notice; for it is the Fort St. Nicolas, the one +link in his great despotic chain by which Louis Quatorze bound +recalcitrant Marseilles to the throne of the Tuileries. The town--like all +great commercial towns--had always clung hard to its ancient liberties. +Ever rebellious when kings oppressed, it was a stronghold of the Fronde; +and when Louis at last made his entry perforce into the malcontent city, +it was through a breach he had effected in the heavy ramparts. The king +stood upon this commanding spot, just above the harbor, and, gazing +landward, asked the citizens round him how men called those little square +boxes which he saw dotted about over the sunlit hillsides. "We call them +_bastides_, sire," answered a courtly Marseillais. "Every citizen of our +town has one." "Moi aussi, je veux avoir ma bastide à Marseille," cried +the theatrical monarch, and straightway gave orders for building the Fort +St. Nicolas: so runs the tale that passes for history. But as the fort +stands in the very best possible position, commanding the port, and could +only have been arranged for after consultation with the engineers of the +period--it was Vauban who planned it--I fear we must set down Louis's _bon +mot_ as one of those royal epigrams which has been carefully prepared and +led up to beforehand. + +In every town, however, it is a favorite theory of mine that the best of +all sights is the town itself: and nowhere on earth is this truism truer +than here at Marseilles. After one has climbed Notre Dame, and explored +the Prado and smiled at the Château d'Eau and stood beneath the frowning +towers of St. Victor, one returns once more with real pleasure and +interest to the crowded Cannebière and sees the full tide of human life +flow eagerly on down that picturesque boulevard. That, after all, is the +main picture that Marseilles always leaves photographed on the visitor's +memory. How eager, how keen, how vivacious is the talk; how fiery the +eyes; how emphatic the gesture! With what teeming energy, with what +feverish haste, the great city pours forth its hurrying thousands! With +what endless spirit they move up and down in endless march upon its +clattering pavements! _Circulez, messieurs, circulez_: and they do just +circulate! From the Quai de la Fraternité to the Allées de Meilhan, what +mirth and merriment, what life and movement! In every _café_, what warm +southern faces! At every shop-door, what quick-witted, sharp-tongued, +bartering humanity! I have many times stopped at Marseilles, on my way +hither and thither round this terraqueous globe, farther south or east; +but I never stop there without feeling once more the charm and interest of +its strenuous personality. There is something of Greek quickness and Greek +intelligence left even now about the old Phocæan colony. A Marseillais +crowd has to this very day something of the sharp Hellenic wit; and I +believe the rollicking humor of Aristophanes would be more readily seized +by the public of the Alcazar than by any other popular audience in modern +Europe. + +"Bon chien chasse de race," and every Marseillais is a born Greek and a +born littérateur. Is it not partly to this old Greek blood, then, that we +may set down the long list of distinguished men who have drawn their first +breath in the Phocæan city? From the days of the Troubadours, Raymond des +Tours and Barral des Baux, Folquet, and Rostang, and De Salles, and +Bérenger, through the days of D'Urfé, and Mascaron, and Barbaroux, and De +Pastoret, to the days of Méry, and Barthélemy, and Taxile Delord, and +Joseph Autran, Marseilles has always been rich in talent. It is enough to +say that her list of great men begins with Petronius Arbiter, and ends +with Thiers, to show how long and diversely she has been represented in +her foremost citizens. Surely, then, it is not mere fancy to suppose that +in all this the true Hellenic blood has counted for something! Surely it +is not too much to believe that with the Greek profile and the Greek +complexion the inhabitants have still preserved to this day some modest +measure of the quick Greek intellect, the bright Greek fancy, and the +plastic and artistic Greek creative faculty! I love to think it, for +Marseilles is dear to me; especially when I land there after a sound +sea-tossing. + +Unlike many of the old Mediterranean towns, too, Marseilles has not only a +past but also a future. She lives and will live. In the middle of the past +century, indeed, it might almost have seemed to a careless observer as if +the Mediterranean were "played out." And so in part, no doubt, it really +is; the tracks of commerce and of international intercourse have shifted +to wider seas and vaster waterways. We shall never again find that inland +basin ringed round by a girdle of the great merchant cities that do the +carrying trade and finance of the world. Our area has widened, so that New +York, Rio, San Francisco, Yokohama, Shanghai, Calcutta, Bombay, and +Melbourne have taken the place of Syracuse, Alexandria, Tyre, and +Carthage, of Florence, Genoa, Venice, and Constantinople. But in spite of +this cramping change, this degradation of the Mediterranean from the +center of the world into a mere auxiliary or side-avenue of the Atlantic, +a certain number of Mediterranean ports have lived on uninterruptedly by +force of position from one epoch into the other. Venice has had its faint +revival of recent years; Trieste has had its rise; Barcelona, Algiers, +Smyrna, Odessa, have grown into great harbors for cosmopolitan traffic. Of +this new and rejuvenescent Mediterranean, girt round by the fresh young +nationalities of Italy and the Orient, and itself no longer an inland sea, +but linked by the Suez Canal with the Indian Ocean and so turned into the +main highway of the nations between East and West, Marseilles is still the +key and the capital. That proud position the Phocæan city is not likely to +lose. And as the world is wider now than ever, the new Marseilles is +perforce a greater and a wealthier town than even the old one in its +proudest days. Where tribute came once from the North African, Levantine, +and Italian coasts alone, it comes now from every shore of Europe, Asia, +Africa, and America, with Australia and the Pacific Isles thrown in as an +afterthought. Regions Cæsar never knew enrich the good Greeks of the Quai +de la Fraternité: brown, black, and yellow men whom his legions never saw +send tea and silk, cotton, corn, and tobacco to the crowded warehouses of +the Cannebière and the Rue de la République. + + + + +VI + +NICE + + The Queen of the Riviera--The Port of Limpia--Castle Hill--Promenade + des Anglais--The Carnival and Battle of Flowers--Place Masséna, the + center of business--Beauty of the suburbs--The road to Monte + Carlo--The quaintly picturesque town of Villefranche--Aspects of Nice + and its environs. + + +Who loves not Nice, knows it not. Who knows it, loves it. I admit it is +windy, dusty, gusty. I allow it is meretricious, fashionable, vulgar. I +grant its Carnival is a noisy orgy, its Promenade a meeting place for all +the wealthiest idlers of Europe or America, and its clubs more desperate +than Monte Carlo itself in their excessive devotion to games of hazard. +And yet, with all its faults, I love it still. Yes, deliberately love it; +for nothing that man has done or may ever do to mar its native beauty can +possibly deface that beauty itself as God made it. Nay, more, just because +it is Nice, we can readily pardon it these obvious faults and minor +blemishes. The Queen of the Riviera, with all her coquettish little airs +and graces, pleases none the less, like some proud and haughty girl in +court costume, partly by reason of that very finery of silks and feathers +which we half-heartedly deprecate. If she were not herself, she would be +other than she is. Nice is Nice, and that is enough for us. + +Was ever town more graciously set, indeed, in more gracious surroundings? +Was ever pearl girt round with purer emeralds? On every side a vast +semicircle of mountains hems it in, among which the bald and naked summit +of the Mont Cau d'Aspremont towers highest and most conspicuous above its +darkling compeers. In front the blue Mediterranean, that treacherous +Mediterranean all guile and loveliness, smiles with myriad dimples to the +clear-cut horizon. Eastward, the rocky promontories of the Mont Boron and +the Cap Ferrat jut boldly out into the sea with their fringe of white +dashing breakers. Westward, the longer and lower spit of the point of +Antibes bounds the distant view, with the famous pilgrimage chapel of +Notre Dame de la Garoupe just dimly visible on its highest knoll against +the serrated ridge of the glorious Esterel in the background. In the midst +of all nestles Nice itself, the central gem in that coronet of mountains. +There are warmer and more sheltered nooks on the Riviera, I will allow: +there can be none more beautiful. Mentone may surpass it in the charm of +its mountain paths and innumerable excursions; Cannes in the rich variety +of its nearer walks and drives; but for mingled glories of land and sea, +art and nature, antiquity and novelty, picturesqueness and magnificence, +Nice still stands without a single rival on all that enchanted coast that +stretches its long array of cities and bays between Marseilles and Genoa. +There are those, I know, who run down Nice as commonplace and vulgarized. +But then they can never have strayed one inch, I feel sure, from the +palm-shaded _trottoir_ of the Promenade des Anglais. If you want Italian +mediævalism, go to the Old Town; if you want quaint marine life, go to the +good Greek port of Limpia; if you want a grand view of sea and land and +snow mountains in the distance, go to the Castle Hill; if you want the +most magnificent panorama in the whole of Europe, go to the summit of the +Corniche Road. No, no; these brawlers disturb our pure worship. We have +only one Nice, let us make the most of it. + +It is so easy to acquire a character for superiority by affecting to +criticize what others admire. It is so easy to pronounce a place vulgar +and uninteresting by taking care to see only the most vulgar and +uninteresting parts of it. But the old Rivieran who knows his Nice well, +and loves it dearly, is troubled rather by the opposite difficulty. Where +there is so much to look at and so much to describe, where to begin? what +to omit? how much to glide over? how much to insist upon? Language fails +him to give a conception of this complex and polychromatic city in a few +short pages to anyone who knows it by name alone as the cosmopolitan +winter capital of fashionable seekers after health and pleasure. It is +that, indeed, but it is so much more that one can never tell it. + +For there are at least three distinct Nices, Greek, Italian, French; each +of them beautiful in its own way, and each of them interesting for its own +special features. To the extreme east, huddled in between the Mont Boron +and the Castle Hill, lies the seafaring Greek town, the most primitive and +original Nice of all; the home of the fisher-folk and the petty coasting +sailors; the Nicæa of the old undaunted Phocæan colonists; the Nizza di +Mare of modern Italians; the mediæval city; the birthplace of Garibaldi. +Divided from this earliest Nice by the scarped rock on whose summit stood +the château of the Middle Ages, the eighteenth century Italian town (the +Old Town as tourists nowadays usually call it, the central town of the +three) occupies the space between the Castle Hill and the half dry bed of +the Paillon torrent. Finally, west of the Paillon, again, the modern +fashionable pleasure resort extends its long line of villas, hotels, and +palaces in front of the sea to the little stream of the Magnan on the road +to Cannes, and stretches back in endless boulevards and avenues and +gardens to the smiling heights of Cimiez and Carabacel. Every one of these +three towns, "in three different ages born," has its own special history +and its own points of interest. Every one of them teems with natural +beauty, with picturesque elements, and with varieties of life, hard indeed +to discover elsewhere. + +The usual guide-book way to attack Nice is, of course, the topsy-turvey +one, to begin at the Haussmannised white façades of the Promenade des +Anglais and work backwards gradually through the Old Town to the Port of +Limpia and the original nucleus that surrounds its quays. I will venture, +however, to disregard this time-honored but grossly unhistorical practice, +and allow the reader and myself, for once in our lives, to "begin at the +beginning." The Port of Limpia, then, is, of course, the natural starting +point and prime original of the very oldest Nice. Hither, in the fifth +century before the Christian era, the bold Phocæan settlers of Marseilles +sent out a little colony, which landed in the tiny land-locked harbor and +called the spot Nicæa (that is to say, the town of victory) in gratitude +for their success against its rude Ligurian owners. For twenty-two +centuries it has retained that name almost unchanged, now perhaps, the +only memento still remaining of its Greek origin. During its flourishing +days as a Hellenic city Nicæa ranked among the chief commercial entrepôts +of the Ligurian coast; but when "the Province" fell at last into the +hands of the Romans, and the dictator Cæsar favored rather the pretensions +of Cemenelum or Cimiez on the hill-top in the rear, the town that +clustered round the harbor of Limpia became for a time merely the port of +its more successful inland rival. Cimiez still possesses its fine ruined +Roman amphitheater and baths, besides relics of temples and some other +remains of the imperial period; but the "Quartier du Port," the ancient +town of Nice itself, is almost destitute of any architectural signs of its +antique greatness. + +Nevertheless, the quaint little seafaring village that clusters round the +harbor, entirely cut off as it is by the ramping crags of the Castle Hill +from its later representative, the Italianized Nice of the last century, +may fairly claim to be the true Nice of history, the only spot that bore +that name till the days of the Bourbons. Its annals are far too long and +far too eventful to be narrated here in full. Goths, Burgundians, +Lombards, and Franks disputed for it in turn, as the border fortress +between Gaul and Italy; and that familiar round white bastion on the +eastern face of the Castle Hill, now known to visitors as the Tour +Bellanda, and included (such is fate!) as a modern belvedere in the +grounds of the comfortable Pension Suisse, was originally erected in the +fifth century after Christ to protect the town from the attacks of these +insatiable invaders. But Nice had its consolations, too, in these evil +days, for when the Lombards at last reduced the hill fortress of Cimiez, +the Roman town, its survivors took refuge from their conquerors in the +city by the port, which thus became once more, by the fall of its rival, +unquestioned mistress of the surrounding littoral. + +The after story of Nice is confused and confusing. Now a vassal of the +Frankish kings; now again a member of the Genoese league; now engaged in a +desperate conflict with the piratical Saracens; and now constituted into a +little independent republic on the Italian model; Nizza struggled on +against an adverse fate as a fighting-ground of the races, till it fell +finally into the hands of the Counts of Savoy, to whom it owes whatever +little still remains of the mediæval castle. Continually changing hands +between France and the kingdom of Sardinia in later days, it was +ultimately made over to Napoleon III. by the Treaty of Villafranca, and is +now completely and entirely Gallicized. The native dialect, however, +remains even to the present day an intermediate form between Provençal and +Italian, and is freely spoken (with more force than elegance) in the Old +Town and around the enlarged modern basins of the Port of Limpia. Indeed, +for frankness of expression and perfect absence of any false delicacy, the +ladies of the real old Greek Nice surpass even their London compeers at +Billingsgate. + +One of the most beautiful and unique features of Nice at the present day +is the Castle Hill a mass of solid rearing rock, not unlike its namesake +at Edinburgh in position, intervening between the Port and the eighteenth +century town, to which latter I will in future allude as the Italian city. +It is a wonderful place, that Castle Hill--wonderful alike by nature, art, +and history, and I fear I must also add at the same time "uglification." +In earlier days it bore on its summit or slopes the _château fort_ of the +Counts of Provence with the old cathedral and archbishop's palace (now +wholly destroyed), and the famous deep well, long ranked among the wonders +of the world in the way of engineering. But military necessity knows no +law; the cathedral gave place in the fifteenth century to the bastions of +the Duke of Savoy's new-fangled castle; the castle itself in turn was +mainly battered down in 1706 by the Duke of Berwick; and of all its +antiquities none now remain save the Tour Bellanda, in its degraded +condition of belvedere, and the scanty ground-plan of the mediæval +buildings. + +Nevertheless, the Castle Hill is still one of the loveliest and greenest +spots in Nice. A good carriage road ascends it to the top by leafy +gradients, and leads to an open platform on the summit, now converted into +charming gardens, rich with palms and aloes and cactuses and bright +southern flowers. On one side, alas! a painfully artificial cataract, fed +from the overflow of the waterworks, falls in stiff cascades among +hand-built rockwork; but even that impertinent addition to the handicraft +of nature can hardly offend the visitor for long among such glorious +surroundings. For the view from the summit is one of the grandest in all +France. The eye ranges right and left over a mingled panorama of sea and +mountains, scarcely to be equaled anywhere round the lovely Mediterranean, +save on the Ligurian coast and the neighborhood of Sorrento. Southward +lies the blue expanse of water itself, bounded only in very clear and +cloudless weather by the distant peaks of Corsica on the doubtful horizon. +Westward, the coast-line includes the promontory of Antibes, basking low +on the sea, the Iles Lérins near Cannes, the mouth of the Var, and the +dim-jagged ridge of the purple Esterel. Eastward, the bluff headland of +the Mont Boron, grim and brown, blocks the view towards Italy. Close below +the spectator's feet the three distinct towns of Nice gather round the +Port and the two banks of the Paillon, spreading their garden suburbs, +draped in roses and lemon groves, high up the spurs of the neighboring +mountains. But northward a tumultuous sea of Alps rises billow-like to the +sky, the nearer peaks frowning bare and rocky, while the more distant +domes gleam white with virgin snow. It is a sight, once seen, never to be +forgotten. One glances around entranced, and murmurs to oneself slowly, +"It is good to be here." Below, the carriages are rolling like black +specks along the crowded Promenade, and the band is playing gaily in the +Public Garden; but up there you look across to the eternal hills, and feel +yourself face to face for one moment with the Eternities behind them. + +One may descend from the summit either by the ancient cemetery or by the +Place Garibaldi, through bosky gardens of date-palm, fan-palm, and agave. +Cool winding alleys now replace the demolished ramparts, and lovely views +open out on every side as we proceed over the immediate foreground. + +At the foot of the Castle Hill, a modern road, hewn in the solid rock +round the base of the seaward escarpment, connects the Greek with the +Italian town. The angle where it turns the corner, bears on native lips +the quaint Provençal or rather Niçois name of Raüba Capeu or Rob-hat +Point, from the common occurrence of sudden gusts of wind, which remove +the unsuspecting Parisian headgear with effective rapidity, to the great +joy of the observant _gamins_. Indeed, windiness is altogether the weak +point of Nice, viewed as a health-resort; the town lies exposed in the +open valley of the Paillon, down whose baking bed the _mistral_, that +scourge of Provence, sweeps with violent force from the cold mountain-tops +in the rear; and so it cannot for a moment compete in point of climate +with Cannes, Monte Carlo, Mentone or San Remo, backed up close behind by +their guardian barrier of sheltering hills. But not even the _mistral_ can +make those who love Nice love her one atom the less. Her virtues are so +many that a little wholesome bluster once in a while may surely be +forgiven her. And yet the dust does certainly rise in clouds at times from +the Promenade des Anglais. + +The Italian city, which succeeds next in order, is picturesque and +old-fashioned, but is being daily transformed and Gallicized out of all +knowledge by its modern French masters. It dates back mainly to the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the population became too dense +for the narrow limits of the small Greek town, and began to overflow, +behind the Castle Hill, on to the eastern banks of the Paillon torrent. +The sea-front in this quarter, now known as the Promenade du Midi, has +been modernized into a mere eastward prolongation of the Promenade des +Anglais, of which "more anon;" but the remainder of the little triangular +space between the Castle Hill and the river-bed still consists of funny +narrow Italian lanes, dark, dense, and dingy, from whose midst rises the +odd and tile-covered dome of the cathedral of St. Réparate. That was the +whole of Nice as it lived and moved till the beginning of this century; +the real Nice of to-day, the Nice of the tourist, the invalid, and the +fashionable world, the Nice that we all visit or talk about, is a purely +modern accretion of some half-dozen decades. + +This wonderful modern town, with its stately sea-front, its noble quays, +its dainty white villas, its magnificent hotels, and its Casino, owes its +existence entirely to the vogue which the coast has acquired in our own +times as a health-resort for consumptives. As long ago as Smollett's time, +the author of "Roderick Random" remarks complacently that an +acquaintance, "understanding I intended to winter in the South of France, +strongly recommended the climate of Nice in Provence, which indeed I had +often heard extolled," as well he might have done. But in those days +visitors had to live in the narrow and dirty streets of the Italian town, +whose picturesqueness itself can hardly atone for their unwholesome air +and their unsavory odors. It was not till the hard winters of 1822-23-24 +that a few kind-hearted English residents, anxious to find work for the +starving poor, began the construction of a sea-road beyond the Paillon, +which still bears the name of the Promenade des Anglais. Nice may well +commemorate their deed to this day, for to them she owes as a +watering-place her very existence. + +[Illustration] + +The western suburb, thus pushed beyond the bed of the boundary torrent, +has gradually grown in wealth and prosperity till it now represents the +actual living Nice of the tourist and the winter resident. But how to +describe that gay and beautiful city; that vast agglomeration of villas, +_pensions_, hotels, and clubs; that endless array of sun-worshipers +gathered together to this temple of the sun from all the four quarters of +the habitable globe? The sea-front consists of the Promenade des Anglais +itself, which stretches in an unbroken line of white and glittering +houses, most of them tasteless, but all splendid and all opulent, from the +old bank of the Paillon to its sister torrent, the Magnan, some two miles +away. On one side the villas front the shore with their fantastic façades; +on the other side a walk, overshadowed with date-palms and +purple-flowering judas-trees, lines the steep shingle beach of the +tideless sea. + +There is one marked peculiarity of the Promenade des Anglais, however, +which at once distinguishes it from any similar group of private houses +to be found anywhere in England. There the British love of privacy, which +has, of course, its good points, but has also its compensating +disadvantages, leads almost every owner of beautiful grounds or gardens to +enclose them with a high fence or with the hideous monstrosity known to +suburban Londoners as "park paling." This plan, while it ensures complete +seclusion for the fortunate few within, shuts out the deserving many +outside from all participation in the beauty of the grounds or the natural +scenery. On the Promenade des Anglais, on the contrary, a certain generous +spirit of emulation in contributing to the public enjoyment and the +general effectiveness of the scene as a whole has prompted the owners of +the villas along the sea-front to enclose their gardens only with low +ornamental balustrades or with a slight and unobtrusive iron fence, so +that the passers-by can see freely into every one of them, and feast their +eyes on the beautiful shrubs and flowers. The houses and grounds thus form +a long line of delightful though undoubtedly garish and ornate +decorations, in full face of the sea. The same plan has been adopted in +the noble residential street known as Euclid Avenue at Cleveland, Ohio, +and in many other American cities. It is to be regretted that English +tastes and habits do not oftener thus permit their wealthier classes to +contribute, at no expense or trouble to themselves, to the general +pleasure of less fortunate humanity. + +The Promenade is, of course, during the season the focus and center of +fashionable life at Nice. Here carriages roll, and amazons ride and +flâneurs lounge in the warm sunshine during the livelong afternoon. In +front are the baths, bathing being practicable at Nice from the beginning +of March; behind are the endless hotels and clubs of this city of +strangers. For the English are not alone on the Promenade des Anglais; the +American tongue is heard there quite as often as the British dialect, +while Germans, Russians, Poles, and Austrians cluster thick upon the shady +seats beneath the planes and carob-trees. During the Carnival especially +Nice resolves itself into one long orgy of frivolous amusement. Battles of +flowers, battles of _confetti_, open-air masquerades, and universal +tom-foolery pervade the place. Everybody vies with everybody else in +making himself ridiculous; and even the staid Briton, released from the +restraints of home or the City, abandons himself contentedly for a week at +a time to a sort of prolonged and glorified sunny southern Derby Day. Mr. +Bultitude disguises himself as a French clown; Mr. Dombey, in domino, +flings roses at his friends on the seats of the tribune. Everywhere is +laughter, noise, bustle, and turmoil; everywhere the manifold forms of +antique saturnalian freedom, decked out with gay flowers or travestied in +quaint clothing, but imported most incongruously for a week in the year +into the midst of our modern work-a-day twentieth-century Europe. + +Only a comparatively few winters ago fashionable Nice consisted almost +entirely of the Promenade des Anglais, with a few slight tags and +appendages in either direction. At its eastern end stood (and still +stands) the Jardin Public, that paradise of children and of be-ribboned +French nursemaids, where the band discourses lively music every afternoon +at four, and all the world sits round on two-sou chairs to let all the +rest of the world see for itself it is still in evidence. These, and the +stately quays along the Paillon bank, lined with shops where female human +nature can buy all the tastiest and most expensive gewgaws in Europe, +constituted the real Nice of the early eighties. But with the rapid +growth of that general taste for more sumptuous architecture which marks +our age, the Phocæan city woke up a few years since with electric energy +to find itself in danger of being left behind by its younger competitors. +So the Niçois conscript fathers put their wise heads together, in conclave +assembled, and resolved on a general transmogrification of the center of +their town. By continuously bridging and vaulting across the almost dry +bed of the Paillon torrent they obtained a broad and central site for a +new large garden, which now forms the natural focus of the transformed +city. On the upper end of this important site they erected a large and +handsome casino in the gorgeous style of the Third Republic, all glorious +without and within, as the modern Frenchman understands such glory, and +provided with a theater, a winter garden, restaurants, cafés, ball-rooms, +_petits chevaux_, and all the other most pressing requirements of an +advanced civilization. But in doing this they sacrificed by the way the +beautiful view towards the mountains behind, which can now only be +obtained from the Square Masséna or the Pont Vieux farther up the river. +Most visitors to Nice, however, care little for views, and a great deal +for the fitful and fearsome joys embodied to their minds in the outward +and visible form of a casino. + +This wholesale bridging over of the lower end of the Paillon has united +the French and Italian towns and abolished the well-marked boundary line +which once cut them off so conspicuously from one another. The inevitable +result has been that the Italian town too has undergone a considerable +modernization along the sea-front, so that the Promenade des Anglais and +the Promenade du Midi now practically merge into one continuous parade, +and are lined along all their length with the same clipped palm-trees and +the same magnificent white palatial buildings. When the old theater in the +Italian town was burnt down in the famous and fatal conflagration some +years since the municipality erected a new one on the same site in the +most approved style of Parisian luxury. A little behind lie the Préfecture +and the beautiful flower market, which no visitor to Nice should ever +miss; for Nice is above all things, even more than Florence, a city of +flowers. The sheltered quarter of the Ponchettes, lying close under the +lee of the Castle Hill, has become of late, owing to these changes, a +favorite resort for invalids, who find here protection from the cutting +winds which sweep with full force down the bare and open valley of the +Paillon over the French town. + +I am loth to quit that beloved sea-front, on the whole the most charming +marine parade in Europe, with the Villefranche point and the +pseudo-Gothic, pseudo-Oriental monstrosity of Smith's Folly on one side +and the delicious bay towards Antibes on the other. But there are yet +various aspects of Nice which remain to be described: the interior is +almost as lovely in its way as the coast that fringes it. For this inner +Nice, the Place Masséna, called (like the Place Garibaldi) after another +distinguished native, forms the starting point and center. Here the trams +from all quarters run together at last; hence the principal roads radiate +in all directions. The Place Masséna is the center of business, as the +Jardin Public and the Casino are the centers of pleasure. Also (_verbum +sap._) it contains an excellent _pâtisserie_, where you can enjoy an ice +or a little French pastry with less permanent harm to your constitution +and morals than anywhere in Europe. Moreover, it forms the approach to +the Avenue de la Gare, which divides with the Quays the honor of being the +best shopping street in the most fashionable watering-place of the +Mediterranean. If these delights thy soul may move, why, the Place Masséna +is the exact spot to find them in. + +Other great boulevards, like the Boulevard Victor Hugo and the Boulevard +Dubouchage, have been opened out of late years to let the surplus wealth +that flows into Nice in one constant stream find room to build upon. +Châteaux and gardens are springing up merrily on every side; the slopes of +the hills gleam gay with villas; Cimiez and Carabacel, once separate +villages, have now been united by continuous dwellings to the main town; +and before long the city where Garibaldi was born and where Gambetta lies +buried will swallow up in itself the entire space of the valley, and its +border spurs from mountain to mountain. The suburbs, indeed, are almost +more lovely in their way than the town itself; and as one wanders at will +among the olive-clad hills to westward, looking down upon the green +lemon-groves that encircle the villas, and the wealth of roses that drape +their sides, one cannot wonder that Joseph de Maistre, another Niçois of +distinction, in the long dark evenings he spent at St. Petersburg, should +time and again have recalled with a sigh "ce doux vallon de Magnan." Nor +have the Russians themselves failed to appreciate the advantages of the +change, for they flock by thousands to the Orthodox Quarter on the heights +of Saint Philippe, which rings round the Greek chapel erected in memory of +the Czarewitch Nicholas Alexandrowitch, who died at Nice in 1865. + +After all, however, to the lover of the picturesque Nice town itself is +but the threshold and starting point for that lovely country which +spreads on all sides its endless objects of interest and scenic beauty +from Antibes to Mentone. The excursions to be made from it in every +direction are simply endless. Close by lie the monastery and amphitheater +of Cimiez; the Italianesque cloisters and campanile of St. Pons; the +conspicuous observatory on the Mont Gros, with its grand Alpine views; the +hillside promenades of Le Ray and Les Fontaines. Farther afield the +carriage-road up the Paillon valley leads direct to St. André through a +romantic limestone gorge, which terminates at last in a grotto and natural +bridge, overhung by the moldering remains of a most southern château. A +little higher up, the steep mountain track takes one on to Falicon, +perched "like an eagle's nest" on its panoramic hill-top, one of the most +famous points of view among the Maritime Alps. The boundary hills of the +Magnan, covered in spring with the purple flowers of the wild gladiolus; +the vine-clad heights of Le Bellet, looking down on the abrupt and +rock-girt basin of the Var; the Valley of Hepaticas, carpeted in March +with innumerable spring blossoms; the longer drive to Contes in the very +heart of the mountains: all alike are lovely, and all alike tempt one to +linger in their precincts among the shadow of the cypress trees or under +the cool grottos green and lush with spreading fronds of wild maidenhair. + +Among so many delicious excursions it were invidious to single out any for +special praise; yet there can be little doubt that the most popular, at +least with the general throng of tourists, is the magnificent coast-road +by Villefranche (or Villafranca) to Monte Carlo and Monaco. This +particular part of the coast, between Nice and Mentone, is the one where +the main range of the Maritime Alps, abutting at last on the sea, tumbles +over sheer with a precipitous descent from four thousand feet high to the +level of the Mediterranean. Formerly, the barrier ridge could only be +surmounted by the steep but glorious Corniche route; of late years, +however, the French engineers, most famous of road-makers, have hewn an +admirable carriage-drive out of the naked rock, often through covered +galleries or tunnels in the cliff itself, the whole way from Nice to Monte +Carlo and Mentone. The older portion of this road, between Nice and +Villefranche, falls well within the scope of our present subject. + +You leave modern Nice by the quays and the Pont Garibaldi, dash rapidly +through the new broad streets that now intersect the Italian city, skirt +the square basins lately added to the more shapeless ancient Greek port of +Limpia, and begin to mount the first spurs of the Mont Boron among the +villas and gardens of the Quartier du Lazaret. Banksia roses fall in +cataracts over the walls as you go; looking back, the lovely panorama of +Nice opens out before your eyes. In the foreground, the rocky islets of La +Réserve foam white with the perpetual plashing of that summer sea. In the +middle distance, the old Greek harbor, with its mole and lighthouse, +stands out against the steep rocks of the Castle Hill. The background +rises up in chain on chain of Alps, allowing just a glimpse at their base +of that gay and fickle promenade and all the Parisian prettinesses of the +new French town. The whole forms a wonderful picture of the varied +Mediterranean world, Greek, Roman, Italian, French, with the vine-clad +hills and orange-groves behind merging slowly upward into the snow-bound +Alps. + +Turning the corner of the Mont Boron by the grotesque vulgarisms of the +Château Smith (a curious semi-oriental specimen of the shell-grotto order +of architecture on a gigantic scale) a totally fresh view bursts upon our +eyes of the Rade de Villefranche, that exquisite land-locked bay bounded +on one side by the scarped crags of the Mont Boron itself, and on the +other by the long and rocky peninsula of St. Jean, which terminates in the +Cap Ferrat and the Villefranche light. The long deep bay forms a favorite +roadstead and rendezvous for the French Mediterranean squadron, whose huge +ironclad monsters may often be seen ploughing their way in single file +from seaward round the projecting headlands, or basking at ease on the +calm surface of that glassy pond. The surrounding heights, of course, +bristle with fortifications, which, in these suspicious days of armed +European tension, the tourist and the sketcher are strictly prohibited +from inspecting with too attentive an eye. The quaintly picturesque town +of Villefranche itself, Italian and dirty, but amply redeemed by its +slender bell-tower and its olive-clad terraces, nestles snugly at the very +bottom of its pocket-like bay. The new road to Monte Carlo leaves it far +below, with true modern contempt for mere old-world beauty; the artist and +the lover of nature will know better than to follow the example of those +ruthless engineers; they will find many subjects for a sketch among those +whitewashed walls, and many a rare sea-flower tucked away unseen among +those crannied crags. + +And now, when all is said and done, I, who have known and loved Nice for +so many bright winters, feel only too acutely how utterly I have failed to +set before those of my readers who know it not the infinite charms of that +gay and rose-wreathed queen of the smiling Riviera. For what words can +paint the life and movement of the sparkling sea-front? the manifold +humors of the Jardin Public? the southern vivacity of the washer-women +who pound their clothes with big stones in the dry bed of the pebbly +Paillon? the luxuriant festoons of honeysuckle and mimosa that drape the +trellis-work arcades of Carabacel and Cimiez? Who shall describe aright +with one pen the gnarled olives of Beaulieu and the palace-like front of +the Cercle de la Méditerranée? Who shall write with equal truth of the +jewelers' shops on the quays, of the oriental bazaars of the Avenue, and +of the dome after dome of bare mountain tops that rise ever in long +perspective to the brilliant white summits of the great Alpine backbone? +Who shall tell in one breath of the carmagnoles of the Carnival, or the +dust-begrimed bouquets of the Battle of Flowers, and of the silent summits +of the Mont Cau and the Cime de Vinaigrier, or the vast and varied +sea-view that bursts on the soul unawares from the Corniche near Eza? +There are aspects of Nice and its environs which recall Bartholomew Fair, +or the Champs Élysées after a Sunday review; and there are aspects which +recall the prospect from some solemn summit of the Bernese Oberland, mixed +with some heather-clad hill overlooking the green Atlantic among the +Western Highlands. Yet all is so graciously touched and lighted with +Mediterranean color and Mediterranean sunshine, that even in the midst of +her wildest frolics you can seldom be seriously angry with Nice. The works +of God's hand are never far off. You look up from the crowd of carriages +and loungers on the Promenade des Anglais, and the Cap Ferrat rises bold +and bluff before your eyes above the dashing white waves of the sky-blue +sea: you cross the bridge behind the Casino amid the murmur of the quays, +and the great bald mountains soar aloft to heaven above the brawling +valley of the snow-fed Paillon. It is a desecration, perhaps, but a +desecration that leaves you still face to face with all that is purest and +most beautiful in nature. + +And then, the flowers, the waves, the soft air, the sunshine! On the +beach, between the bathing places, men are drying scented orange peel to +manufacture perfumes: in the dusty high roads you catch whiffs as you pass +of lemon blossom and gardenia: the very trade of the town is an expert +trade in golden acacia and crimson anemones: the very _gamins_ pelt you in +the rough horse-play of the Carnival with sweet-smelling bunches of +syringa and lilac. Luxury that elsewhere would move one to righteous wrath +is here so democratic in its display that one almost condones it. The +gleaming white villas, with carved caryatides or sculptured porches of +freestone nymphs, let the wayfarer revel as he goes in the riches of their +shrubberies or their sunlit fountains and in the breezes that blow over +their perfumed parterres. Nice vulgar! Pah, my friend, if you say so, I +know well why. You have a vulgar soul that sees only the gewgaws and the +painted ladies. You have never strolled up by yourself from the noise and +dust of the crowded town to the free heights of the Mont Alban or the +flowery olive-grounds of the Magnan valley. You have never hunted for +purple hellebore among the gorges of the Paillon or picked orchids and +irises in big handfuls upon the slopes of Saint André. I doubt even +whether you have once turned aside for a moment from the gay crowd of the +Casino and the Place Masséna into the narrow streets of the Italian town; +communed in their own delicious dialect with the free fisherfolk of the +Limpia quarter; or looked out with joy upon the tumbled plain of mountain +heights from the breezy level of the Castle platform. Probably you have +only sat for days in the balcony of your hotel, rolled at your ease down +the afternoon Promenade, worn a false nose at the evening parade of the +Carnival, or returned late at night by the last train from Monte Carlo +with your pocket much lighter and your heart much heavier than when you +left by the morning express in search of fortune. And then you say Nice is +vulgar! You have no eyes, it seems, for sea, or shore, or sky, or +mountain; but you look down curiously at the dust in the street, and you +mutter to yourself that you find it uninteresting. When you go to Nice +again, walk alone up the hills to Falicon, returning by Le Ray, and then +say, if you dare, Nice is anything on earth but gloriously beautiful. + + + + +VII + +THE RIVIERA + + In the days of the Doges--Origin of the name--The blue bay of + Cannes--Ste. Marguerite and St. Honorat--Historical associations--The + Rue L'Antibes--The rock of Monaco--"Notre Dame de la Roulette"--From + Monte Carlo to Mentone--San Remo--A romantic railway. + + +"Oh, Land of Roses, what bulbul shall sing of thee?" In plain prose, how +describe the garden of Europe? The Riviera! Who knows, save he who has +been there, the vague sense of delight which the very name recalls to the +poor winter exile, banished by frost and cold from the fogs and bronchitis +of more northern climes? What visions of gray olives, shimmering silvery +in the breeze on terraced mountain slopes! What cataracts of Marshal +Niels, falling in rich profusion over gray limestone walls! What aloes and +cactuses on what sun-smitten rocks! What picnics in December beneath what +cloudless blue skies! But to those who know and appreciate it best, the +Riviera is something more than mere scenery and sunshine. It is life, it +is health, it is strength, it is rejuvenescence. The return to it in +autumn is as the renewal of youth. Its very faults are dear to us, for +they are the defects of its virtues. We can put up with its dust when we +remember that dust means sun and dry air; we can forgive its staring +white roads when we reflect to ourselves that they depend upon almost +unfailing fine weather and bright, clear skies, when northern Europe is +wrapped in fog and cold and wretchedness. + +And what is this Riviera that we feeble folk who "winter in the south" +know and adore so well? Has everybody been there, or may one venture even +now to paint it in words once more for the twentieth time? Well, after +all, how narrow is our conception of "everybody!" I suppose one out of +every thousand at a moderate estimate, has visited that smiling coast that +spreads its entrancing bays between Marseilles and Genoa; my description +is, therefore, primarily for the nine hundred and ninety-nine who have not +been there. And even the thousandth himself, if he knows his Cannes and +his Mentone well, will not grudge me a reminiscence of those delicious +gulfs and those charming headlands that must be indelibly photographed on +his memory. + +The name Riviera is now practically English. But in origin it is Genoese. +To those seafaring folk, in the days of the Doges, the coasts to east and +west of their own princely city were known, naturally enough, as the +Riviera di Levante and the Riviera di Ponente respectively, the shores of +the rising and the setting sun. But on English lips the qualifying clause +"di Ponente" has gradually in usage dropped out altogether, and we speak +nowadays of this favored winter resort, by a somewhat illogical clipping, +simply as "the Riviera." In our modern and specially English sense, then, +the Riviera means the long and fertile strip of coast between the arid +mountains and the Ligurian Sea, beginning at St. Raphael and ending at +Genoa. Hyères, it is true, is commonly reckoned of late among Riviera +towns, but by courtesy only. It lies, strictly speaking, outside the +charmed circle. One may say that the Riviera, properly so called, has its +origin where the Estérel abuts upon the Gulf of Fréjus, and extends as far +as the outliers of the Alps skirt the Italian shore of the Mediterranean. + +Now, the Riviera is just the point where the greatest central mountain +system of all Europe topples over most directly into the warmest sea. And +its best-known resorts, Nice, Monte Carlo, Mentone, occupy the precise +place where the very axis of the ridge abuts at last on the shallow and +basking Mediterranean. They are therefore as favorably situated with +regard to the mountain wall as Pallanza or Riva, with the further +advantage of a more southern position and of a neighboring extent of sunny +sea to warm them. The Maritime Alps cut off all northerly winds; while the +hot air of the desert, tempered by passing over a wide expanse of +Mediterranean waves, arrives on the coast as a delicious breeze, no longer +dry and relaxing, but at once genial and refreshing. Add to these varied +advantages the dryness of climate due to an essentially continental +position (for the Mediterranean is after all a mere inland salt lake), and +it is no wonder we all swear by the Riviera as the fairest and most +pleasant of winter resorts. My own opinion remains always unshaken, that +Antibes, for climate, may fairly claim to rank as the best spot in Europe +or round the shores of the Mediterranean. + +Not that I am by any means a bigoted Antipolitan. I have tried every other +nook and cranny along that delightful coast, from Carqueyranne to +Cornigliano, and I will allow that every one of them has for certain +purposes its own special advantages. All, all are charming. Indeed, the +Riviera is to my mind one long feast of delights. From the moment the +railway strikes the sea near Fréjus the traveller feels he can only do +justice to the scenery on either side by looking both ways at once, and so +"contracting a squint," like a sausage-seller in Aristophanes. Those +glorious peaks of the Estérel alone would encourage the most prosaic to +"drop into poetry," as readily as Mr. Silas Wegg himself in the mansion of +the Boffins. How am I to describe them, those rearing masses of rock, huge +tors of red porphyry, rising sheer into the air with their roseate crags +from a deep green base of Mediterranean pinewood? When the sun strikes +their sides, they glow like fire. There they lie in their beauty, like a +huge rock pushed out into the sea, the advance-guard of the Alps, unbroken +save by the one high-road that runs boldly through their unpeopled midst, +and by the timider railway that, fearing to tunnel their solid porphyry +depths, winds cautiously round their base by the craggy sea-shore, and so +gives us as we pass endless lovely glimpses into sapphire bays with red +cliffs and rocky lighthouse-crowned islets. On the whole, I consider the +Estérel, as scenery alone, the loveliest "bit" on the whole Riviera; +though wanting in human additions, as nature it is the best, the most +varied in outline, the most vivid in coloring. + +Turning the corner by Agay, you come suddenly, all unawares, on the blue +bay of Cannes, or rather on the Golfe de la Napoule, whose very name +betrays unintentionally the intense newness and unexpectedness of all this +populous coast, this "little England beyond France" that has grown up +apace round Lord Brougham's villa on the shore by the mouth of the Siagne. +For when the bay beside the Estérel received its present name, La Napoule, +not Cannes, was still the principal village on its bank. Nowadays, people +drive over on a spare afternoon from the crowded fashionable town to the +slumbrous little hamlet; but in older days La Napoule was a busy local +market when Cannes was nothing more than a petty hamlet of Provençal +fishermen. + +The Golfe de la Napoule ends at the Croisette of Cannes, a long, low +promontory carried out into the sea by a submarine bank, whose farthest +points re-emerge as the two Iles Lérins, Ste. Marguerite and St. Honorat. +Their names are famous in history. A little steamer plies from Cannes to +"the Islands," as everybody calls them locally; and the trip, in calm +weather, if the Alps are pleased to shine out, is a pleasant and +instructive one. Ste. Marguerite lies somewhat the nearer of the two, a +pretty little islet, covered with a thick growth of maritime pines, and +celebrated as the prison of that mysterious being, the Man with the Iron +Mask, who has given rise to so much foolish and fruitless speculation. +Near the landing-place stands the Fort, perched on a high cliff and +looking across to the Croisette. Uninteresting in itself, this old +fortification is much visited by wonder-loving tourists for the sake of +its famous prisoner, whose memory still haunts the narrow terrace +corridor, where he paced up and down for seventeen years of unrelieved +captivity. + +St. Honorat stands farther out to sea than its sister island, and, though +lower and flatter, is in some ways more picturesque, in virtue of its +massive mediæval monastery and its historical associations. In the early +middle ages, when communications were still largely carried on by water, +the convent of the Iles Lérins enjoyed much reputation as a favorite +stopping-place, one might almost say hotel, for pilgrims to or from Rome; +and most of the early British Christians in their continental wanderings +found shelter at one time or another under its hospitable roof. St. +Augustine stopped here on his way to Canterbury; St. Patrick took the +convent on his road from Ireland; Salvian wrote within its walls his +dismal jeremiad; Vincent de Lérins composed in it his "Pilgrim's Guide." +The somber vaults of the ancient cloister still bear witness by their +astonishingly thick and solid masonry to their double use as monastery and +as place of refuge from the "Saracens," the Barbary corsairs of the ninth, +tenth, and eleventh centuries. Indeed, Paynim fleets plundered the place +more than once, and massacred the monks in cold blood. + +Of Cannes itself, marvelous product of this gad-about and commercial age, +how shall the truthful chronicler speak with becoming respect and becoming +dignity? For Cannes has its faults. Truly a wonderful place is that +cosmopolitan winter resort. Rococo châteaux, glorious gardens of +palm-trees, imitation Moorish villas, wooden châlets from the +scene-painter's ideal Switzerland, Elizabethan mansions stuck in Italian +grounds, lovely groves of mimosa, eucalyptus, and judas-trees, all mingle +together in so strange and incongruous a picture that one knows not when +to laugh, when to weep, when to admire, when to cry "Out on it!" Imagine a +conglomeration of two or three white-faced Parisian streets, interspersed +with little bits of England, of Brussels, of Algiers, of Constantinople, +of Pekin, of Bern, of Nuremberg and of Venice, jumbled side by side on a +green Provençal hillside before a beautiful bay, and you get modern +Cannes; a Babel set in Paradise; a sort of _boulevardier_ Bond Street, +with a view across blue waves to the serrated peaks of the ever lovely +Estérel. Nay; try as it will, Cannes cannot help being beautiful. Nature +has done so much for it that art itself, the debased French art of the +Empire and the Republic, can never for one moment succeed in making it +ugly; though I am bound to admit it has striven as hard as it knew for +that laudable object. But Cannes is Cannes still, in spite of Grand Dukes +and landscape gardeners and architects. And the Old Town, at least, is yet +wholly unspoilt by the speculative builder. Almost every Riviera +watering-place has such an old-world nucleus or kernel of its own, the +quaint fisher village of ancient days, round which the meretricious modern +villas have clustered, one by one, in irregular succession. At Cannes the +Old Town is even more conspicuous than elsewhere; for it clambers up the +steep sides of a little seaward hillock, crowned by the tower of an +eleventh century church, and is as picturesque, as gray, as dirty, as most +other haunts of the hardy Provençal fisherman. Strange, too, to see how +the two streams of life flow on ever, side by side, yet ever unmingled. +The Cannes of the fishermen is to this day as unvaried as if the new +cosmopolitan winter resort had never grown up, with its Anglo-Russian airs +and graces, its German-American frivolities, round that unpromising +center. + +The Rue d'Antibes is the principal shopping street of the newer and richer +Cannes. If we follow it out into the country by its straight French +boulevard it leads us at last to the funny old border city from which it +still takes its unpretending name. Antibes itself belongs to that very +first crop of civilized Provençal towns which owe their origin to the +sturdy old Phocæan colonists. It is a Greek city by descent, the Antipolis +which faced and defended the harbor of Nicæa; and for picturesqueness and +beauty it has not its equal on the whole picturesque and beautiful +Riviera. Everybody who has travelled by the "Paris, Lyon, Méditerranée" +knows well the exquisite view of the mole and harbor as seen in passing +from the railway. But that charming glimpse, quaint and varied as it is, +gives by no means a full idea of the ancient Phocæan city. The town stands +still surrounded by its bristling fortification, the work of Vauban, +pierced by narrow gates in their thickness, and topped with noble +ramparts. The Fort Carré that crowns the seaward promontory, the rocky +islets, and the two stone breakwaters of the port (a small-scale Genoa), +all add to the striking effect of the situation and prospect. Within, the +place is as quaint and curious as without: a labyrinth of narrow streets, +poor in memorials of Antipolis, but rich in Roman remains, including that +famous and pathetic inscription to the boy Septentrio, QVI ANTIPOLI IN +THEATRO BIDVO SALTAVIT ET PLACVIT. The last three words borrowed from this +provincial tombstone, have become proverbial of the short-lived glory of +the actor's art. + +The general aspect of Antibes town, however, is at present mediæval, or +even seventeenth century. A flavor as of Louis Quatorz pervades the whole +city, with its obtrusive military air of a border fortress; for, of +course, while the Var still formed the frontier between France and Italy, +Antibes ranked necessarily as a strategic post of immense importance; and +at the present day, in our new recrudescence of military barbarism, great +barracks surround the fortifications with fresh white-washed walls, and +the "Hun! Deusse!" of the noisy French drill-sergeant resounds all day +long from the exercise-ground by the railway station. Antibes itself is +therefore by no means a place to stop at; it is the Cap d'Antibes close +by that attracts now every year an increasing influx of peaceful and +cultivated visitors. The walks and drives are charming; the pine-woods, +carpeted with wild anemones, are a dream of delight; and the view from the +Lighthouse Hill behind the town is one of the loveliest and most varied on +the whole round Mediterranean. + +But I must not linger here over the beauties of the Cap d'Antibes, but +must be pushing onwards towards Monaco and Monte Carlo. + +It is a wonderful spot, this little principality of Monaco, hemmed in +between the high mountains and the assailing sea, and long hermetically +cut off from all its more powerful and commercial neighbors. Between the +palm-lined boulevards of Nice and the grand amphitheater of mountains that +shuts in Mentone as with a perfect semicircle of rearing peaks, one rugged +buttress, the last long subsiding spur of the great Alpine axis, runs +boldly out to seaward, and ends in the bluff rocky headland of the Tête de +Chien that overhangs Monte Carlo. Till very lately no road ever succeeded +in turning the foot of that precipitous promontory: the famous Corniche +route runs along a ledge high up its beetling side, past the massive Roman +ruin of Turbia, and looks down from a height of fifteen hundred feet upon +the palace of Monaco. This mountain bulwark of the Turbia long formed the +real boundary line between ancient Gaul and Liguria; and on its very +summit, where the narrow Roman road wound along the steep pass now widened +into the magnificent highway of the Corniche, Augustus built a solid +square monument to mark the limit between the Province and the Italian +soil, as well as to overawe the mountaineers of this turbulent region. A +round mediæval tower, at present likewise in ruins, crowns the Roman +work. Here the Alps end abruptly. The rock of Monaco at the base is their +last ineffectual seaward protest. + +And what a rock it is, that quaint ridge of land, crowned by the strange +capital of that miniature principality! Figure to yourself a huge whale +petrified, as he basks there on the shoals his back rising some two +hundred feet from the water's edge, his head to the sea, and his tail just +touching the mainland, and you have a rough mental picture of the Rock of +Monaco. It is, in fact, an isolated hillock, jutting into the +Mediterranean at the foot of the Maritime Alps (a final reminder, as it +were, of their dying dignity), and united to the Undercliff only by a +narrow isthmus at the foot of the crag which bears the mediæval bastions +of the Prince's palace. As you look down on it from above from the heights +of the Corniche, I have no hesitation in saying it forms the most +picturesque town site in all Europe. On every side, save seaward, huge +mountains gird it round; while towards the smiling blue Mediterranean +itself the great rock runs outward, bathed by tiny white breakers in every +part, except where the low isthmus links it to the shore; and with a good +field-glass you can see down in a bird's eye view into every street and +courtyard of the clean little capital. The red-tiled houses, the white +palace with its orderly gardens and quadrangles, the round lunettes of the +old wall, the steep cobbled mule-path which mounts the rock from the +modern railway-station, all lie spread out before one like a pictorial +map, painted in the bright blue of Mediterranean seas, the dazzling gray +of Mediterranean sunshine, and the brilliant russet of Mediterranean +roofs. + +There can be no question at all that Monte Carlo even now, with all its +gew-gaw additions, is very beautiful: no Haussmann could spoil so much +loveliness of position; and even the new town itself, which grows apace +each time I revisit it, has a picturesqueness of hardy arch, bold rock, +well-perched villa, which redeems it to a great extent from any rash +charge of common vulgarity. All looks like a scene in a theater, not like +a prosaic bit of this work-a-day world of ours. Around us is the blue +Mediterranean, broken into a hundred petty sapphire bays. Back of us rise +tier after tier of Maritime Alps, their huge summits clouded in a fleecy +mist. To the left stands the white rock of Monaco; to the right, the green +Italian shore, fading away into the purple mountains that guard the Gulf +of Genoa. Lovely by nature, the immediate neighborhood of the Casino has +been made in some ways still more lovely by art. From the water's edge, +terraces of tropical vegetation succeed one another in gradual steps +towards the grand façade of the gambling-house; clusters of palms and +aloes, their base girt by exotic flowers, are thrust cunningly into the +foreground of every point in the view, so that you see the bay and the +mountains through the artistic vistas thus deftly arranged in the very +spots where a painter's fancy would have set them. You look across to +Monaco past a clump of drooping date-branches; you catch a glimpse of +Bordighera through a framework of spreading dracænas and quaintly +symmetrical fan-palms. + +Once more under way, and this time on foot. For the road from Monte Carlo +to Mentone is almost as lovely in its way as that from Nice to Monte +Carlo. It runs at first among the ever-increasing villas and hotels of the +capital of Chance, and past that sumptuous church, built from the gains +of the table, which native wit has not inaptly christened "Nôtre Dame de +la Roulette." There is one point of view of Monaco and its bay, on the +slopes of the Cap Martin, not far from Roquebrune, so beautiful that +though I have seen it, I suppose, a hundred times or more, I can never +come upon it to this day without giving vent to an involuntary cry of +surprise and admiration. + +Roquebrune itself, which was an Italian Roccabruna when I first knew it, +has a quaint situation of its own, and a quaint story connected with it. +Brown as its own rocks, the tumbled little village stands oddly jumbled in +and out among huge masses of pudding-stone, which must have fallen at some +time or other in headlong confusion from the scarred face of the +neighboring hillside. From the Corniche road it is still quite easy to +recognize the bare patch on the mountain slope whence the landslip +detached itself, and to trace its path down the hill to its existing +position. But local legend goes a little farther than that: it asks us to +believe that the rock fell as we see it _with the houses on top_; in other +words, that the village was built before the catastrophe took place, and +that it glided down piecemeal into the tossed-about form it at present +presents to us. Be this as it may, and the story makes some demand on the +hearer's credulity, it is certain that the houses now occupy most +picturesque positions: here perched by twos and threes on broken masses of +conglomerate, there wedged in between two great walls of beetling cliff, +and yonder again hanging for dear life to some slender foothold on the +precipitous hillside. + +We reach the summit of the pass. The Bay of Monaco is separated from the +Bay of Mentone by the long, low-headland of Cap Martin, covered with +olive groves and scrubby maritime pines. As one turns the corner from +Roquebrune by the col round the cliff, there bursts suddenly upon the view +one of the loveliest prospects to be beheld from the Corniche. At our +feet, embowered among green lemons and orange trees, Mentone half hides +itself behind its villas and its gardens. In the middle distance the old +church with its tall Italian campanile stands out against the blue peaks +of that magnificent amphitheater. Beyond, again, a narrow gorge marks the +site of the Pont St. Louis and the Italian frontier. Farther eastward the +red rocks merge half indistinctly into the point of La Mortola, with Mr. +Hanbury's famous garden; then come the cliffs and fortifications of +Ventimiglia, gleaming white in the sun; and last of all, the purple hills +that hem in San Remo. It is an appropriate approach to a most lovely spot; +for Mentone ranks high for beauty, even among her bevy of fair sisters on +the Ligurian sea-board. + +Yes, Mentone is beautiful, most undeniably beautiful; and for walks and +drives perhaps it may bear away the palm from all rivals on that enchanted +and enchanting Riviera. Five separate valleys, each carved out by its own +torrent, with dry winter bed, converge upon the sea within the town +precincts. Four principal rocky ridges divide these valleys with their +chine-like backbone, besides numberless minor spurs branching laterally +inland. Each valley is threaded by a well-made carriage-road, and each +dividing ridge is climbed by a bridle-path and footway. The consequence is +that the walks and drives at Mentone are never exhausted, and excursions +among the hills might occupy the industrious pedestrian for many +successive winters. What hills they are, too, those great bare needles +and pinnacles of rock, worn into jagged peaks and points by the ceaseless +rain of ages, and looking down from their inaccessible tops with +glittering scorn upon the green lemon groves beneath them! + +The next town on the line, Bordighera, is better known to the world at +large as a Rivieran winter resort, though of a milder and quieter type, I +do not say than Nice or Cannes, but than Mentone or San Remo. Bordighera, +indeed, has just reached that pleasant intermediate stage in the evolution +of a Rivieran watering-place when all positive needs of the northern +stranger are amply supplied, while crowds and fashionable amusements have +not yet begun to invade its primitive simplicity. The walks and drives on +every side are charming; the hotels are comfortable, and the prices are +still by no means prohibitive. + +[Illustration] + +San Remo comes next in order of the cosmopolitan winter resorts: San Remo, +thickly strewn with spectacled Germans, like leaves in Vallombrosa, since +the Emperor Frederick chose the place for his last despairing rally. The +Teuton finds himself more at home, indeed, across the friendly Italian +border than in hostile France; and the St. Gotthard gives him easy access +by a pleasant route to these nearer Ligurian towns, so that the Fatherland +has now almost annexed San Remo, as England has annexed Cannes, and +America Nice and Cimiez. Built in the evil days of the Middle Ages, when +every house was a fortress and every breeze bore a Saracen, San Remo +presents to-day a picturesque labyrinth of streets, lanes, vaults, and +alleys, only to be surpassed in the quaint neighboring village of Taggia. +This is the heart of the earthquake region, too; and to protect themselves +against that frequent and unwelcome visitor, whose mark may be seen on +half the walls in the outskirts, the inhabitants of San Remo have +strengthened their houses by a system of arches thrown at varying heights +across the tangled paths, which recalls Algiers or Tunis. From certain +points of view, and especially from the east side, San Remo thus resembles +a huge pyramid of solid masonry, or a monstrous pagoda hewn out by giant +hands from a block of white free-stone. As Dickens well worded it, one +seems to pass through the town by going perpetually from cellar to cellar. +A romantic railway skirts the coast from San Remo to Alassio and Savona. +It forms one long succession of tunnels, interspersed with frequent +breathing spaces beside lovely bays, "the peacock's neck in hue," as the +Laureate sings of them. One town after another sweeps gradually into view +round the corner of a promontory, a white mass of houses crowning some +steep point of rock, of which Alassio alone has as yet any pretensions to +be considered a home for northern visitors. + + + + +VIII + +GENOA + + Early history--Old fortifications--The rival of Venice--Changes of + twenty-five years--From the parapet of the Corso--The lower town--The + Genoese palazzi--Monument to Christopher Columbus--The old + Dogana--Memorials in the Campo Santo--The Bay of Spezzia--The Isola + Palmeria--Harbor scenes. + + +Genova la Superba--Genoa the Proud--an epithet not inappropriate for this +city of merchant princes of olden days, which was once the emporium of the +Tyrrhenian, as was Venice of the Adriatic sea, and the rival of the latter +for the commerce of the Eastern Mediterranean. No two cities, adapted to +play a similar part in history, could be more unlike in their natural +environments: Venice clustered on a series of mud banks, parted by an +expanse of water from a low coast-line, beyond which the far-away +mountains rise dimly in the distance, a fleet, as it were, of houses +anchored in the shallows of the Adriatic; Genoa stretching along the shore +by the deepening water, at the very feet of the Apennines, climbing up +their slopes, and crowning their lower summits with its watch-towers. No +seaport in Italy possesses a site so rich in natural beauty, not even +Spezzia in its bay, for though the scenery in the neighborhood certainly +surpasses that around Genoa, the town itself is built upon an almost level +plain; not even Naples itself, notwithstanding the magnificent sweep of +its bay, dominated by the volcanic cone of Vesuvius, and bounded by the +limestone crags of the range of Monte S. Angelo. Genoa, however, like all +places and persons, has had its detractors. Perhaps of no town has a more +bitter sarcasm been uttered, than the well known one, which no doubt +originated in the mouth of some envious Tuscan, when the two peoples were +contending for the mastery of the western sea, and the maker of the +epigram was on the losing side. Familiar as it is to many, we will venture +to quote it again, as it may be rendered in our own tongue: "Treeless +hills, a fishless sea, faithless men, shameless women." As to the reproach +in the first clause, one must admit there is still some truth; and in +olden days, when gardens were fewer and more land was left in its natural +condition, there may have been even more point. The hills around Genoa +undoubtedly seem a little barren, when compared with those on the Riviera +some miles farther to the south, with their extraordinary luxuriance of +vegetation, their endless slopes of olives, which only cease to give place +to oak and pine and myrtle. There is also, I believe, some truth in the +second clause; but as to the rest it is not for a comparative stranger to +express an opinion. So far however as the men are concerned the reproach +is not novel. Centuries since, Liguria, of which Genoa is the principal +town, was noted for the cunning and treacherous disposition of its people, +who ethnologically differ considerably from their neighbors. In Virgil's +"Æneid" a Ligurian chief shows more cunning than courage in a fight with +an Amazon, and is thus apostrophized before receiving his death-blow from +a woman's hand: "In vain, O shifty one, hast thou tried thy hereditary +craft." The people of this part of Italy form one of a series of +ethnological islands; where a remnant, by no means inconsiderable, of an +earlier race has survived the invading flood of a stronger people. This +old-world race--commonly called the Iberian--is characteristically short +in stature, dark in hair, eyes, and complexion. Representatives of it +survive in Brittany, Wales, Ireland, the Basque Provinces, and other +out-of-the-way corners of Europe; insulated or pressed back, till they +could no farther go, by the advance of the Aryan race, by some or other +representative of which Europe is now peopled. On the Ligurian coast, +however, as might be expected, in the track of two thousand years of +commerce and civilization, the races, however different in origin and +formerly naturally hostile, have been almost fused together by +intermarriage; and this, at any rate in Genoa, seems to have had a +fortuitous result in the production of an exceptionally good-looking +people, especially in the case of the younger women. I well remember some +years since, when driving out on a summer evening on the western side of +Genoa, to have passed crowds of women, most of them young, returning from +work in the factories, and certainly I never saw so large a proportion of +beautiful faces as there were among them. + +Genoa for at least two thousand years has been an important center of +commerce; though, of course, like most other places, it has not been +uniformly prosperous. It fell under the Roman power about two centuries +before the Christian era, the possession of it for a time being disputed +with the Carthaginians; then it became noted as a seaport town for the +commerce of the western part of the Mediterranean, it declined and +suffered during the decadence and fall of the Empire, and then gradually +rose into eminence during the Middle Ages. Even in the tenth century +Genoa was an important community; its citizens, as beseemed men who were +hardy sailors, found a natural pleasure in any kind of disturbance; they +joined in the Crusades, and turned religious enthusiasm to commercial +profit by the acquisition of various towns and islands in the East. The +rather unusual combination of warrior and merchant, which the Genoese of +the Middle Ages present, is no doubt due not only to social character, but +also to exceptional circumstances. "The constant invasions of the Saracens +united the professions of trade and war, and its greatest merchants became +also its greatest generals, while its naval captains were also merchants." + +Genoa, as may be supposed, had from the first to contend with two +formidable rivals: the one being Pisa in its own waters; the other Venice, +whose citizens were equally anxious for supremacy in the Levant and the +commerce of the East. With both these places the struggle was long and +fierce, but the fortune of war on the whole was distinctly favorable to +Genoa nearer home, and unfavorable in regard to the more distant foe. Pisa +was finally defeated in the neighborhood of Leghorn, and in the year 1300 +had to cede to her enemy a considerable amount of territory, including the +island of Corsica; while Venice, after more than a century of conflict +with very varying fortune, at last succeeded in obtaining the supremacy in +the Eastern Mediterranean. + +The internal history of the city during all this period was not more +peaceful than its external. Genoa presents the picture of a house divided +against itself; and, strange to say, falsifies the proverb by prospering +instead of perishing. If there were commonly wars without, there were yet +more persistent factions within. Guelphs, headed by the families of +Grimaldi and Fieschi, and Ghibellines, by those of Spinola and Doria, +indulged in faction-fights and sometimes in civil warfare, until at last +some approach to peace was procured by the influence of Andrea Doria, who, +in obtaining the freedom of the state from French control, brought about +the adoption of most important constitutional changes, which tended to +obliterate the old and sharply divided party lines. Yet even he narrowly +escaped overthrow from a conspiracy, headed by one of the Fieschi; his +great-nephew and heir was assassinated, and his ultimate triumph was due +rather to a fortunate accident, which removed from the scene the leader of +his opponents, than to his personal power. Then the tide of prosperity +began to turn against the Genoese. The Turk made himself master of their +lands and cities in the East. Venice ousted them from the commerce of the +Levant. War arose with France, and the city itself was captured by that +power in the year 1684. The following century was far from being a +prosperous time for Genoa, and near the close it opened its gates to the +Republican troops, a subjugation which ultimately resulted in no little +suffering to the inhabitants. + +Genoa at that time was encircled on the land side by a double line of +fortifications, a considerable portion of which still remains. The outer +one, with its associated detached forts, mounted up the inland slopes to +an elevation of some hundreds of feet above the sea, and within this is an +inner line of much greater antiquity. As it was for those days a place of +exceptional strength, its capture became of the first importance, in the +great struggle between France and Austria, as a preliminary to driving the +Republican troops out of Italy. The city was defended by the French under +the command of Massena; it was attacked on the land side by the +Imperialist force, while it was blockaded from the sea by the British +fleet. After fifteen days of hard fighting among the neighboring +Apennines, Massena was finally shut up in the city. No less desperate +fighting followed around the walls, until at last the defending force was +so weakened by its losses that further aggressive operations became +impossible on its part, and the siege was converted into a blockade. The +results were famine and pestilence. A hundred thousand persons were cooped +up within the walls. "From the commencement of the siege the price of +provisions had been extravagantly high, and in its latter days grain of +any sort could not be had at any cost.... The neighboring rocks within the +walls were covered with a famished crowd, seeking, in the vilest animals +and the smallest traces of vegetation, the means of assuaging their +intolerable pangs.... In the general agony, not only leather and skins of +every kind were consumed, but the horror at human flesh was so much abated +that numbers were supported on the dead bodies of their fellow citizens. +Pestilence, as usual, came in the rear of famine, and contagious fevers +swept off multitudes, whom the strength of the survivors was unable to +inter." Before the obstinate defense was ended, and Massena, at the end of +all his resources, was compelled to capitulate on honorable terms, twenty +thousand of the inhabitants had perished from hunger or disease. The end +of this terrible struggle brought little profit to the conquerors, for +before long the battle of Marengo, and the subsequent successes of +Napoleon in Northern Italy, led to the city being again surrendered to the +French. It had to endure another siege at the end of Napoleon's career, +for in 1814 it was attacked by English troops under Lord William +Bentinck. Fortunately for the inhabitants, the French commander decided to +surrender after a few days' severe struggle around the outer defenses. On +the settlement of European affairs which succeeded the final fall of +Napoleon, Genoa was annexed to the kingdom of Sardinia, and now forms part +of united Italy; though, it is said, the old instincts of the people give +them a theoretic preference for a republican form of government. + +Genoa, like so many of the chief Italian towns, has been greatly altered +during the last twenty-five years. Its harbors have been much enlarged; +its defenses have been extended far beyond their ancient limits. Down by +the water-side, among the narrow streets on the shelving ground that +fringes the sea, we are still in old Genoa--the city of the merchant +princes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; but higher up the slopes +a new town has sprung up, with broad streets and fine modern houses, and a +"corso," bordered by trees and mansions, still retains in its zigzag +outline the trace of the old fortifications which enclosed the arm of +Massena. More than one spot, on or near this elevated road, commands a +splendid outlook over the city and neighborhood. + +From such a position the natural advantages of the site of Genoa, the +geographical conditions which have almost inevitably determined its +history, can be apprehended at a glance. Behind us rise steeply, as has +been already said, the hills forming the southernmost zone of the +Apennines. This, no doubt, is a defect in a military point of view, +because the city is commanded by so many positions of greater elevation; +but this defect was less serious in ancient days, when the range of +ordnance was comparatively short; while the difficulty of access which +these positions presented, and the obstacles which the mountain barrier of +the Apennines offered to the advance of an enemy from the comparatively +distant plains of Piedmont, rendered the city far more secure than it may +at first sight have appeared. Beneath us lies a deeply recessed bay, in +outline like the half of an egg, guarded on the east by a projecting +shoulder; while on the western side hills descend, at first rapidly, then +more gently, to a point which projects yet farther to the south. This +eastern shoulder is converted into a kind of peninsula, rudely triangular +in shape, by the valley of the Bisagno, a stream of considerable size +which thus forms a natural moat for the fortifications on the eastern side +of the town. In a bay thus sheltered on three sides by land, vessels were +perfectly safe from most of the prevalent winds; and it was only necessary +to carry out moles from the western headland and from some point on the +eastern shore, to protect them also from storms which might blow from the +south. The first defense was run out from the latter side, and still bears +the name of the Molo Vecchio; then the port was enlarged, by carrying out +another mole from the end of the western headland; this has been greatly +extended, so that the town may now be said to possess an inner and an +outer harbor. From the parapet of the Corso these topographical facts are +seen at a glance, as we look over the tall and densely-massed houses to +the busy quays, and the ships which are moored alongside. Such a scene +cannot fail to be attractive, and the lighthouse, rising high above the +western headland, is less monotonous in outline than is usual with such +buildings, and greatly enhances the effect of the picture. The city, +however, when regarded from this elevated position is rather wanting in +variety. We look down over a crowded mass of lofty houses, from which, +indeed, two or three domes or towers rise up; but there is not enough +diversity in the design of the one, or a sufficiently marked pre-eminence +in the others, to afford a prospect which is comparable with that of many +other ancient cities. Still some variety is given by the trees, which here +and there, especially towards the eastern promontory, are interspersed +among the houses; while the Ligurian coast on the one hand, and the +distant summits of the Maritime Alps on the other, add to the scene a +never-failing charm. + +Of the newer part of the town little more need be said. It is like the +most modern part of any Continental city, and only differs from the +majority of these by the natural steepness and irregularity of the site. +In Genoa, except for a narrow space along the shore, one can hardly find a +plot of level ground. Now that the old limits of the enceinte have been +passed, it is still growing upwards; but beyond and above the farthest +houses the hills are still crowned by fortresses, keeping watch and ward +over the merchant city. These, of course, are of modern date; but some of +them have been reconstructed on the ancient sites, and still encrust, as +can be seen at a glance, towers and walls which did their duty in the +olden times. For a season, indeed, there was more to be protected than +merchandise, for, till lately, Genoa was the principal arsenal of the +Italian kingdom; but this has now been removed to Spezzia. Italy, however, +does not seem to feel much confidence in that immunity from plunder which +has been sometimes accorded to "open towns," or in the platitudes of +peace-mongers; and appears to take ample precautions that an enemy in +command of the sea shall not thrust his hand into a full purse without a +good chance of getting nothing better than crushed fingers. + +But in the lower town we are still in the Genoa of the olden time. There +is not, indeed, very much to recall the city of the more strictly mediæval +epoch; though two churches date from days before the so-called +"Renaissance," and are good examples of its work. Most of what we now see +belongs to the Genoa of the sixteenth century; or, at any rate, is but +little anterior in age to this. The lower town, however, even where its +buildings are comparatively modern, still retains in plan--in its narrow, +sometimes irregular, streets; in its yet narrower alleys, leading by +flights of steps up the steep hill side; in its crowded, lofty houses; in +its "huddled up" aspect, for perhaps no single term can better express our +meaning--the characteristics of an ancient Italian town. In its streets +even the summer sun--let the proverb concerning the absence of the sun and +the presence of the doctor say what it may--can seldom scorch, and the +bitter north wind loses its force among the maze of buildings. Open spaces +of any kind are rare; the streets, in consequence of their narrowness, are +unusually thronged, and thus produce the idea of a teeming population; +which, indeed, owing to the general loftiness of the houses, is large in +proportion to the area. They are accordingly ill-adapted for the +requirements of modern traffic. + +Genoa, like Venice, is noted for its _palazzi_--for the sumptuous +dwellings inhabited by the burgher aristocracy of earlier days, which are +still, in not a few cases, in possession of their descendants. But in +style and in position nothing can be more different. We do not refer to +the obvious distinction that in the one city the highway is water, in the +other it is dry land; or to the fact that buildings in the so-called +Gothic style are common in Venice, but are not to be found among the +mansions of Genoa. It is rather to this, that the Via Nuova, which in this +respect holds the same place in Genoa as the Grand Canal does in Venice, +is such a complete contrast to it, that they must be compared by their +opposites. The latter is a broad and magnificent highway, affording a full +view and a comprehensive survey of the stately buildings which rise from +its margin. The former is a narrow street, corresponding in dimensions +with one of the less important among the side canals in the other city. It +is thus almost impossible to obtain any good idea of the façade of the +Genoese palazzi. The passing traveller has about as much chance of doing +this as he would have of studying the architecture of Mincing Lane; and +even if he could discover a quiet time, like Sunday morning in the City, +he would still have to strain his neck by staring upwards at the +overhanging mass of masonry, and find a complete view of any one building +almost impossible. But so far as these palazzi can be seen, how far do +they repay examination? It is a common-place with travellers to expatiate +on the magnificence of the Via Nuova, and one or two other streets in +Genoa. There is an imposing magniloquence in the word palazzo, and a +"street of palaces" is a formula which impels many minds to render instant +homage. + +But, speaking for myself, I must own to being no great admirer of this +part of Genoa; to me the design of these palazzi appears often heavy and +oppressive. They are sumptuous rather than dignified, and impress one more +with the length of the purse at the architect's command than with the +quality of his genius or the fecundity of his conceptions. No doubt there +are some fine buildings--the Palazzo Spinola, the Palazzo Doria Tursi, the +Palazzo del' Universita, and the Palazzo Balbi, are among those most +generally praised. But if I must tell the plain, unvarnished truth, I +never felt and never shall feel much enthusiasm for the "city of palaces." +It has been some relief to me to find that I am not alone in this heresy, +as it will appear to some. For on turning to the pages of Fergusson,[1] +immediately after penning the above confession, I read for the first time +the following passage (and it must be admitted that, though not free from +occasional "cranks" as to archæological questions, he was a critic of +extensive knowledge and no mean authority):--"When Venice adopted the +Renaissance style, she used it with an aristocratic elegance that relieves +even its most fantastic forms in the worst age. In Genoa there is a +pretentious parvenu vulgarity, which offends in spite of considerable +architectural merit. Their size, their grandeur, and their grouping may +force us to admire the palaces of Genoa; but for real beauty or +architectural propriety of design they will not stand a moment's +comparison with the contemporary or earlier palaces of Florence, Rome, or +Venice." Farther on he adds very truly, after glancing at the rather +illegitimate device by which the façades have been rendered more effective +by the use of paint, instead of natural color in the materials employed, +as in the older buildings of Venice, he adds:--"By far the most beautiful +feature of the greater palaces of Genoa is their courtyards" (a feature +obviously which can only make its full appeal to a comparatively limited +number of visitors), "though these, architecturally, consist of nothing +but ranges of arcades, resting on attenuated Doric pillars. These are +generally of marble, sometimes grouped in pairs, and too frequently with a +block of an entablature over each, under the springing of the arch; but +notwithstanding these defects, a cloistered court is always and inevitably +pleasing, and if combined with gardens and scenery beyond, which is +generally the case in this city, the effect, as seen from the streets, is +so poetic as to disarm criticism. All that dare be said is that, beautiful +as they are, with a little more taste and judgment they might have been +ten times more so than they are now." + +[Illustration] + +Several of these palazzi contain pictures and art-collections of +considerable value, and the interest of those has perhaps enhanced the +admiration which they have excited in visitors. One of the most noteworthy +is the Palazzo Brignole Sale, commonly called the Palazzo Rosso, because +its exterior is painted red. This has now become a memorial of the +munificence of its former owner, the Duchess of Galliera, a member of the +Brignole Sale family, who, with the consent of her husband and relations, +in the year 1874 presented this palace and its contents to the city of +Genoa, with a revenue sufficient for its maintenance. The Palazzo Reale, +in the Via Balbi, is one of those where the garden adds a charm to an +otherwise not very striking, though large, edifice. This, formerly the +property of the Durazzo family, was purchased by Charles Albert, King of +Sardinia, and has thus become a royal residence. The Palazzo Ducale, once +inhabited by the Doges of Genoa, has now been converted into public +offices, and the palazzo opposite to the Church of St. Matteo bears an +inscription which of itself gives the building an exceptional interest: +"Senat. Cons. Andreæ de Oria, patriæ liberatori, munus publicum." It is +this, the earlier home of the great citizen of Genoa, of which Rogers has +written in the often-quoted lines:-- + + "He left it for a better; and 'tis now + A house of trade, the meanest merchandise + Cumbering its floors. Yet, fallen as it is, + 'Tis still the noblest dwelling--even in Genoa! + And hadst thou, Andrea, lived there to the last, + Thou hadst done well: for there is that without, + That in the wall, which monarchs could not give + Nor thou take with thee--that which says aloud, + It was thy country's gift to her deliverer!" + +The great statesman lies in the neighboring church, with other members of +his family, and over the high altar hangs the sword which was given to him +by the Pope. The church was greatly altered--embellished it was doubtless +supposed--by Doria himself; but the old cloisters, dating from the +earliest part of the fourteenth century, still remain intact. The grander +palazzo which he erected, as an inscription outside still informs us, was +in a more open, and doubtless then more attractive, part of the city. In +the days of Doria it stood in ample gardens, which extended on one side +down to a terrace overlooking the harbor, on the other some distance up +the hillside. From the back of the palace an elaborate structure of +ascending flight of steps in stone led up to a white marble colossal +statue of Hercules, which from this elevated position seemed to keep watch +over the home of the Dorias and the port of Genoa. All this is sadly +changed; the admiral would now find little pleasure in his once stately +home. It occupies a kind of peninsula between two streams of +twentieth-century civilization. Between the terrace wall and the sea the +railway connecting the harbor with the main line has intervened, with its +iron tracks, its sheds, and its shunting-places--a dreary unsightly +outlook, for the adjuncts of a terminus are usually among the most ugly +appendages of civilization. The terraced staircase on the opposite side of +the palace has been swept away by the main line of the railway, which +passes within a few yards of its façade, thus severing the gardens and +isolating the shrine of Hercules, who looks down forlornly on the result +of labors which even he might have deemed arduous, while snorting, +squealing engines pass and repass--beasts which to him would have seemed +more formidable than Lernæan hydra or Nemaean lion. + +The palace follows the usual Genoese rule of turning the better side +inwards, and offering the less attractive to the world at large. The +landward side, which borders a narrow street, and thus, one would +conjecture, must from the first have been connected with the upper gardens +by a bridge, or underground passage, is plain, almost heavy, in its +design, but it does not rise to so great an elevation as is customary with +the palazzi in the heart of the city. The side which is turned towards the +sea is a much more attractive composition, for it is associated with the +usual cloister of loggia which occupies three sides of an oblong. This, as +the ground slopes seaward, though on the level of the street outside, +stands upon a basement story, and communicates by flights of steps with +the lower gardens. The latter are comparatively small, and in no way +remarkable; but in the days--not so very distant--when their terraces +looked down upon the Mediterranean, when the city and its trade were on a +smaller scale, when the picturesque side of labor had not yet been +extruded by the dust and grime of over-much toil, no place in Genoa could +have been more pleasant for the evening stroll, or for dreamy repose in +some shaded nook during the heat of the day. The palazzo itself shows +signs of neglect--the family, I believe, have for some time past ceased to +use it for a residence; two or three rooms are still retained in their +original condition, but the greater part of the building is let off. In +the corridor, near the entrance, members of the Doria family, dressed in +classic garb, in conformity with the taste which prevailed in the +sixteenth century, are depicted in fresco upon the walls. On the roof of +the grand saloon Jupiter is engaged in overthrowing the Titans. These +frescoes are the work of Perini del Vaga, a pupil of Raphael. The great +admiral, the builder of the palace, is represented among the figures in +the corridor, and by an oil painting in the saloon, which contains some +remains of sumptuous furniture and a few ornaments of interest. He was a +burly man, with a grave, square, powerful face, such a one as often looks +out at us from the canvas of Titian or of Tintoret--a man of kindly +nature, but masterful withal; cautious and thoughtful, but a man of action +more than of the schools or of the library; one little likely to be swayed +by passing impulse or transient emotion, but clear and firm of purpose, +who meant to attain his end were it in mortal to command success, and +could watch and wait for the time. Such men, if one may trust portraits +and trust history, were not uncommon in the great epoch when Europe was +shaking itself free from the fetters of mediæval influences, and was +enlarging its mental no less than its physical horizon. Such men are the +makers of nations, and not only of their own fortunes; they become rarer +in the days of frothy stump oratory and hysteric sentiment, when a people +babbles as it sinks into senile decrepitude. + +Andrea Doria himself--"Il principe" as he was styled--had a long and in +some respects a checkered career. In his earlier life he obtained +distinction as a successful naval commander, and in the curious +complications which prevailed in those days among the Italian States and +their neighbors ultimately became Admiral of the French fleet. But he +found that Genoa would obtain little good from the French King, who was +then practically its master; so he transferred his allegiance to the +Emperor Charles, and by his aid expelled from his native city the troops +with which he had formerly served. So great was his influence in Genoa +that he might easily have obtained supreme power; but at this, like a true +patriot, he did not grasp, and the Constitution, which was adopted under +his influence, gradually put an end to the bitter party strife which had +for so long been the plague of Genoa, and it remained in force until the +French Revolution. Still, notwithstanding the gratitude generally felt for +his great services to the State, he experienced in his long life--for he +died at the age of ninety-two--the changefulness of human affairs. He had +no son, and his heir and grand-nephew--a young man--was unpopular, and, as +is often the case, the sapling was altogether inferior in character to the +withering tree. The members of another great family--the Fieschi--entered +into a conspiracy, and collected a body of armed men on the pretext of an +expedition against the corsairs who for so long were the pests of the +Mediterranean. The outbreak was well planned; on New Year's night, in the +year 1547, the chief posts in the city were seized. Doria himself was just +warned in time, and escaped capture; but his heir was assassinated, and +his enemies seemed to have triumphed. But their success was changed to +failure by an accident. Count Fiescho in passing along a plank to a galley +in the harbor made a false step, and fell into the sea. In those days the +wearing of armor added to the perils of the deep; the count sank like a +stone, and so left the conspirators without a leader exactly at the most +critical moment. They were thus before long defeated and dispersed, and +had to experience the truth of the proverb, "Who breaks pays," for in +those days men felt little sentimental tenderness for leaders of sedition +and disturbers of the established order. The Fieschi were exiled, and +their palace was razed to the ground. So the old admiral returned to his +home and his terrace-walk overlooking the sea, until at last his long life +ended, and they buried him with his fathers in the Church of S. Matteo. + +Not far from the Doria Palace is the memorial to another admiral, of fame +more world-wide than that of Doria. In the open space before the railway +station--a building, a façade of which is not without architectural +merit--rises a handsome monument in honor of Christopher Columbus. He was +not strictly a native of the city, but he was certainly born on Genoese +soil, and, as it seems to be now agreed, at Cogoleto, a small village a +few miles west of the city. He was not, however, able to convince the +leaders of his own State that there were wide parts of the world yet to be +discovered; and it is a well-known story how for a long time he preached +to deaf ears, and found, like most heralds of startling physical facts, +his most obstinate opponents among the ecclesiastics of his day. Spain at +last, after Genoa and Portugal and England had all refused, placed +Columbus in command of a voyage of discovery; and on Spanish ground +also--in neglect and comparative poverty, worn out by toil and +anxieties--the great explorer ended his checkered career. Genoa, however, +though inattentive to the comparatively obscure enthusiast, has not failed +to pay honor to the successful discoverer; and is glad to catch some +reflected light from the splendor of successes to the aid of which she did +not contribute. In this respect, however, the rest of the world cannot +take up their parable at her; men generally find that on the whole it is +less expensive, and certainly less troublesome, to build the tombs of the +prophets, instead of honoring them while alive; then, indeed, whether +bread be asked or no, a stone is often given. So now the effigy of +Columbus stands on high among exotic plants, where all the world can see, +for it is the first thing encountered by the traveller as he quits the +railway station. + +One of the most characteristic--if not one of the sweetest--places in +Genoa is the long street, which, under more than one name, intervenes +between the last row of houses in the town and the harbor. From the latter +it is, indeed, divided by a line of offices and arched halls; these are +covered by a terrace-roof and serve various purposes more or less directly +connected with the shipping. The front walls of houses which rise high on +the landward side are supported by rude arches. Thus, as is so common in +Italian towns, there is a broad foot-walk, protected alike from sun and +rain, replacing the "ground-floor front," with dark shops at the back, and +stalls, for the sale of all sorts of odds and ends, pitched in the spaces +between the arches. In many towns these arcades are often among the most +ornamental features; but in Genoa, though not without a certain +quaintness, they are so rude in design and construction that they hardly +deserve this title. The old Dogana, one of the buildings in the street, +gives a good idea of the commercial part of Genoa before the days of +steam, and has a considerable interest of its own. In the first place, it +is a standing memorial of the bitter feud between Genoa and Venice, for it +is built with the stones of a castle which, being captured by the one from +the other, was pulled down and shipped to Genoa in the year 1262. Again, +within its walls was the Banca di San Georgio, which had its origin in a +municipal debt incurred in order to equip an expedition to stop the forays +of a family named Grimaldi, who had formed a sort of Cave of Adullam at +Monaco. The institution afterwards prospered, and held in trust most of +the funds for charitable purposes, till "the French passed their sponge +over the accounts, and ruined all the individuals in the community." It +has also an indirect connection with English history, for on the defeat of +the Grimaldi many of their retainers entered the service of France, and +were the Genoese bowmen who fought at Cressy. Lastly, against its walls +the captured chains of the harbor of Pisa were suspended for nearly six +centuries, for they were only restored to their former owners a +comparatively few years since. + +Turning up from this part of the city we thread narrow streets, in which +many of the principal shops are still located. We pass, in a busy piazza, +the _Loggia dei Banchi Borsa_--the old exchange--a quaint structure of the +end of the sixteenth century, standing on a raised platform; and proceed +from it into the _Via degli Orefici_--a street just like one of the lanes +which lead from Cheapside to Cannon Street, if, indeed, it be not still +narrower, but full of tempting shops. Genoa is noted for its work in +coral and precious metals, but the most characteristic, as all visitors +know, is a kind of filigree work in gold or silver, which is often of +great delicacy and beauty, and is by no means so costly as might be +anticipated from the elaborate workmanship. + +The most notable building in Genoa, anterior to the days when the +architecture of the Renaissance was in favor, is the cathedral, which is +dedicated to S. Lorenzo. The western façade, which is approached by a +broad flight of steps, is the best exposed to view, the rest of the +building being shut in rather closely after the usual Genoese fashion. It +is built of alternating courses of black and white marble, the only +materials employed for mural decoration, so far as I remember, in the +city. The western façade in its lower part is a fine example of "pointed" +work, consisting of a triple portal which, for elegance of design and +richness of ornamentation, could not readily be excelled. It dates from +about the year 1307, when the cathedral was almost rebuilt. The latter, as +a whole, is a very composite structure, for parts of an earlier Romanesque +cathedral still remain, as in the fine "marble" columns of the nave; and +important alterations were made at a much later date. These, to which +belongs the mean clerestory, painted in stripes of black and white, to +resemble the banded courses of stone below, are generally most +unsatisfactory; and here, as in so many other buildings, one is compelled, +however reluctantly, "to bless the old and ban the new." The most richly +decorated portion of the interior is the side chapel, constructed at the +end of the fifteenth century, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist; here +his relics are enshrined for the reverence of the faithful and, as the +guide-books inform us, are placed in a magnificent silver-gilt shrine, +which is carried in solemn procession on the day of his nativity. We are +also informed that women, as a stigma for the part which the sex played in +the Baptist's murder, are only permitted to enter the chapel once in a +year. This is not by any means the only case where the Church of Rome +gives practical expression to its decided view as to which is the superior +sex. The cathedral possesses another great, though now unhappily +mutilated, treasure in the _sacro catino_. This, in the first place, was +long supposed to have been carved from a single emerald; in the next, it +was a relic of great antiquity and much sanctity; though as to its precise +claims to honor in this respect authorities differed. According to one, it +had been a gift from the Queen of Sheba to Solomon; according to another, +it had contained the paschal lamb at the Last Supper; while a third +asserted that in this dish Joseph of Arimathea had caught the blood which +flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Saviour. Of its great +antiquity there can at least be no doubt, for it was taken by the Genoese +when they plundered Cæsarea so long since as the year 1101, and was then +esteemed the most precious thing in the spoil. The material is a green +glass--a conclusion once deemed so heretical that any experiment on the +_catino_ was forbidden on pain of death. As regards its former use, no +more can be said than that it might possibly be as old as the Christian +era. It is almost needless to say that Napoleon carried it away to Paris; +but the worst result of this robbery was that when restitution was made +after the second occupation of that city, the _catino_, through some gross +carelessness, was so badly packed that it was broken on the journey back, +and has been pieced together by a gold-setting of filigree, according to +the guide-books. An inscription in the nave supplies us with an +interesting fact in the early history of Genoa which perhaps ought not to +be omitted. It is that the city was founded by one Janus, a great grandson +of Noah; and that another Janus, after the fall of Troy, also settled in +it. Colonists from that ill-fated town really seem to have distributed +themselves pretty well over the known world. + +More than one of the smaller churches of Genoa is of archæological +interest, and the more modern fabric, called L'Annunziata, is extremely +rich in its internal decorations, though these are more remarkable for +their sumptuousness than for their good taste. But one structure calls for +some notice in any account of the city. This is the Campo Santo, or +burial-place of Genoa, situated at some distance without the walls in the +Valley of the Bisagno. A large tract of land on the slope which forms the +right bank of that stream has been converted into a cemetery, and was laid +out on its present plan rather more than twenty-five years since. +Extensive open spaces are enclosed within and divided by corridors with +cloisters; terraces also, connected by flights of steps, lead up to a long +range of buildings situated some distance above the river, in the center +of which is a chapel crowned with a dome, supported internally by large +columns of polished black Como marble. The bodies of the poorer people are +buried in the usual way in the open ground of the cemetery, and the floor +of the corridors appears to cover a continuous series of vaults, closed, +as formerly in our churches, with great slabs of stone; but a very large +number of the dead rest above the ground in vaults constructed on a plan +which has evidently been borrowed from catacombs like those of Rome. There +is, however, this difference, that in the latter the "loculi," or +separate compartments to contain the corpses, were excavated in the rock, +while here they are constructed entirely of masonry. In both cases the +"loculus" is placed with its longer axis parallel to the outer side, as +was occasionally the method in the rock-hewn tombs of Palestine, instead +of having an opening at the narrower end, so that the corpse, whether +coffined or not, lies in the position of a sleeper in the berth of a ship. +After a burial, the loculus, as in the catacombs, is closed, and an +inscription placed on a slab outside. Thus in the Campo Santo at Genoa we +walk through a gallery of tombs. On either hand are ranges of low +elongated niches, rising tier above tier, each bearing a long white marble +tablet, surrounded by a broad border of dark serpentine breccia. The +interior generally is faced with white marble, which is toned down by the +interspaces of the darker material, and the effect produced by these +simple monumental corridors, these silent records of those who have rested +from their labors, is impressive, if somewhat melancholy. In the +cloisters, as a rule, the more sumptuous memorials are to be found. Here +commonly sections of the wall are given up to the monuments of a family, +the vaults, as I infer, being underneath the pavement. These memorials are +often elaborate in design, and costly in their materials. They will be, +and are, greatly admired by those to whose minds sumptuousness is the +chief element in beauty, and rather second-rate execution of conceptions +distinctly third-rate gives no offense. Others, however, will be chiefly +impressed with the inferiority of modern statuary to the better work of +classic ages, and will doubt whether the more ambitious compositions which +met our eyes in these galleries are preferable to the simple dignity of +the mediæval altar tomb, and the calm repose of its recumbent figure. + +The drive to the Campo Santo, in addition to affording a view of one of +the more perfect parts of the old defensive enclosure of Genoa, of which +the Porta Chiappia, one of the smaller gates, may serve as an example, +passes within sight, though at some distance below, one of the few relics +of classic time which the city has retained. This is the aqueduct which +was constructed by the Romans. Some portions of it, so far as can be seen +from below, appear to belong to the original structure; but, as it is +still in use, it has been in many parts more or less reconstructed and +modernized. + +The environs of Genoa are pleasant. On both sides, particularly on the +eastern, are country houses with gardens. The western for a time is less +attractive. The suburb of Sanpierdarena is neither pretty nor interesting; +but at Conigliano, and still more at Sestre Ponente, the grimy +finger-marks of commerce become less conspicuous, and Nature is not wholly +expelled by the two-pronged fork of mechanism. Pegli, still farther west, +is a very attractive spot, much frequented in the summer time for +sea-bathing. On this part of the coast the hills in places draw near to +the sea, and crags rise from the water; the rocks are of interest in more +than one respect to the geologist. One knoll of rock rising from the sand +in the Bay of Pra is crowned by an old fortress, and at Pegli itself are +one or two villas of note. Of these the gardens of the Villa Pallavicini +commonly attract visitors. They reward some by stalactite grottoes and +"sheets of water with boats, under artificial caverns, a Chinese pagoda, +and an Egyptian obelisk;" others will be more attracted by the beauty of +the vegetation, for palms and oleanders, myrtles, and camellias, with +many semi-tropical plants, flourish in the open air. + +We may regard Genoa as the meeting-place of the two Rivieras. The coast to +the west--the Riviera di Ponente--what has now, by the cession of Nice, +become in part French soil, is the better known; but that to the east, the +Riviera di Levante, though less accessible on the whole, and without such +an attractive feature as the Corniche road, in the judgment of some is +distinctly the more beautiful. There is indeed a road which, for a part of +the way, runs near the sea; but the much more indented character of the +coast frequently forces it some distance inland, and ultimately it has to +cross a rather considerable line of hills in order to reach Spezzia. The +outline of the coast, indeed, is perhaps the most marked feature of +difference between the two Rivieras. The hills on the eastern side descend +far more steeply to the water than they do upon the western. They are much +more sharply furrowed with gullies and more deeply indented by inlets of +the sea; thus the construction of a railway from Genoa to Spezzia has been +a work involving no slight labor. There are, it is stated, nearly fifty +tunnels between the two towns, and it is strictly true that for a large +part of the distance north of the latter place the train is more +frequently under than above ground. Here it is actually an advantage to +travel by the slowest train that can be found, for this may serve as an +epitome of the journey by an express: "Out of a tunnel; one glance, +between rocks and olive-groves, up a ravine, into which a picturesque old +village is wedged; another glance down the same to the sea, sparkling in +the sunlight below; a shriek from the engine, and another plunge into +darkness." So narrow are some of these gullies, up which, however, a +village climbs, that, if I may trust my memory, I have seen a train halted +at a station with the engine in the opening of one tunnel and the last car +not yet clear of another. + +But the coast, when explored, is full of exquisite nooks, and here and +there, where by chance the hills slightly recede, or a larger valley than +usual comes down to the sea, towns of some size are situated, from which, +as halting-places, the district might be easily explored, for trains are +fairly frequent, and the distances are not great. For a few miles from +Genoa the coast is less hilly than it afterwards becomes; nevertheless, +the traveller is prepared for what lies before him by being conducted from +the main station, on the west side of Genoa, completely beneath the city +to near its eastern wall. Then Nervi is passed, which, like Pegli, +attracts not a few summer visitors, and is a bright and sunny town, with +pleasant gardens and villas. Recco follows, also bright and cheerful, +backed by the finely-outlined hills, which form the long promontory +enclosing the western side of the Bay of Rapallo. Tunnels and villages, as +the railway now plunges into the rock, now skirts the margin of some +little bay, lead first to Rapallo and then to Chiavari, one with its +slender campanile, the other with its old castle. The luxuriance of the +vegetation in all this district cannot fail to attract notice. The slopes +of the hills are grey with olives; oranges replace apples in the orchards, +and in the more sheltered nooks we espy the paler gold of the lemon. Here +are great spiky aloes, there graceful feathering palms; here pines of +southern type, with spreading holm-oaks, and a dozen other evergreen +shrubs. + +Glimpse after glimpse of exquisite scenery flashes upon us as we proceed +to Spezzia, but, as already said, its full beauty can only be appreciated +by rambling among the hills or boating along the coast. There is endless +variety, but the leading features are similar: steep hills furrowed by +ravines, craggy headlands and sheltered coves; villages sometimes perched +high on a shoulder, sometimes nestling in a gully; sometimes a campanile, +sometimes a watch-tower; slopes, here clothed with olive groves, here with +their natural covering of pine and oak scrub, of heath, myrtle, and +strawberry-trees. A change also in the nature of the rock diversifies the +scenery, for between Framura and Bonasola occurs a huge mass of +serpentine, which recalls, in its peculiar structure and tints, the crags +near the Lizard in England. This rock is extensively quarried in the +neighborhood of Levanto, and from that little port many blocks are +shipped. + +Spezzia itself has a remarkable situation. A large inlet of the sea runs +deep into the land, parallel with the general trend of the hills, and +almost with that of the coast-line. The range which shelters it on the +west narrows as it falls to the headland of Porto Venere, and is extended +yet farther by rocky islands; while on the opposite coast, hills no less, +perhaps yet more, lofty, protect the harbor from the eastern blasts. In +one direction only is it open to the wind, and against this the +comparative narrowness of the inlet renders the construction of artificial +defenses possible. At the very head of this deeply embayed sheet of water +is a small tract of level ground--the head, as it were, of a +valley--encircled by steep hills. On this little plain, and by the +waterside, stands Spezzia. Formerly it was a quiet country town, a small +seaport with some little commerce; but when Italy ceased to be a +geographical expression, and became practically one nation, Spezzia was +chosen, wisely it must be admitted, as the site of the chief naval +arsenal. A single glance shows its natural advantages for such a purpose. +Access from the land must always present difficulties, and every road can +be commanded by forts, perched on yet more elevated positions; while a +hostile fleet, as it advances up the inlet, must run the gauntlet of as +many batteries as the defenders can build. Further, the construction of a +breakwater across the middle of the channel at once has been a protection +from the storms, and has compelled all who approach to pass through +straits commanded by cannon. The distance of the town from its outer +defenses and from the open sea seems enough to secure it even from modern +ordnance; so that, until the former are crushed, it cannot be reached by +projectiles. But it must be confessed that the change has not been without +its drawbacks. The Spezzia of to-day may be a more prosperous town than +the Spezzia of a quarter of a century since, but it has lost some of its +beauty. A twentieth-century fortress adds no charm to the scenery, and +does not crown a hill so picturesquely as did a mediæval castle. Houses +are being built, roads are being made, land is being reclaimed from the +sea for the construction of quays. Thus the place has a generally untidy +aspect; there is a kind of ragged selvage to town and sea, which, at +present, on a near view, is very unsightly. Moreover, the buildings of an +arsenal can hardly be picturesque or magnificent; and great factories, +more or less connected with them, have sprung up in the neighborhood, from +which rise tall red brick chimneys, the campaniles of the twentieth +century. The town itself was never a place of any particular interest; it +has neither fine churches nor old gateways nor picturesque streets--a +ruinous fort among the olive groves overlooking the streets is all that +can claim to be ancient--so that its growth has not caused the loss of any +distinctive feature--unless it be a grove of old oleanders, which were +once a sight to see in summer time. Many of these have now disappeared, +perhaps from natural decay; and the survivors are mixed with orange trees. +These, during late years, have been largely planted about the town. In one +of the chief streets they are growing by the side of the road, like planes +or chestnuts in other towns. The golden fruit and the glossy leaves, +always a delight to see, appear to possess a double charm by contrast with +the arid flags and dusty streets. Ripe oranges in dozens, in hundreds, all +along by the pathway, and within two or three yards of the pavement! Are +the boys of Spezzia exceptionally virtuous? or are these golden apples of +the Hesperides a special pride of the populace, and does "Father Stick" +still rule in home and school, and is this immunity the result of physical +coercion rather than of moral suasion? Be this as it may, I have with mine +own eyes seen golden oranges by hundreds hanging on the trees in the +streets of Spezzia, and would be glad to know how long they would remain +in a like position in those of an English town, among "the most +law-abiding people in the universe!" + +But if the vicinity of the town has lost some of its ancient charm, if +modern Spezzia reminds us too much, now of Woolwich, now of a "new +neighborhood" on the outskirts of London, we have but to pass into the +uplands, escaping from the neighborhood of forts, to find the same +beauties as the mountains of this coast ever afford. There the sugar-cane +and the vine, the fig and the olive cease, though the last so abounds that +one might suppose it an indigenous growth; there the broken slopes are +covered with scrub oak and dwarf pine; there the myrtle blossoms, hardly +ceasing in the winter months; there the strawberry-tree shows its waxen +flowers, and is bright in season with its rich crimson berries. Even the +villages add a beauty to the landscape--at any rate, when regarded from a +distance; some are perched high up on the shoulders of hills, with distant +outlooks over land and sea; others lie down by the water's edge in +sheltered coves, beneath some ruined fort, which in olden time protected +the fisher-folk from the raids of corsairs. Such are Terenza and Lerici, +looking at each other across the waters of the little "Porto;" and many +another village, in which grey and white and pink tinted houses blend into +one pleasant harmony of color. For all this part of the coast is a series +of rocky headlands and tiny bays, one succession of quiet nooks, to which +the sea alone forms a natural highway. Not less irregular, not less +sequestered, is the western coast of the Bay of Spezzia, which has been +already mentioned. Here, at Porto Venere, a little village still carries +us back in its name to classic times; and the old church on the rugged +headland stands upon a site which was once not unfitly occupied by a +temple of the seaborn goddess. The beauty of the scene is enhanced by a +rocky wooded island, the Isola Palmeria, which rises steeply across a +narrow strait; though the purpose to which it has been devoted--a prison +for convicts--neither adds to its charm nor awakens pleasant reflections. + +To some minds also the harbor itself, busy and bright as the scene often +is, will suggest more painful thoughts than it did in olden days. For it +is no preacher of "peace at any price," and is a daily witness that +millennial days are still far away from the present epoch. Here may be +seen at anchor the modern devices for naval war: great turret-ships and +ironclads, gunboats and torpedo launches--evils, necessary undoubtedly, +but evils still; outward and visible signs of the burden of taxation, +which is cramping the development of Italy, and is indirectly the heavy +price which it has to pay for entering the ranks of the great Powers of +Europe. These are less picturesque than the old line-of-battle ships, with +their high decks, their tall masts, and their clouds of canvas; still, +nothing can entirely spoil the harbor of Spezzia, and even these floating +castles group pleasantly in the distance with the varied outline of hills +and headlands, which is backed at last, if we look southward, by the grand +outline of a group of veritable mountains--the Apuan Alps. + + + + +IX + +THE TUSCAN COAST + + Shelley's last months at Lerici--Story of his death--Carrara and its + marble quarries--Pisa--Its grand group of ecclesiastical + buildings--The cloisters of the Campo Santo--Napoleon's life on + Elba--Origin of the Etruscans--The ruins of Tarquinii--Civita Vecchia, + the old port of Rome--Ostia. + + +The Bay of Spezzia is defined sharply enough on its western side by the +long, hilly peninsula which parts it from the Mediterranean, but as this +makes only a small angle with the general trend of the coast-line, its +termination is less strongly marked on the opposite side. Of its beauties +we have spoken in an earlier article, but there is a little town at the +southern extremity which, in connection with the coast below, has a +melancholy interest to every lover of English literature. Here, at Lerici, +Shelley spent what proved to be the last months of his life. The town +itself, once strongly fortified by its Pisan owners against their foes of +Genoa on the one side and Lucca on the other, is a picturesque spot. The +old castle crowns a headland, guarding the little harbor and overlooking +the small but busy town. At a short distance to the southeast is the Casa +Magni, once a Jesuit seminary, which was occupied by Shelley. Looking +across the beautiful gulf to the hills on its opposite shore and the +island of Porto Venere, but a few miles from the grand group of the +Carrara mountains, in the middle of the luxuriant scenery of the Eastern +Riviera, the house, though in itself not very attractive, was a fit home +for a lover of nature. But Shelley's residence within its walls was too +soon cut short. There are strange tales (like those told with bated breath +by old nurses by the fireside) that as the closing hour approached the +spirits of the unseen world took bodily form and became visible to the +poet's eye; tales of a dark-robed figure standing by his bedside beckoning +him to follow; of a laughing child rising from the sea as he walked by +moonlight on the terrace, clapping its hands in glee; and of other +warnings that the veil which parted him from the spirit world was +vanishing away. Shelley delighted in the sea. On the 1st of July he left +Lerici for Leghorn in a small sailing vessel. On the 8th he set out to +return, accompanied only by his friend, Mr. Williams, and an English lad. +The afternoon was hot and sultry, and as the sun became low a fearful +squall burst upon the neighboring sea. What happened no one exactly knows, +but they never came back to the shore. Day followed day, and the great sea +kept its secret; but at last, on the 22d, the corpse of Shelley was washed +up near Viareggio and that of Williams near Bocca Lerici, three miles +away. It was not till three weeks afterwards that the body of the sailor +lad came ashore. Probably the felucca had either capsized or had been +swamped at the first break of the storm; but when it was found, some three +months afterwards, men said that it looked as if it had been run down, and +even more ugly rumors got abroad that this was no accident, but the work +of some Italians, done in the hope of plunder, as it was expected that the +party had in charge a considerable sum of money. The bodies were at first +buried in the sand with quicklime; but at that time the Tuscan law +required "any object then cast ashore to be burned, as a precaution +against plague," so, by the help of friends, the body of Shelley was +committed to the flames "with fuel and frankincense, wine, salt, and oil, +the accompaniments of a Greek cremation," in the presence of Byron Leigh +Hunt, and Trelawny. The corpse of Williams had been consumed in like +fashion on the previous day. "It was a glorious day and a splendid +prospect; the cruel and calm sea before, the Appennines behind. A curlew +wheeled close to the pyre, screaming, and would not be driven away; the +flames arose golden and towering." The inurned ashes were entombed, as +everyone knows, in the Protestant burial ground at Rome by the side of +Keats' grave, near the pyramid of Cestius. Much as there was to regret in +Shelley's life, there was more in his death, for such genius as his is +rare, and if the work of springtide was so glorious, what might have been +the summer fruitage? + +As the Gulf of Spezzia is left behind, the Magra broadens out into an +estuary as it enters the sea, the river which formed in olden days the +boundary between Liguria and Etruria. Five miles from the coast, and less +than half the distance from the river, is Sarzana, the chief city of the +province, once fortified, and still containing a cathedral of some +interest. It once gave birth to a Pope, Nicholas V., the founder of the +Vatican Library, and in the neighborhood the family of the Buonapartes had +their origin, a branch of it having emigrated to Corsica. Sarzana bore +formerly the name of Luna Nova, as it had replaced another Luna which +stood near to the mouth of the river. This was in ruins even in the days +of Lucan, and now the traveller from Saranza to Pisa sees only "a strip of +low, grassy land intervening between him and the sea. Here stood the +ancient city. There is little enough to see. Beyond a few crumbling tombs +and a fragment or two of Roman ruins, nothing remains of Luna. The fairy +scene described by Rutilus, so appropriate to the spot which bore the name +of the virgin-queen of heaven, the 'fair white walls' shaming with their +brightness the untrodden snow, the smooth, many-tinted rocks overrun with +laughing lilies, if not the pure creation of the poet, have now vanished +from the sight. Vestiges of an amphitheater, of a semicircular building +which may be a theater, of a circus, a _piscina_, and fragments of +columns, pedestals for statues, blocks of pavement and inscriptions, are +all that Luna has now to show." + +But all the while the grand group of the Carrara hills is in view, +towering above a lowland region which rolls down towards the coast. A +branch line now leads from Avenza, a small seaport town from which the +marble is shipped, to the town of Carrara, through scenery of singular +beauty. The shelving banks and winding slopes of the foreground hills are +clothed with olives and oaks and other trees; here and there groups of +houses, white and grey and pink, cluster around a campanile tower on some +coign of vantage, while at the back rises the great mountain wall of the +Apuan Alps, with its gleaming crags, scarred, it must be admitted, rather +rudely and crudely by its marble quarries, though the long slopes of +screes beneath these gashes in the more distant views almost resemble the +Alpine snows. The situation of the town is delightful, for it stands at +the entrance of a rapidly narrowing valley, in a sufficiently elevated +position to command a view of this exquisitely rich lowland as it shelves +and rolls down to the gleaming sea. Nor is the place itself devoid of +interest. One of its churches at least, S. Andrea, is a really handsome +specimen of the architecture of this part of Italy in the thirteenth +century, but the quarries dominate, and their products are everywhere. +Here are the studios of sculptors and the ateliers of workmen. The fair +white marble here, like silver in the days of Solomon, is of little +account; it paves the street, builds the houses, serves even for the +basest uses, and is to be seen strewn or piled up everywhere to await +dispersal by the trains to more distant regions. Beyond the streets of +Carrara, in the direction of the mountains, carriage roads no longer +exist. Lanes wind up the hills here and there in rather bewildering +intricacy, among vines and olive groves, to hamlets and quarries; one, +indeed, of rather larger size and more fixity of direction, keeps for a +time near the river, if indeed the stream which flows by Carrara be worthy +of that name, except when the storms are breaking or the snows are melting +upon the mountains. But all these lanes alike terminate in a quarry, are +riven with deep ruts, ploughed up like a field by the wheels of the heavy +wagons that bring down the great blocks of marble. One meets these +grinding and groaning on their way, drawn by yokes of dove-colored oxen +(longer than that with which Elisha was ploughing when the older prophet +cast his mantle upon his shoulders), big, meek-looking beasts, mild-eyed +and melancholy as the lotus-eaters. To meet them is not always an unmixed +pleasure, for the lanes are narrow, and there is often no room to spare; +how the traffic is regulated in some parts is a problem which I have not +yet solved. + +Carrara would come near to being an earthly paradise were it not for the +mosquitos, which are said to be such that they would have made even the +Garden of Eden untenable, especially to its first inhabitants. Of them, +however, I cannot speak, for I have never slept in the town, or even +visited it at the season when this curse of the earth is at its worst; but +I have no hesitation in asserting that the mountains of Carrara are not +less beautiful in outline than those of any part of the main chain of the +Alps of like elevation, while they are unequalled in color and variety of +verdure. + +To Avenza succeeds Massa, a considerable town, beautifully situated among +olive-clad heights, which are spotted with villas and densely covered with +foliage. Like Carrara, it is close to the mountains, and disputes with +Carrara for the reputation of its quarries. This town was once the capital +of a duchy, Massa-Carrara, and the title was borne by a sister of Napoleon +I. Her large palace still remains; her memory should endure, though not +precisely in honor, for according to Mr. Hare, she pulled down the old +cathedral to improve the view from her windows. But if Massa is beautiful, +so is Pietra Santa, a much smaller town enclosed by old walls and +singularly picturesque in outline. It has a fine old church, with a +picturesque campanile, which, though slightly more modern than the church +itself, has seen more than four centuries. The piazza, with the Town Hall, +this church and another one, is a very characteristic feature. In the +baptistry of one of the churches are some bronzes by Donatello. About half +a dozen miles away, reached by a road which passes through beautiful +scenery, are the marble quarries of Seravezza, which were first opened by +Michael Angelo, and are still in full work. There is only one drawback to +travelling by railway in this region; the train goes too fast. Let it be +as slow as it will, and it can be very slow, we can never succeed in +coming to a decision as to which is the most picturesquely situated place +or the most lovely view. Comparisons notoriously are odious, but +delightful, as undoubtedly is the Riviera di Ponenta to me, the Riviera di +Levante seems even more lovely. + +After Pietra Santa, however, the scenery becomes less attractive, the +Apuan Alps begin to be left behind, and a wider strip of plain parts the +Apennines from the sea. This, which is traversed by the railway, is in +itself flat, stale, though perhaps not unprofitable to the husbandman. +Viareggio, mentioned on a previous page, nestles among its woods of oaks +and pines, a place of some little note as a health resort; and then the +railway after emerging from the forest strikes away from the sea, and +crosses the marshy plains of the Serchio, towards the banks of the Arno. + +[Illustration] + +It now approaches the grand group of ecclesiastical buildings which rise +above the walls of Pisa. As this town lies well inland, being six miles +from the sea, we must content ourselves with a brief mention. But a long +description is needless, for who does not know of its cathedral and its +Campo Santo, of its baptistry and its leaning tower? There is no more +marvelous or complete group of ecclesiastical buildings in Europe, all +built of the white marble of Carrara, now changed by age into a delicate +cream color, but still almost dazzling in the glory of the mid-day sun, +yet never so beautiful as when walls, arches, and pinnacles are aglow at +its rising, or flushed at its setting. In the cloisters of the Campo Santo +you may see monuments which range over nearly five centuries, and +contrast ancient and modern art; the frescoes on their walls, though often +ill preserved, and not seldom of little merit, possess no small interest +as illustrating medieval notions of a gospel of love and peace. Beneath +their roof at the present time are sheltered a few relics of Roman and +Etruscan days which will repay examination. The very soil also of this +God's acre is not without an interest, for when the Holy Land was lost to +the Christians, fifty-and-three shiploads of earth were brought hither +from Jerusalem that the dead of Pisa might rest in ground which had been +sanctified by the visible presence of their Redeemer. The cathedral is a +grand example of the severe but stately style which was in favor about the +end of the eleventh century, for it was consecrated in the year 1118. It +commemorates a great naval victory won by the Pisans, three years before +the battle of Hastings, and the columns which support the arches of the +interior were at once the spoils of classic buildings and the memorials of +Pisan victories. The famous leaning tower, though later in date, +harmonizes well in general style with the cathedral. Its position, no +doubt, attracts most attention, for to the eye it seems remarkably +insecure, but one cannot help wishing that the settlement had never +occurred, for the slope is sufficient to interfere seriously with the +harmony of the group. The baptistry also harmonizes with the cathedral, +though it was not begun till some forty years after the latter was +completed, and not only was more than a century in building, but also +received some ornamental additions in the fourteenth century. But though +this cathedral group is the glory and the crown of Pisa, the best monument +of its proudest days, there are other buildings of interest in the town +itself; and the broad quays which flank the Arno on each side, the +Lungarno by name, which form a continuous passage from one end of the town +to the other, together with the four bridges which link its older and +newer part, are well worthy of more than a passing notice. + +The land bordering the Arno between Pisa and its junction with the +Mediterranean has no charm for the traveller, however it may commend +itself to the farmer. A few miles south of the river's mouth is Leghorn, +and on the eleven miles' journey by rail from it to Pisa the traveller +sees as much, and perhaps more, than he could wish of the delta of the +Arno. It is a vast alluvial plain, always low-lying, in places marshy; +sometimes meadow land, sometimes arable. Here and there are slight and +inconspicuous lines of dunes, very probably the records of old sea margins +as the river slowly encroached upon the Mediterranean, which are covered +sometimes with a grove of pines. + +Leghorn is not an old town, and has little attraction for the antiquarian +or the artist. In fact, I think it, for its size, the most uninteresting +town, whether on the sea or inland, that I have entered in Italy. Brindisi +is a dreary hole, but it has one or two objects of interest. Bari is not +very attractive, but it has two churches, the architecture of which will +repay long study; but Leghorn is almost a miracle of commonplace +architecture and of dullness. Of course there is a harbor, of course there +are ships, of course there is the sea, and all these possess a certain +charm; but really this is about as small as it can be under the +circumstances. The town was a creation of the Medici, "the masterpiece of +that dynasty." In the middle of the sixteenth century it was an +insignificant place, with between seven and eight hundred inhabitants. +But it increased rapidly when the princes of that family took the town in +hand and made it a cave of Adullam, whither the discontented or oppressed +from other lands might resort: Jews and Moors from Spain and Portugal, +escaping from persecution; Roman Catholics from England, oppressed by the +retaliatory laws of Elizabeth; merchants from Marseilles, seeking refuge +from civil war. Thus fostered, it was soon thronged by men of talent and +energy; it rapidly grew into an important center of commerce, and now the +town with its suburbs contains nearly a hundred thousand souls. + +Leghorn is intersected by canals, sufficiently so to have been sometimes +called a "Little Venice," and has been fortified, but as the defenses +belong to the system of Vauban, they add little to either the interest or +the picturesqueness of the place. Parts of the walls and the citadel +remain, the latter being enclosed by a broad water-ditch. The principal +street has some good shops, and there are two fairly large piazzas; in +one, bearing the name of Carlo Alberto, are statues of heroic size to the +last Grand Duke and to his predecessor. The inscription on the latter is +highly flattering; but that on the former states that the citizens had +come to the conclusion that the continuance of the Austro-Lorenese dynasty +was incompatible with the good order and happiness of Tuscany, and had +accordingly voted union with Italy. The other piazza now bears Victor +Emmanuel's name; in it are a building which formerly was a royal palace, +the town hall, and the cathedral; the last a fair-sized church, but a +rather plain specimen of the Renaissance style, with some handsome columns +of real marble and a large amount of imitation, painted to match. There +are also some remains of the old fortifications, though they are not so +very old, by the side of the inner or original harbor. As this in course +of time proved too shallow for vessels of modern bulk, the Porto Nuovo, or +outer harbor, was begun nearly fifty years since, and is protected from +the waves by a semicircular mole. Among the other lions of the place, and +they are all very small, is a statue of Duke Ferdinand I., one of the +founders of Leghorn, with four Turkish slaves about the pedestal. The +commerce of Leghorn chiefly consists of grain, cotton, wool, and silk, and +is carried on mainly with the eastern ports of the Mediterranean. There is +also an important shipbuilding establishment. It has, however, one link of +interest with English literature, for in the Protestant cemetery was +buried Tobias Smollet. There is a pleasant public walk by the sea margin +outside the town, from where distant views of Elba and other islands are +obtained. + +The hilly ground south of the broad valley of the Arno is of little +interest, and for a considerable distance a broad strip of land, a level +plain of cornfields and meadow, intervenes between the sea and the foot of +the hills. Here and there long lines of pine woods seem almost to border +the former; the rounded spurs of the latter are thickly wooded, but are +capped here and there by grey villages, seemingly surrounded by old walls, +and are backed by the bolder outlines of the more distant Apennines. For +many a long mile this kind of scenery will continue, this flat, marshy, +dyke-intersected plain, almost without a dwelling upon it, though village +after village is seen perched like epaulettes on the low shoulders of the +hills. It is easy to understand why they are placed in this apparently +inconvenient position, for we are at the beginning of the Tuscan Maremma, +a district scourged by malaria during the summer months, and none too +healthy, if one may judge by the looks of the peasants, during any time of +the year. But one cannot fail to observe that towards the northern +extremity houses have become fairly common on this plain, and many of them +are new, so that the efforts which have been made to improve the district +by draining seem to have met with success. For some time the seaward views +are very fine; comparatively near to the coast a hilly island rises +steeply from the water and is crowned with a low round tower. Behind this +lies Elba, a long, bold, hilly ridge, and far away, on a clear day, the +great mountain mass of Corsica looms blue in the distance. + +Elba has its interests for the geologist, its beauties for the lover of +scenery. It has quarries of granite and serpentine, but its fame rests on +its iron mines, which have been noted from very early times and from which +fine groups of crystals of hematite are still obtained. So famed was it in +the days of the Roman Empire as to call forth from Virgil the well-known +line, "Insula inexhaustis chalybum generosa metallis." When these, its +masters, had long passed away, it belonged in turn to Pisa, to Genoa, to +Lucca, and, after others, to the Grand Duke Cosimo of Florence. Then it +became Neapolitan, and at last French. As everyone knows, it was assigned +to Napoleon after his abdication, and from May, 1814, to February, 1815, +he enjoyed the title of King of Elba. Then, while discontent was deepening +in France, and ambassadors were disputing round the Congress-table at +Vienna, he suddenly gave the slip to the vessels which were watching the +coast and landed in France to march in triumph to Paris, to be defeated at +Waterloo, and to die at St. Helena. + +The island is for the most part hilly, indeed almost mountainous, for it +rises at one place nearly three thousand feet above the sea. The valleys +and lower slopes are rich and fertile, producing good fruit and fair wine, +and the views are often of great beauty. The fisheries are of some +importance, especially that of the tunny. Porto Ferrajo, the chief town, +is a picturesquely situated place, on the northern side, which still +retains the forts built by Cosimo I. to defend his newly obtained +territory, and the mansion, a very modest palace, inhabited by Napoleon. + +"It must be confessed my isle is very little," was Napoleon's remark when +for the first time he looked around over his kingdom from a mountain +summit above Porto Ferrajo. Little it is in reality, for the island is not +much more than fifteen miles long, and at the widest part ten miles +across; and truly little it must have seemed to the man who had dreamed of +Europe for his empire, and had half realized his vision. Nevertheless, as +one of his historians remarks, "If an empire could be supposed to exist +within such a brief space, Elba possesses so much both of beauty and +variety as might constitute the scene of a summer night's dream of +sovereignty." + +At first he professed to be "perfectly resigned to his fate, often spoke +of himself as a man politically dead, and claimed credit for what he said +on public affairs, as having no remaining interest in them." A comment on +himself in connection with Elba is amusing. He had been exploring his new +domain in the company of Sir Niel Campbell, and had visited, as a matter +of course, the iron mines. On being informed that they were valuable, and +brought in a revenue of about twenty thousand pounds per annum, "These +then," he said, "are mine." But being reminded that he had conferred that +revenue on the Legion of Honor, he exclaimed, "Where was my head when I +made such a grant? But I have made many foolish decrees of that sort!" + +He set to work at once to explore every corner of the island, and then to +design a number of improvements and alterations on a scale which, had they +been carried into execution with the means which he possessed, would have +perhaps taken his lifetime to execute. The instinct of the conqueror was +by no means dead within him; for "one of his first, and perhaps most +characteristic, proposals was to aggrandize and extend his Lilliputian +dominions by the occupation of an uninhabited island called Pianosa, which +had been left desolate on account of the frequent descents of the +corsairs. He sent thirty of his guards, with ten of the independent +company belonging to the island, upon this expedition (what a contrast to +those which he had formerly directed!), sketched out a plan of +fortification, and remarked with complacency, 'Europe will say that I have +already made a conquest.'" + +He was after a short time joined on the island by his mother and his +sister Pauline, and not a few of those who had once fought under his flag +drifted gradually to Elba and took service in his guards. A plot was +organized in France, and when all was ready Napoleon availed himself of +the temporary absence of Sir Neil Campbell and of an English cruiser and +set sail from Elba. + +At four in the afternoon of Sunday, the 26th of February, "a signal gun +was fired, the drums beat to arms, the officers tumbled what they could of +their effects into flour-sacks, the men arranged their knapsacks, the +embarkation began, and at eight in the evening they were under weigh." He +had more than one narrow escape on his voyage; for he was hailed by a +French frigate. His soldiers, however, had concealed themselves, and his +captain was acquainted with the commander of the frigate, so no suspicions +were excited. Sir Niel Campbell also, as soon as he found out what had +happened, gave chase in a sloop of war, but only arrived in time to obtain +a distant view of Napoleon's flotilla as its passengers landed. + +Pianosa, the island mentioned above, lies to the north of Elba, and gets +its name from its almost level surface; for the highest point is said to +be only eighty feet above the sea. Considering its apparent +insignificance, it figures more than could be expected in history. The +ill-fated son of Marcus Agrippa was banished here by Augustus, at the +instigation of Livia, and after a time was more effectually put out of the +way, in order to secure the succession of her son Tiberius. We read also +that it was afterwards the property of Marcus Piso, who used it as a +preserve for peacocks, which were here as wild as pheasants with us. Some +remnants of Roman baths still keep up the memory of its former masters. +Long afterwards it became a bone of contention between Pisa and Genoa, and +the latter State, on permitting the former to resume possession of these +islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, stipulated that Pianosa should be left +forever uncultivated and deserted. To secure the execution of this +engagement the Genoese stopped up all the wells with huge blocks of rock. + +Capraja, a lovely island to the northwest of Elba, is rather nearer to +Corsica than to Italy. Though less than four miles long, and not half this +breadth, it rivals either in hilliness, for its ridges rise in two places +more than fourteen hundred feet above the sea. Saracen, Genoese, Pisan, +and Corsican have caused it in bygone times to lead a rather troubled +existence, and even so late as 1796 Nelson knocked to pieces the fort +which defended its harbor, and occupied the island. + +"The 'stagno,' or lagoon, the sea-marsh of Strabo, is a vast expanse of +stagnant salt water, so shallow that it may be forded in parts, yet never +dried up by the hottest summer; the curse of the country around for the +foul and pestilent vapour and the swarms of mosquitoes and other insects +it generates at that season, yet compensating the inhabitants with an +abundance of fish. The fishery is generally carried on at night, and in +the way often practiced in Italy and Sicily, by harpooning the fish, which +are attracted by a light in the prow of the boat. It is a curious sight on +calm nights to see hundreds of these little skiffs or canoes wandering +about with their lights, and making an ever-moving illumination on the +surface of the lake."[2] + +Elba seems to maintain some relation with the mainland by means of the +hilly promontory which supports the houses of Piombino, a small town, +chiefly interesting as being at no great distance from Populonia, an old +Etruscan city of which some considerable ruins still remain. Here, when +the clans gathered to bring back the Tarquins to Rome, stood + + "Sea-girt Populonia, + Whose sentinels descry + Sardinia's snowy mountain tops + Fringing the southern sky." + +But long after Lars Porsenna of Clusium had retreated baffled from the +broken bridge Populonia continued to be a place of some importance, for it +has a castle erected in the Middle Ages. But now it is only a poor +village; it retains, however, fragments of building recalling its Roman +masters, and its walls of polygonal masonry carry us back to the era of +the Etruscans. + +It must not be forgotten that almost the whole of the coast line described +in this chapter, from the river Magra to Civita Vecchia, belonged to that +mysterious and, not so long since, almost unknown people, the Etruscans. +Indeed, at one time their sway extended for a considerable distance north +and south of these limits. Even now there is much dispute as to their +origin, but they were a powerful and civilized race before Rome was so +much as founded. They strove with it for supremacy in Italy, and were not +finally subdued by that nation until the third century before our era. +"Etruria was of old densely populated, not only in those parts which are +still inhabited, but also, as is proved by remains of cities and +cemeteries, in tracts now desolated by malaria and relapsed into the +desert; and what is now the fen or the jungle, the haunt of the wild boar, +the buffalo, the fox, and the noxious reptile, where man often dreads to +stay his steps, and hurries away from a plague-stricken land, of old +yielded rich harvests of corn, wine and oil, and contained numerous +cities mighty and opulent, into whose laps commerce poured the treasures +of the East and the more precious produce of Hellenic genius. Most of +these ancient sites are now without a habitant, furrowed yearly by the +plough, or forsaken as unprofitable wilderness; and such as are still +occupied are, with few exceptions, mere phantoms of their pristine +greatness, mere villages in the place of populous cities. On every hand +are traces of bygone civilization, inferior in quality, no doubt, to that +which at present exists but much wider in extent and exerting far greater +influence on the neighboring nations and on the destinies of the +world."[3] + +South of this headland the Maremma proper begins. Follonica, the only +place for some distance which can be called a town, is blackened with +smoke to an extent unusual in Italy, for here much of the iron ore from +Elba is smelted. But the views in the neighborhood, notwithstanding the +flatness of the marshy or scrub-covered plain, are not without a charm. +The inland hills are often attractive; to the north lie the headland of +Piombino and sea-girt Elba, to the south the promontory of Castiglione, +which ends in a lower line of bluff capped by a tower, and the irregular +little island of Formica. At Castiglione della Pescaia is a little harbor, +once fortified, which exports wool and charcoal, the products of the +neighboring hills. The promontory of Castiglione must once have been an +island, for it is parted from the inland range by the level plain of the +Maremma. Presently Grosseto, the picturesque capital of the Maremma, +appears, perched on steeply rising ground above the enclosing plain, its +sky-line relieved by a couple of low towers and a dome; it has been +protected with defenses, which date probably from late in the seventeenth +century. Then, after the Omborne has been crossed, one of the rivers, +which issue from the Apennines, the promontory of Talamone comes down to +the sea, protecting the village of the same name. It is a picturesque +little place, overlooked by an old castle, and the anchorage is sheltered +by the island of S. Giglio, quiet enough now, but the guide-book tells us +that here, two hundred and twenty-five years before the Christian era, the +Roman troops disembarked and scattered an invading Gaulish army. But to +the south lies another promontory on a larger scale than Tlamone; this is +the Monte Argentario, the steep slopes of which are a mass of forests. The +views on this part of the coast are exceptionally attractive. Indeed, it +would be difficult to find anything more striking than the situation of +Orbitello. The town lies at the foot of the mountain, for Argentario, +since it rises full two thousand feet above the sea, and is bold in +outline, deserves the name. It is almost separated from the mainland by a +great salt-water lagoon, which is bounded on each side by two low and +narrow strips of land. The best view is from the south, where we look +across a curve of the sea to the town and to Monte Argentario with its +double summit, which, as the border of the lagoon is so low, seems to be +completely insulated. + +Orbitello is clearly proved to have been an Etruscan town; perhaps, +according to Mr. Dennis, founded by the Pelasgi, "for the foundations of +the sea-wall which surrounds it on three sides are of vast polygonal +blocks, just such as are seen in many ancient sites of central Italy +(Norba, Segni, Palæstrina, to wit), and such as compose the walls of the +neighboring Cosa." Tombs of Etruscan construction have also been found in +the immediate neighborhood of the city, on the isthmus of sand which +connects it with the mainland. Others also have been found within the +circuit of the walls. The tombs have been unusually productive; in part, +no doubt, because they appear to have escaped earlier plunderers. Vases, +numerous articles in bronze, and gold ornaments of great beauty have been +found. Of the town itself, which from the distance has a very picturesque +aspect, Mr. Dennis says: "It is a place of some size, having nearly six +thousand inhabitants, and among Maremma towns is second only to Grosseto. +It is a proof how much population tends to salubrity in the Maremma that +Orbitello, though in the midst of a stagnant lagoon ten square miles in +extent, is comparatively healthy, and has more than doubled its population +in thirty years, while Telamona and other small places along the coast are +almost deserted in summer, and the few people that remain become bloated +like wine-skins or yellow as lizards." But the inland district is full of +ruins and remnants of towns which in many cases were strongholds long +before Romulus traced out the lines of the walls of Rome with his plough, +if indeed that ever happened. Ansedonia, the ancient Cosa, is a very few +miles away, Rusellæ, Saturnia, Sovana at a considerably greater distance; +farther to the south rises another of these forest-clad ridges which, +whether insulated by sea or by fen, are so characteristic of this portion +of the Italian coast. Here the old walls of Corno, another Etruscan town, +may be seen to rise above the olive-trees and the holm-oaks. + +Beyond this the lowland becomes more undulating, and the foreground +scenery a little less monotonous. Corneto now appears, crowning a gently +shelving plateau at the end of a spur from the inland hills, which is +guarded at last by a line of cliffs. Enclosed by a ring of old walls, like +Cortona, it "lifts to heaven a diadem of towers." In site and in aspect it +is a typical example of one of the old cities of Etruria. Three hundred +feet and more above the plain which parts it from the sea, with the +gleaming water full in view on one side and the forest-clad ranges on the +other, the outlook is a charming one, and the attractions within its walls +are by no means slight. There are several old churches, and numerous +Etruscan and Roman antiquities are preserved in the municipal museum. The +town itself, however, is not of Etruscan origin, its foundation dates only +from the Middle Ages; but on an opposite and yet more insulated hill the +ruins of Tarquinii, one of the great cities of the Etrurian League, can +still be traced; hardly less important than Veii, one of the most active +cities in the endeavor to restore the dynasty of the Tarquins, it +continued to flourish after it had submitted to Rome, but it declined in +the dark days which followed the fall of the Empire, and never held up its +head after it had been sacked by the Saracens, till at last it was +deserted for Corneto, and met the usual fate of becoming a quarry for the +new town. Only the remnants of buildings and of its defenses are now +visible; but the great necropolis which lies to the southeast of the +Corneto, and on the same spur with it, has yielded numerous antiquities. A +romantic tale of its discovery, so late as 1823, is related in the +guide-books. A native of Corneto in digging accidentally broke into a +tomb. Through the hole he beheld the figure of a warrior extended at +length, accoutred in full armour. For a few minutes he gazed astonished, +then the form of the dead man vanished almost like a ghost, for it +crumbled into dust under the influence of the fresh air. Numerous +subterranean chambers have since been opened; the contents, vases, +bronzes, gems and ornaments, have been removed to museums or scattered +among the cabinets of collectors, but the mural paintings still remain. +They are the works of various periods from the sixth to the second or +third century before the Christian era, and are indicative of the +influence exercised by Greek art on the earlier inhabitants of Italy. + +As the headland, crowned by the walls of Corneto, recedes into the +distance a little river is crossed, which, unimportant as it seems, has a +place in ecclesiastical legend, for we are informed that at the Torre +Bertaldo, near its mouth, an angel dispelled St. Augustine's doubts on the +subject of the Trinity. Then the road approaches the largest port on the +coast since Leghorn was left. Civita Vecchia, as the name implies, is an +old town, which, after the decline of Ostia, served for centuries as the +port of Rome. It was founded by Trajan, and sometimes bore his name in +olden time, but there is little or nothing within the walls to indicate so +great an antiquity. It was harried, like so many other places near the +coast, by the Saracens, and for some years was entirely deserted, but +about the middle of the ninth century the inhabitants returned to it, and +the town, which then acquired its present name, by degrees grew into +importance as the temporal power of the Papacy increased. If there is +little to induce the traveller to halt, there is not much more to tempt +the artist. Civita Vecchia occupies a very low and faintly defined +headland. Its houses are whitish in color, square in outline, and rather +flat-topped. There are no conspicuous towers or domes. It was once +enclosed by fortifications, built at various dates about the seventeenth +century. These, however, have been removed on the land side, but still +remain fairly perfect in the neighborhood of the harbor, the entrance to +which is protected by a small island, from which rises a low massive tower +and a high circular pharos. There is neither animation nor commerce left +in the place; what little there was disappeared when the railway was +opened. It is living up to its name, and its old age cannot be called +vigorous. + +South of Civita Vecchia the coast region, though often monotonous enough, +becomes for a time slightly more diversified. There is still some marshy +ground, still some level plain, but the low and gently rolling hills which +border the main mass of the Apennines extend at times down to the sea, and +even diversify its coast-line, broken by a low headland. This now and +again, as at Santa Marinella, is crowned by an old castle. All around much +evergreen scrub is seen, here growing in tufts among tracts of coarse +herbage, there expanding into actual thickets of considerable extent, and +the views sometimes become more varied, and even pretty. Santa Severa, a +large castle built of grey stone, with its keep-like group of higher +towers on its low crag overlooking the sea, reminds us of some old +fortress on the Fifeshire coast. Near this headland, so antiquarians say, +was Pyrgos, once the port of the Etruscan town of Cære, which lies away +among the hills at a distance of some half-dozen miles. Here and there +also a lonely old tower may be noticed along this part of the coast. These +recall to mind in their situation, though they are more picturesque in +their aspect, the Martello Towers on the southern coast of England. Like +them, they are a memorial of troublous times, when the invader was +dreaded. They were erected to protect the Tuscan coast from the descents +of the Moors, who for centuries were the dread of the Mediterranean. +Again and again these corsairs swooped down; now a small flotilla would +attack some weakly defended town; now a single ship would land its +boatload of pirates on some unguarded beach to plunder a neighboring +village or a few scattered farms, and would retreat from the raid with a +little spoil and a small band of captives, doomed to slavery, leaving +behind smoking ruins and bleeding corpses. It is strange to think how long +it was before perfect immunity was secured from these curses of the +Mediterranean. England, whatever her enemies may say, has done a few good +deeds in her time, and one of the best was when her fleet, under the +command of Admiral Pellew, shattered the forts of Algiers and burnt every +vessel of the pirate fleet. + +The scenery for a time continues to improve. The oak woods become higher, +the inland hills are more varied in outline and are forest-clad. Here +peeps out a crag, there a village or a castle. At Palo a large, +unattractive villa and a picturesque old castle overlook a fine line of +sea-beach, where the less wealthy classes in Rome come down for a breath +of fresh air in the hot days of summer. It also marks the site of Alsium, +where, in Roman times, one or two personages of note, of whom Pompey was +the most important, had country residences. For a time there is no more +level plain; the land everywhere shelves gently to the sea, covered with +wood or with coarse herbage. But before long there is another change, and +the great plain of the Tiber opens out before our eyes, extending on one +hand to the not distant sea, on the other to the hills of Rome. It is +flat, dreary, and unattractive, at any rate in the winter season, as is +the valley of the Nen below Peterborough, or of the Witham beyond the +Lincolnshire wolds. It is cut up by dykes, which are bordered by low +banks. Here and there herds of mouse-colored oxen with long horns are +feeding, and hay-ricks, round with low conical tops, are features more +conspicuous than cottages. The Tiber winds on its serpentine course +through this fenland plain, a muddy stream, which it was complimentary for +the Romans to designate _flavus_, unless that word meant a color anything +but attractive. One low tower in the distance marks the site of Porto, +another that of Ostia and near the latter a long grove of pines is a +welcome variation to the monotony of the landscape. + +These two towns have had their day of greatness. The former, as its name +implies, was once the port of Rome, and in the early days of Christianity +was a place of note. It was founded by Trajan, in the neighborhood of a +harbor constructed by Claudius; for this, like that of Ostia, which it was +designed to replace, was already becoming choked up. But though emperors +may propose, a river disposes, especially when its mud is in question. The +port of Trajan has long since met with the same fate; it is now only a +shallow basin two miles from the sea. Of late years considerable +excavations have been made at Porto on the estate of Prince Tortonia, to +whom the whole site belongs. The port constructed by Trajan was hexagonal +in form; it was surrounded by warehouses and communicated with the sea by +a canal. Between it and the outer or Claudian port a palace was built for +the emperor, and the remains of the wall erected by Constantine to protect +the harbor on the side of the land can still be seen. The only mediæval +antiquities which Porto contains are the old castle, which serves as the +episcopal palace, and the flower of the church of Santa Rufina, which is +at least as old as the tenth century. + +Ostia, which is a place of much greater antiquity than Porto, is not so +deserted, though its star declined as that of the other rose. Founded, as +some say, by Ancus Martius, it was the port of Rome until the first +century of the present era. Then the silting up of its communication with +the sea caused the transference of the commerce to Porto, but "the fame of +the temple of Castor and Pollux, the numerous villas of the Roman +patricians abundantly scattered along the coast, and the crowds of people +who frequented its shores for the benefit of sea bathing, sustained the +prosperity of the city for some time after the destruction of its harbor." +But at last it went down hill, and then invaders came. Once it had +contained eighty thousand inhabitants; in the days of the Medici it was a +poor village, and the people eked out their miserable existences by making +lime of the marbles of the ruined temples! So here the vandalism of +peasants, even more than of patricians, has swept away many a choice relic +of classic days. Villas and temples alike have been destroyed; the sea is +now at a distance; Ostia is but a small village, "one of the most +picturesque though melancholy sites near Rome," but during the greater +part of the present century careful excavations have been made, many +valuable art treasures have been unearthed, and a considerable portion of +the ancient city has been laid bare. Shops and dwellings, temples and +baths, the theater and the forum, with many a remnant of the ancient town, +can now be examined, and numerous antiquities of smaller size are +preserved in the museum at the old castle. This, with its strong bastions, +its lofty circular tower and huge machicolations, is a very striking +object as it rises above the plain "massive and gray against the +sky-line." It has been drawn by artists not a few, from Raffaelle, who saw +it when it had not very long been completed, down to the present time. + + + + +X + +VENICE + + Its early days--The Grand Canal and its palaces--Piazza of St. Mark--A + Venetian funeral--The long line of islands--Venetian glass--Torcello, + the ancient Altinum--Its two unique churches. + + +So long as Venice is unvisited a new sensation is among the possibilities +of life. There is no town like it in Europe. Amsterdam has its canals, but +Venice is all canals; Genoa has its palaces, but in Venice they are more +numerous and more beautiful. Its situation is unique, on a group of +islands in the calm lagoon. But the Venice of to-day is not the Venice of +thirty years ago. Even then a little of the old romance had gone, for a +long railway viaduct had linked it to the mainland. In earlier days it +could be reached only by a boat, for a couple of miles of salt water lay +between the city and the marshy border of the Paduan delta. Now Venice is +still more changed, and for the worse. The people seem more +poverty-stricken and pauperized. Its buildings generally, especially the +ordinary houses, look more dingy and dilapidated. The paint seems more +chipped, the plaster more peeled, the brickwork more rotten; everything +seems to tell of decadence, commercial and moral, rather than of +regeneration. In the case of the more important structures, indeed, the +effects of time have often been more than repaired. Here a restoration, +not seldom needless and ill-judged, has marred some venerable relic of +olden days with crude patches of color, due to modern reproductions of the +ancient and original work: the building has suffered, as it must be +admitted not a few of our own most precious heirlooms have suffered, from +the results of zeal untempered by discretion, and the destroyer has worked +his will under the guise of the restorer. + +The mosquito flourishes still in Venice as it did of yore. It would be too +much to expect that the winged representative of the genus should thrive +less in Italian freedom than under Austrian bondage, but something might +have been done to extirpate the two-legged species. He is present in force +in most towns south of the Alps, but he is nowhere so abundant or so +exasperating as in Venice. If there is one place in one town in Europe +where the visitor might fairly desire to possess his soul in peace and to +gaze in thoughtful wonder, it is in the great piazza, in front of the +façade, strange and beautiful as a dream, of the duomo of St. Mark. Halt +there and try to feast on its marvels, to worship in silence and in peace. +Vain illusion. There is no crowd of hurrying vehicles or throng of +hurrying men to interfere of necessity with your visions (there are often +more pigeons than people in the piazza), but up crawls a beggar, in +garments vermin-haunted, whining for "charity"; down swoop would-be +guides, volunteering useless suggestions in broken and barely intelligible +English; from this side and from that throng vendors of rubbish, +shell-ornaments, lace, paltry trinkets, and long ribands of photographic +"souvenirs," appalling in their ugliness. He who can stand five minutes +before San Marco and retain a catholic love of mankind must indeed be +blessed with a temper of much more than average amiability. + +The death of Rome was indirectly the birth of Venice. Here in the great +days of the Empire there was not, so far as we know, even a village. +Invaders came, the Adriatic littoral was wrecked; its salvage is to be +found among the islands of the lagoons. Aquileia went up in flames, the +cities of the Paduan delta trembled before the hordes of savage Huns, but +the islands of its coast held out a hope of safety. What in those days +these camps of refuge must have been can be inferred from the islands +which now border the mainland, low, marshy, overgrown by thickets, and +fringed by reeds; they were unhealthy, but only accessible by intricate +and difficult channels, and with little to tempt the spoiler. It was +better to risk fever in the lagoons than to be murdered or driven off into +slavery on the mainland. It was some time before Venice took the lead +among these scattered settlements. It became the center of government in +the year 810, but it was well-nigh two centuries before the Venetian State +attained to any real eminence. Towards this, the first and perhaps the +most important step was crushing the Istrian and Dalmatian pirates. This +enabled the Republic to become a great "Adriatic and Oriental Company," +and to get into their hands the carrying trade to the East. The men of +Venice were both brave and shrewd, something like our Elizabethan +forefathers, mighty on sea and land, but men of understanding also in the +arts of peace. She did battle with Genoa for commercial supremacy, with +the Turk for existence. She was too strong for the former, but the latter +at last wore her out, and Lepanto was one of her latest and least fruitful +triumphs. Still, it was not till the end of the sixteenth century that a +watchful eye could detect the symptoms of senile decay. Then Venice +tottered gradually to its grave. Its slow disintegration occupied more +than a century and a half; but the French Revolution indirectly caused the +collapse of Venice, for its last doge abdicated, and the city was occupied +by Napoleon in 1797. After his downfall Venetia was handed over to +Austria, and found in the Hapsburg a harsh and unsympathetic master. It +made a vain struggle for freedom in 1848, but was at last ceded to Italy +after the Austro-Prussian war in 1866. + +The city is built upon a group of islands; its houses are founded on +piles, for there is no really solid ground. How far the present canals +correspond with the original channels between small islands, how far they +are artificial, it is difficult to say; but whether the original islets +were few or many, there can be no doubt that they were formerly divided by +the largest, or the Grand Canal, the _Rio Alto_ or Deep Stream. This takes +an S-like course, and parts the city roughly into two halves. The side +canals, which are very numerous, for the town is said to occupy one +hundred and fourteen islands, are seldom wider, often rather narrower than +a by-street in the City of London. In Venice, as has often been remarked, +not a cart or a carriage, not even a coster's donkey-cart, can be used. +Streets enough there are, but they are narrow and twisting, very like the +courts in the heart of London. The carriage, the cab, and the omnibus are +replaced by the gondolas. These it is needless to describe, for who does +not know them? One consequence of this substitution of canals for streets +is that the youthful Venetian takes to the water like a young duck to a +pond, and does not stand much on ceremony, in the matter of taking off +his clothes. Turn into a side canal on a summer's day, and one may see the +younger members of a family all bathing from their own doorstep, the +smallest one, perhaps, to prevent accidents, being tied by a cord to a +convenient ring; nay, sometimes as we are wandering through one of the +narrow _calle_ (alleys) we hear a soft patter of feet, something damp +brushes past, and a little Venetian lad, lithe and black-eyed, +bare-legged, bare-backed, and all but bare-breeched, shoots past as he +makes a short cut to his clothes across a block of buildings, round which +he cannot yet manage to swim. + +In such a city as Venice it is hard to praise one view above another. +There is the noble sweep of the Grand Canal, with its palaces; there are +many groups of buildings on a less imposing scale, but yet more +picturesque, on the smaller canals, often almost every turn brings some +fresh surprise; but there are two views which always rise up in my mind +before all others whenever my thoughts turn to Venice, more especially as +it used to be. One is the view of the façade of San Marco from the Piazza. +I shall make no apology for quoting words which describe more perfectly +than my powers permit the impressions awakened by this dream-like +architectural conception. "Beyond those troops of ordered arches there +rises a vision out of the earth, and all the great square seems to have +opened from it in a kind of awe, that we may see it far away: a multitude +of pillars and white domes clustered into a long, low pyramid of colored +light, a treasure-heap, as it seems, partly of gold and partly of opal and +mother-of-pearl, hollowed beneath into five great vaulted porches, ceiled +with fair mosaic and beset with sculptures of alabaster, clear as amber +and delicate as ivory; sculpture fantastic and involved, of palm-leaves +and lilies, and grapes and pomegranates, and birds clinging and fluttering +among the branches, all twined together into an endless network of buds +and plumes, and, in the midst of it, the solemn forms of angels, sceptered +and robed to the feet, and leaning to each other across the gates, their +features indistinct among the gleaming of the golden ground through the +leaves beside them, interrupted and dim, like the morning light as it +faded back among the branches of Eden when first its gates were +angel-guarded long ago. And round the walls of the porches there are set +pillars of variegated stones, jasper and porphyry, and deep-green +serpentine, spotted with flakes of snow, and marbles that half refuse and +half yield to the sunshine, Cleopatra-like, 'their bluest veins to kiss,' +the shadow as it steals back from them revealing line after line of azure +undulation, as a receding tide leaves the waved sand: their capitals rich +with interwoven tracery, rooted knots of herbage, and drifting leaves of +acanthus and vine, and mystical signs all beginning and ending in the +Cross: and above them in the broad archivolts a continuous chain of +language and of life, angels and the signs of heaven and the labors of +men, each in its appointed season upon the earth; and above them another +range of glittering pinnacles, mixed with white arches edged with scarlet +flowers, a confusion of delight, among which the breasts of the Greek +horses are seen blazing in their breadth of golden strength, and the St. +Mark's lion, lifted on a blue field covered with stars, until at last, as +if in ecstasy, the crests of the arches break into a marble foam, and toss +themselves far into the blue sky in flashes and wreaths of sculptured +spray, as if the breakers on the Lido shore had been frost-bound before +they fell, and the sea-nymphs had inlaid them with coral and amethyst."[4] + +This is San Marco as it was. Eight centuries had harmed it little; they +had but touched the building with a gentle hand and had mellowed its tints +into tender harmony; now its new masters, cruel in their kindness, have +restored the mosaics and scraped the marbles; now raw blotches and patches +of crude color glare out in violent contrast with those parts which, owing +to the intricacy of the carved work, or some other reason, it has been +found impossible to touch. To look at St. Mark's now is like listening to +some symphony by a master of harmony which is played on instruments all +out of tune. + +Photographs, pictures, illustrations of all kinds, have made St. Mark's so +familiar to all the world that it is needless to attempt to give any +description of its details. + +It may suffice to say that the cathedral stands on the site of a smaller +and older building, in which the relics of St. Mark, the tutelary saint of +Venice, had been already enshrined. The present structure was begun about +the year 976, and occupied very nearly a century in building. But it is +adorned with the spoils of many a classic structure: with columns and +slabs of marble and of porphyry and of serpentine, which were hewn from +quarries in Greece and Syria, in Egypt and Libya, by the hands of Roman +slaves, and decked the palaces and the baths, the temples and the theaters +of Roman cities. + +The inside of St. Mark's is not less strange and impressive, but hardly so +attractive as the exterior. It is plain in outline and almost heavy in +design, a Greek cross in plan, with a vaulted dome above the center and +each arm. Much as the exterior of St. Mark's owes to marble, porphyry, +and mosaic, it would be beautiful if constructed only of grey limestone. +This could hardly be said of the interior: take away the choice stones +from columns and dado and pavement, strip away the crust of mosaic, those +richly robed figures on ground of gold, from wall and from vault (for the +whole interior is veneered with marbles or mosaics), and only a rather +dark, massive building would remain, which would seem rather lower and +rather smaller than one had been led to expect. + +The other view in Venice which seems to combine best its peculiar +character with its picturesque beauty may be obtained at a very short +distance from St. Mark's. Leave the façade of which we have just spoken, +the three great masts, with their richly ornamented sockets of bronze, +from which, in the proud days of Venice, floated the banners of Candia, +Cyprus, and the Morea; turn from the Piazza into the Piazzetta; leave on +the one hand the huge Campanile, more huge than beautiful (if one may +venture to whisper a criticism), on the other the sumptuous portico of the +Ducal Palace; pass on beneath the imposing façade of the palace itself, +with its grand colonnade; on between the famous columns, brought more than +seven centuries since from some Syrian ruins, which bear the lion of St. +Mark and the statue of St. Theodore, the other patron of the Republic; and +then, standing on the Molo at the head of the Riva degli Schiavoni, look +around; or better still, step down into one of the gondolas which are in +waiting at the steps, and push off a few dozen yards from the land: then +look back on the façade of the Palace and the Bridge of Sighs, along the +busy quays of the Riva, towards the green trees of the Giardini Publici, +look up the Piazzetta, between the twin columns, to the glimpses of St. +Mark's and the towering height of the Campanile, along the façade of the +Royal Palace, with the fringe of shrubbery below contrasting pleasantly +with all these masses of masonry, up the broad entrance to the Grand +Canal, between its rows of palaces, across it to the great dome of Santa +Maria della Salute and the Dogana della Mare, with its statue of Fortune +(appropriate to the past rather than to the present) gazing out from its +seaward angle. Beyond this, yet farther away, lies the Isola San Giorgio, +a group of plain buildings only, a church, with a dome simple in outline +and a brick campanile almost without adornment, yet the one thing in +Venice, after the great group of St. Mark; this is a silent witness to its +triumphs in presses itself on the mind. From this point of view Venice +rises before our eyes in its grandeur and in its simplicity, in its +patrician and its plebeian aspects, as "a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean, +throned on her hundred isles ... a ruler of the waters and their powers." + +[Illustration] + +But to leave Venice without a visit to the Grand Canal would be to leave +the city with half the tale untold. Its great historic memories are +gathered around the Piazza of St. Mark; this is a silent witness to its +triumphs in peace and in war, to the deeds noble and brave, of its rulers. +But the Grand Canal is the center of its life, commercial and domestic; it +leads from its quays to its Exchange, from the Riva degli Schiavoni and +the Dogana della Mare to the Rialto. It is bordered by the palaces of the +great historic families who were the rulers and princes of Venice, who +made the State by their bravery and prudence, who destroyed it by their +jealousies and self-seeking. The Grand Canal is a genealogy of Venice, +illustrated and engraved on stone. As one glides along in a gondola, +century after century in the history of domestic architecture, from the +twelfth to the eighteenth, slowly unrolls itself before us. There are +palaces which still remain much as they were of old, but here and there +some modern structure, tasteless and ugly, has elbowed for itself a place +among them; not a few, also, have been converted into places of business, +and are emblazoned with prominent placards proclaiming the trade of their +new masters, worthy representatives of an age that is not ashamed to daub +the cliffs of the St. Gothard with the advertisements of hotels and to +paint its boulders for the benefit of vendors of chocolate! + +But in the present era one must be thankful for anything that is spared by +the greed of wealth and the vulgarity of a "democracy." Much of old Venice +still remains, though little steamers splutter up and down the Grand +Canal, and ugly iron bridges span its waters, both, it must be admitted, +convenient, though hideous; still the gondolas survive; still one hears at +every corner the boatman's strange cry of warning, sometimes the only +sound except the knock of the oar that breaks the silence of the liquid +street. Every turn reveals something quaint and old-world. Now it is a +market-boat, with its wicker panniers hanging outside, loaded with fish or +piled with vegetables from one of the more distant islets; now some little +bridge, now some choice architectural fragment, a doorway, a turret, an +oriel, or a row of richly ornate windows, now a tiny piazzetta leading up +to the façade and campanile of a more than half-hidden church; now the +marble enclosure of a well. Still the water-carriers go about with buckets +of hammered copper hung at each end of a curved pole; still, though more +rarely, some quaint costume may be seen in the _calle_; still the dark +shops in the narrow passages are full of goods strange to the eye, and +bright in their season with the flowers and fruits of an Italian summer; +still the purple pigeons gather in scores at the wonted hour to be fed on +the Piazza of St. Mark, and, fearless of danger, convert the distributor +of a pennyworth of maize into a walking dovecot. + +Still Venice is delightful to the eyes (unhappily not always so to the +nose in many a nook and corner) notwithstanding the pressure of poverty +and the wantonness of restorers. Perchance it may revive and yet see +better days (its commerce is said to have increased since 1866); but if +so, unless a change comes over the spirit of the age, the result will be +the more complete destruction of all that made its charm and its wonder; +so this chapter may appropriately be closed by a brief sketch of one scene +which seems in harmony with the memories of its departed greatness, a +Venetian funeral. The dead no longer rest among the living beneath the +pavement of the churches: the gondola takes the Venetian "about the +streets" to the daily business of life; it bears him away from his home to +the island cemetery. From some narrow alley, muffled by the enclosing +masonry, comes the sound of a funeral march; a procession emerges on to +the piazzetta by the water-side; the coffin is carried by long-veiled +acolytes and mourners with lighted torches, accompanied by a brass band +with clanging cymbals. A large gondola, ornamented with black and silver, +is in waiting at the nearest landing place; the band and most of the +attendants halt by the water-side; the coffin is placed in the boat, the +torches are extinguished; a wilder wail of melancholy music, a more +resonant clang of the cymbals, sounds the last farewell to home and its +pleasures and its work; the oars are dipped in the water, and another +child of Venice is taken from the city of the living to the city of the +dead. + +A long line of islands completely shelters Venice from the sea, so that +the waters around its walls are very seldom ruffled into waves. The tide +also rises and falls but little, not more than two or three feet, if so +much. Thus no banks of pestiferous mud are laid bare at low water by the +ebb and flow, and yet some slight circulation is maintained in the canals, +which, were it not for this, would be as intolerable as cesspools. Small +boats can find their way over most parts of the lagoon, where in many +places a safe route has to be marked out with stakes, but for large +vessels the channels are few. A long island, Malamocco by name, intervenes +between Venice and the Adriatic, on each side of which are the chief if +not the only entrances for large ships. At its northern end is the sandy +beach of the Lido, a great resort of the Venetians, for there is good +sea-bathing. But except this, Malamocco has little to offer; there is more +interest in other parts of the lagoon. At the southern end, some fifteen +miles away, the old town of Chioggia is a favorite excursion. On the sea +side the long fringe of narrow islands, of which Malamocco is one, +protected by massive walls, forms a barrier against the waves of the +Adriatic. On the land side is the dreary fever-haunted region of the +_Laguna Morta_, like a vast fen, beyond which rise the serrate peaks of +the Alps and the broken summits of the Euganean Hills. The town itself, +the Roman Fossa Claudia, is a smaller edition of Venice, joined like it to +the mainland by a bridge. If it has fewer relics of architectural value it +has suffered less from modern changes, and has retained much more of its +old-world character. + +Murano, an island or group of islands, is a tiny edition of Venice, and a +much shorter excursion, for it lies only about a mile and a half away to +the north of the city. Here is the principal seat of the workers in glass; +here are made those exquisite reproductions of old Venetian glass and of +ancient mosaic which have made the name of Salviati noted in all parts of +Europe. Here, too, is a cathedral which, though it has suffered from time, +neglect and restoration, is still a grand relic. At the eastern end there +is a beautiful apse enriched by an arcade and decorated with inlaid +marbles, but the rest of the exterior is plain. As usual in this part of +Italy (for the external splendor of St. Mark's is exceptional) all +richness of decoration is reserved for the interior. Here columns of +choice stones support the arches; there is a fine mosaic in the eastern +apse, but the glory of Murano is its floor, a superb piece of _opus +Alexandrinum_, inlaid work of marbles and porphyries, bearing date early +in the eleventh century, and richer in design than even that at St. +Mark's, for peacocks and other birds, with tracery of strange design, are +introduced into its patterns. + +But there is another island beyond Murano, some half-dozen miles away from +Venice, which must not be left unvisited. It is reached by a delightful +excursion over the lagoon, among lonely islands thinly inhabited, the +garden grounds of Venice, where they are not left to run wild with rank +herbage or are covered by trees. This is Torcello, the ancient Altinum. +Here was once a town of note, the center of the district when Venice was +struggling into existence. Its houses now are few and ruinous; the ground +is half overgrown with populars and acacias and pomegranates, red in +summer-time with scarlet flowers. But it possesses two churches which, +though small in size are almost unique in their interest, the duomo, +dedicated to St. Mary, and the church of Sta. Fosca. They stand side by +side, and are linked together by a small cloister. The former is a plain +basilica which retains its ancient plan and arrangement almost intact. At +one end is an octagonal baptistry, which, instead of being separated from +the cathedral by an _atrium_ or court, is only divided from it by a +passage. The exterior of the cathedral is plain; the interior is not much +more ornate. Ancient columns, with quaintly carved capitals supporting +stilted semicircular arches, divide the aisles from the nave. Each of +these has an apsidal termination. The high altar stands in the center of +the middle one, and behind it, against the wall, the marble throne of the +bishop is set up on high, and is approached by a long flight of marble +steps. On each side, filling up the remainder of the curve, six rows of +steps rise up like the seats of an amphitheater, the places of the +attendant priests. The chancel, true to its name, is formed by enclosing a +part of the nave with a low stone wall and railing. Opinions differ as to +the date of this cathedral. According to Fergusson it was erected early in +the eleventh century, but it stands on the site of one quite four +centuries older, and reproduces the arrangement of its predecessor if it +does not actually incorporate portions of it. Certainly the columns and +capitals in the nave belong, as a rule, to an earlier building. Indeed, +they have probably done duty more than once, and at least some of them +were sculptured before the name of Attila had been heard of in the delta +of the North Italian rivers. + +The adjoining church of Sta. Fosca is hardly less interesting. An +octagonal case, with apses at the eastern end, supports a circular drum, +which is covered by a low conical roof, and a cloister or corridor +surrounds the greater part of the church. This adds much to the beauty of +the design, the idea, as Fergusson remarks, being evidently borrowed from +the circular colonnades of the Roman temples. He also justly praises the +beauty of the interior. In this church also, which in its present +condition is not so old as the cathedral, the materials of a much older +building or buildings have been employed. But over these details or the +mosaics in the cathedral we must not linger, and must only pause to +mention the curious stone chair in the adjacent court which bears the name +of the throne of Attila; perhaps, like the chair of the Dukes of +Corinthia, it was the ancient seat of the chief magistrate of the island. + + + + +XI + +ALEXANDRIA + + The bleak and barren shores of the Nile Delta--Peculiar shape of the + city--Strange and varied picture of Alexandrian street life--The Place + Mehemet Ali--Glorious panorama from the Cairo citadel--Pompey's + Pillar--The Battle of the Nile--Discovery of the famous inscribed + stone at Rosetta--Port Said and the Suez Canal. + + +It is with a keen sense of disappointment that the traveller first sights +the monotonous and dreary-looking Egyptian sea-board. The low ridges of +desolate sandhills, occasionally broken by equally unattractive lagunes, +form a melancholy contrast to the beautiful scenery of the North African +littoral farther west, which delighted his eyes a short time before, while +skirting the Algerian coast. What a change from the thickly-wooded hills +gently sloping upwards from the water's edge to the lower ridges of the +Atlas range, whose snow-clad peaks stand out clear in the brilliant +atmosphere, the landscape diversified with cornfields and olive groves, +and thickly studded with white farmhouses, looking in the distance but +white specks, and glittering like diamonds under the glowing rays of the +sun. Now, instead of all this warmth of color and variety of outline, one +is confronted by the bleak and barren shores of the Nile Delta. + +If the expectant traveller is so disenchanted with his first view of +Egypt from the sea, still greater is his disappointment as the ship +approaches the harbor. This bustling and painfully modern-looking +town--the city of the great Alexander, and the gate of that land of +oriental romance and fascinating association--might, but for an occasional +palm-tree or minaret standing out among the mass of European buildings, be +mistaken for some flourishing European port, say a Marseilles or Havre +plumped down on the Egyptian plain. + +But though we must not look for picturesque scenery and romantic +surroundings in this thriving port, there is yet much to interest the +antiquarian and the "intelligent tourist" in this classic district. The +Delta sea-board was for centuries the battle-ground of the Greek and Roman +Empires, and the country between Alexandria and Port Said is strewed with +historic sites. + +Alexandria itself, though a much Europeanized and a hybrid sort of city, +is not without interest. It has been rather neglected by Egyptian travel +writers, and consequently by the tourist, who rarely strikes out a line +for himself. It is looked upon too much as the port of Cairo, just as +Leghorn is of Pisa and Florence, and visitors usually content themselves +with devoting to it but one day, and then rushing off by train to Cairo. + +It would be absurd, of course, to compare Alexandria, in point of +artistic, antiquarian, and historical interest, to this latter city; +though, as a matter of fact, Cairo is a modern city compared to the +Alexandria of Alexander; just as Alexandria is but of mushroom growth +contrasted with Heliopolis, Thebes, Memphis, or the other dead cities of +the Nile Valley of which traces still remain. It has often been remarked +that the ancient city has bequeathed nothing but its ruins and its name +to Alexandria of to-day. Even these ruins are deplorably scanty, and most +of the sites are mainly conjectural. Few vestiges remain of the +architectural splendor of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Where are now the 4,000 +palaces, the 4,000 baths, and the 400 theaters, about which the conquering +general Amru boasted to his master, the Caliph Omar? What now remains of +the magnificent temple of Serapis, towering over the city on its platform +of one hundred steps? Though there are scarcely any traces of the glories +of ancient Alexandria, once the second city of the Empire, yet the +recollection of its splendors has not died out, and to the thoughtful +traveller this city of memories has its attractions. Here St. Mark +preached the Gospel and suffered martyrdom, and here Athanasius opposed in +warlike controversy the Arian heresies. Here for many centuries were +collected in this center of Greek learning and culture the greatest +intellects of the civilized world. Here Cleopatra, "vainqueur des +vainqueurs du monde," held Antony willing captive, while Octavius was +preparing his legions to crush him. Here Amru conquered, and here +Abercrombie fell. Even those whose tastes do not incline them to +historical or theological researches are familiar, thanks to Kingsley's +immortal romance, with the story of the noble-minded Hypatia and the +crafty and ambitious Cyril, and can give rein to their imagination by +verifying the sites of the museum where she lectured, and the Cæsarum +where she fell a victim to the atrocious zeal of Peter the Reader and his +rabble of fanatical monks. + +The peculiar shape of the city, built partly on the Pharos Island and +peninsula, and partly on the mainland, is due, according to the +chroniclers, to a patriotic whim of the founder, who planned the city in +the form of a chlamys, the short cloak or tunic worn by the Macedonian +soldiers. The modern city, though it has pushed its boundaries a good way +to the east and west, still preserves this curious outline, though to a +non-classical mind it rather suggests a star-fish. Various legends are +extant to account for the choice of this particular spot for a +Mediterranean port. According to the popular version, a venerable seer +appeared to the Great Conqueror in a dream, and quoted those lines of the +Odyssey which describe the one sheltered harbor on the northern coast of +Egypt:--"a certain island called Pharos, that with the high-waved sea is +washed, just against Egypt." Acting on this supernatural hint, Alexander +decided to build his city on that part of the coast to which the Pharos +isle acted as a natural breakwater, and where a small Greek fishing +settlement was already established, called Rhacotis. The legend is +interesting, but it seems scarcely necessary to fall back on a mythical +story to account for the selection of this site. The two great aims of +Alexander were the foundation of a center for trade, and the extension of +commerce, and also the fusion of the Greek and Roman nations. For the +carrying out of these objects, the establishment of a convenient sea-port +with a commanding position at the mouth of the Nile was required. The +choice of a site a little west of the Nile mouths was, no doubt, due to +his knowledge of the fact that the sea current sets eastward, and that the +alluvial soil brought down by the Nile would soon choke a harbor excavated +east of the river, as had already happened at Pelusium. It is this +alluvial wash which has rendered the harbors of Rosetta and Damietta +almost useless for vessels of any draught, and at Port Said the +accumulation of sand necessitates continuous dredging in order to keep +clear the entrance of the Suez Canal. + +A well-known writer on Egypt has truly observed that there are three +Egypts to interest the traveller. The Egypt of the Pharoahs and the Bible, +the Egypt of the Caliphates and the "Arabian Nights," and the Egypt of +European commerce and enterprise. It is to this third stage of +civilization that the fine harbor of Alexandria bears witness. Not only is +it of interest to the engineer and the man of science, but it is also of +great historic importance. It serves as a link between ancient and modern +civilization. The port is Alexander the Great's best monument--"si quæris +monumentum respice." But for this, Alexandria might now be a little +fishing port of no more importance than the little Greek fishing village, +Rhacotis, whose ruins lie buried beneath its spacious quays. It is not +inaccurate to say that the existing harbor is the joint work of Alexander +and English engineers of the present century. It was originally formed by +the construction of a vast mole (Heptastadion) joining the island of +Pharos to the mainland; and this stupendous feat of engineering, planned +and carried out by Alexander, has been supplemented by the magnificent +breakwater constructed by England in 1872, at a cost of over two and a +half millions sterling. After Marseilles, Malta, and Spezzia, it is +perhaps the finest port in the Mediterranean, both on account of its +natural advantages as a haven, and by reason of the vast engineering works +mentioned above. The western harbor (formerly called Eunostos or "good +home sailing") of which we are speaking--for the eastern, or so-called new +harbor, is choked with sand and given up to native craft--has only one +drawback in the dangerous reef at its entrance, and which should have been +blasted before the breakwater and the other engineering works were +undertaken. The passage through the bar is very intricate and difficult, +and is rarely attempted in very rough weather. The eastern harbor will be +of more interest to the artist, crowded as it is with the picturesque +native craft and dahabyehs with their immense lateen sails. The traveller, +so disgusted with the modern aspect of the city from the western harbor, +finds some consolation here, and begins to feel that he is really in the +East. Formerly this harbor was alone available for foreign ships, the +bigoted Moslems objecting to the "Frankish dogs" occupying their best +haven. This restriction has, since the time of Mehemet Ali, been removed, +greatly to the advantage of Alexandrian trade. + +During the period of Turkish misrule--when Egypt under the Mamelukes, +though nominally a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, was practically under +the dominion of the Beys--the trade of Alexandria had declined +considerably, and Rosetta had taken away most of its commerce. When +Mehemet Ali, the founder of the present dynasty, rose to power, his clear +intellect at once comprehended the importance of this ancient emporium, +and the wisdom of Alexander's choice of a site for the port which was +destined to become the commercial center of three continents. + +Mehemet is the creator of modern Alexandria. He deepened the harbor, which +had been allowed to be choked by the accumulation of sand, lined it with +spacious quays, built the massive forts which protect the coast, and +restored the city to its old commercial importance, by putting it into +communication with the Nile through the medium of the Mahmoudiyeh Canal. +This vast undertaking was only effected with great loss of life. It was +excavated by the forced labor of 250,000 peasants, of whom some 20,000 +died from the heat and the severe toil. + +On landing from the steamer the usual scrimmage with Arab porters, +Levantine hotel touts, and Egyptian donkey boys, will have to be endured +by the traveller. He may perhaps be struck, if he has any time or temper +left for reflection at all, with the close connection between the English +world of fashion and the donkey, so far at least as nomenclature is +concerned, each animal being named after some English celebrity. The +inseparable incidents of disembarkation at an Eastern port are, however, +familiar to all who have visited the East; and the same scenes are +repeated at every North African port, from Tangier to Port Said, and need +not be further described. + +The great thoroughfare of Alexandria, a fine street running in a straight +line from the western gate of the city to the Place Mehemet Ali, is within +a few minutes of the quay. A sudden turn and this strange mingling of +Eastern and Western life bursts upon the spectator's astonished gaze. This +living diorama, formed by the brilliant and ever-shifting crowd, is in its +way unique. A greater variety of nationalities is collected here than even +in Constantinople or cosmopolitan Algiers. Let us stand aside and watch +this motley collection of all nations, kindreds, and races pouring along +this busy highway. The kaleidoscopic variety of brilliant color and +fantastic costume seems at first a little bewildering. Solemn and +impassive-looking Turks gently ambling past on gaily caparisoned asses, +grinning negroes from the Nubian hills, melancholy-looking fellahs in +their scanty blue kaftans, cunning-featured Levantines, green-turbaned +Shereefs, and picturesque Bedouins from the desert stalking along in +their flowing bernouses, make up the mass of this restless throng. +Interspersed, and giving variety of color to this living kaleidoscope, +gorgeously-arrayed Jews, fierce-looking Albanians, their many-colored +sashes bristling with weapons, and petticoated Greeks. Then, as a pleasing +relief to this mass of color, a group of Egyptian ladies glide past, "a +bevy of fair damsels richly dight," no doubt, but their faces, as well as +their rich attire, concealed under the inevitable yashmak surmounting the +balloon-like trousers. Such are the elements in this mammoth masquerade +which make up the strange and varied picture of Alexandrian street life. +And now we may proceed to visit the orthodox sights, but we have seen the +greatest sight Alexandria has to show us. + +[Illustration] + +The Place Mehemet Ali, usually called for the sake of brevity the Grand +Square, is close at hand. This is the center of the European quarter, and +round it are collected the banks, consular offices, and principal shops. +This square, the focus of the life of modern Alexandria, is appropriately +named after the founder of the present dynasty, and the creator of the +Egypt of to-day. To this great ruler, who at one time bid fair to become +the founder, not only of an independent kingdom, but of a great Oriental +Empire, Alexandria owes much of its prosperity and commercial importance. +The career of Mehemet Ali is interesting and romantic. There is a certain +similarity between his history and that of Napoleon I., and the +coincidence seems heightened when we remember that they were born in the +same year. Each, rising from an obscure position, started as an adventurer +on foreign soil, and each rose to political eminence by force of arms. +Unlike Napoleon, however, in one important point, Mehemet Ali founded a +dynasty which still remains in power, in spite of the weakness and +incapacity of his successors. To Western minds, perhaps, his great claim +to hold a high rank in the world's history lies in his efforts to +introduce European institutions and methods of civilization, and to +establish a system of government opposed to Mohammedan instincts. He +created an army and navy which were partly based on European models, +stimulated agriculture and trade, and organized an administrative and +fiscal system which did much towards putting the country on a sound +financial footing. The great blot of his reign was no doubt the horrible +massacre of the Mameluke Beys, and this has been the great point of attack +by his enemies and detractors. It is difficult to excuse this oriental +example of a _coup d'état_, but it must be remembered that the existence +of this rebellious element was incompatible with the maintenance of his +rule, and that the peace of the country was as much endangered by the +Mameluke Beys as was that of the Porte by the Janissaries a few years +later, when a somewhat similar atrocity was perpetrated. + +In the middle of the square stands a handsome equestrian statue of Mehemet +Ali which is, in one respect, probably unique. The Mohammedan religion +demands the strictest interpretation of the injunction in the decalogue +against making "to thyself any craven image," and consequently a statue to +a follower of the creed of Mahomet is rarely seen in a Mohammedan country. +The erection of this particular monument was much resented by the more +orthodox of the Mussulman population of Alexandria, and the religious +feelings of the mob manifested themselves in riots and other hostile +demonstrations. Not only representations in stone or metal, but any kind +of likeness of the human form is thought impious by Mohammedans. They +believe that the author will be compelled on the Resurrection Day to indue +with life the sacrilegious counterfeit presentment. Tourists in Egypt who +are addicted to sketching, or who dabble in photography, will do well to +remember these conscientious scruples of the Moslem race, and not let +their zeal for bringing back pictorial mementoes of their travels induce +them to take "snapshots" of mosque interiors, for instance. In Egypt, no +doubt, the natives have too wholesome a dread of the Franks to manifest +their outraged feelings by physical force, but still it is ungenerous, not +to say unchristian, to wound people's religious prejudices. In some other +countries of North Africa, notably in the interior of Morocco or Tripoli, +promiscuous photography might be attended with disagreeable results, if +not a certain amount of danger. A tourist would find a Kodak camera, even +with all the latest improvements, a somewhat inefficient weapon against a +mob of fanatical Arabs. + +That imposing pile standing out so prominently on the western horn of +Pharos is the palace of Ras-et-Teen, built by Mehemet Ali, and restored in +execrable taste by his grandson, the ex-Khedive Ismail. Seen from the +ship's side, the palace has a rather striking appearance. The exterior, +however, is the best part of it, as the ornate and gaudy interior contains +little of interest. From the upper balconies there is a good view of the +harbor, and the gardens are well worth visiting. They are prettily laid +out, and among many other trees, olives may be seen, unknown in any other +part of the Delta. The decorations and appointments of the interior are +characterized by a tawdry kind of magnificence. The incongruous mixture of +modern French embellishments and oriental splendor gives the saloons a +meretricious air, and the effect is bizarre and unpleasing. It is a relief +to get away from such obtrusive evidences of the ex-Khedive's decorative +tastes, by stepping out on the balcony. What a forest of masts meets the +eye as one looks down on the vast harbor; the inner one, a "sea within a +sea," crowded with vessels bearing the flags of all nations, and full of +animation and movement. + +The view is interesting, and makes one realize the commercial importance +of this great emporium of trade, the meeting-place of the commerce of +three continents, yet it does not offer many features to distinguish it +from a view of any other thriving port. + +For the best view of the city and the surrounding country we must climb +the slopes of Mount Caffarelli to the fort which crowns the summit, or +make our way to the fortress Kom-el-Deek on the elevated ground near the +Rosetta Gate. Alexandria, spread out like a map, lies at our feet. At this +height the commonplace aspect of a bustling and thriving seaport, which +seems on a close acquaintance to be Europeanized and modernized out of the +least resemblance to an oriental city, is changed to a prospect of some +beauty. At Alexandria, even more than at most cities of the East, distance +lends enchantment to the view. From these heights the squalid back streets +and the bustling main thoroughfares look like dark threads woven into the +web of the city, relieved by the white mosques, with their swelling domes +curving inward like fan palms towards the crescents flashing in the rays +of the sun, and their tall graceful minarets piercing the smokeless and +cloudless atmosphere. The subdued roar of the busy streets and quays is +occasionally varied by the melodious cry of the muezzin. Then looking +northward one sees the clear blue of the Mediterranean, till it is lost +in the hazy horizon. To the west and south the placid waters of the +Mareotis Lake, in reality a shallow and insalubrious lagoon, but to all +appearances a smiling lake, which, with its water fringed by the low-lying +sand dunes, reminds the spectator of the peculiar beauties of the Norfolk +Broads. + +Looking south beyond the lake lies the luxuriant plain of the Delta. The +view may not be what is called picturesque, but the scenery has its +special charm. The country is no doubt flat and monotonous, but there is +no monotony of color in this richly cultivated plain. + +Innumerable pens have been worn out in comparison and simile when +describing the peculiar features of this North African Holland. To some +this huge market garden with its network of canals, simply suggests a +chess-board. Others are not content with these prosaic comparisons, and +their more fanciful metaphor likens the country to a green robe interwoven +with silver threads, or to a seven-ribbed fan, the ribs being of course +the seven mouths of the Nile. Truth to tell, though, the full force of +this fanciful image would be more felt by a spectator who is enjoying that +glorious panorama from the Cairo citadel, as the curious triangular form +of the Delta is much better seen from that point than from Alexandria at +the base of the triangle. + +One may differ as to the most appropriate metaphors, but all must agree +that there are certain elements of beauty about the Delta landscape. Seen, +as most tourists do see it, in winter or spring, the green fields of +waving corn and barley, the meadows of water-melons and cucumbers, the +fields of pea and purple lupin one mass of colors, interspersed with the +palm-groves and white minarets, which mark the site of the almost +invisible mud villages, and intersected thickly with countless canals and +trenches that in the distance look like silver threads, and suggest +Brobdignagian filigree work, or the delicate tracery of King Frost on our +window-panes, the view is impressive and not without beauty. + +In the summer and early autumn, especially during August and September +when the Nile is at its height, the view is more striking though hardly so +beautiful. Then it is that this Protean country offers its most impressive +aspect. The Delta becomes an inland archipelago studded with green +islands, each island crowned with a white-mosqued village, or conspicuous +with a cluster of palms. The Nile and its swollen tributaries are covered +with huge-sailed dahabyehs, which give life and variety to the watery +expanse. + +Alexandria can boast of few "lions" as the word is usually understood, but +of these by far the most interesting is the column known by the name of +Pompey's Pillar. Everyone has heard of the famous monolith, which is as +closely associated in people's minds with Alexandria as the Colosseum is +with Rome, or the Alhambra with Granada. It has, of course, no more to do +with the Pompey of history (to whom it is attributed by the unlettered +tourist) than has Cleopatra's Needle with that famous Queen, the "Serpent +of Old Nile"; or Joseph's Well at Cairo with the Hebrew Patriarch. It owes +its name to the fact that a certain prefect, named after Cæsar's great +rival, erected on the summit of an existing column a statue in honor of +the horse of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. There is a familiar legend +which has been invented to account for the special reason of its erection, +which guide-book compilers are very fond of. According to this story, +this historic animal, through an opportune stumble, stayed the persecution +of the Alexandrian Christians, as the tyrannical emperor had sworn to +continue the massacre till the blood of the victims reached his horse's +knees. Antiquarians and Egyptologists are, however, given to scoffing at +the legend as a plausible myth. + +In the opinion of many learned authorities, the shaft of this column was +once a portion of the Serapeum, that famous building which was both a +temple of the heathen god Serapis and a vast treasure-house of ancient +civilization. It has been suggested--in order to account for its omission +in the descriptions of Alexandria, given by Pliny and Strabo, who had +mentioned the two obelisks of Cleopatra--that the column had fallen, and +that the Prefect Pompey had merely re-erected it in honor of Diocletian, +and replaced the statue of Serapis with one of the Emperor--or of his +horse, according to some chroniclers. This statute, if it ever existed, +has now disappeared. As it stands, however, it is a singularly striking +and beautiful monument, owing to its great height, simplicity of form, and +elegant proportions. It reminds the spectator a little of Nelson's Column +in Trafalgar Square, and perhaps the absence of a statue is not altogether +to be regretted considering the height of the column, as it might suggest +to the irrepressible tourists who scoff at Nelson's statue as the +"Mast-headed Admiral," some similar witticism at the expense of +Diocletian. + +With the exception of this monolith, which, "a solitary column, mourns +above its prostrate brethren," only a few fragmentary and scattered ruins +of fallen columns mark the site of the world-renowned Serapeum. Nothing +else remains of the famous library, the magnificent portico with its +hundred steps, the vast halls, and the four hundred marble columns of that +great building designed to perpetuate the glories of the Ptolemies. This +library, which was the forerunner of the great libraries of modern times, +must not be confounded with the equally famous one that was attached to +the Museum, whose exact site is still a bone of contention among +antiquarians. The latter was destroyed by accident, when Julius Cæsar set +fire to the Alexandrian fleet. The Serapeum collection survived for six +hundred years, till its wanton destruction through the fanaticism of the +Caliph Omar. The Arab conqueror is said to have justified this barbarism +with a fallacious epigram, which was as unanswerable, however logically +faulty, as the famous one familiar to students of English history under +the name of Archbishop Morton's Fork. "If these writings," declared the +uncompromising conqueror, "agree with the Book of God, they are useless, +and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious, and +ought to be destroyed." Nothing could prevail against this flagrant +example of a _petitio principii_, and for six months the three hundred +thousand parchments supplied fuel for the four thousand baths of +Alexandria. + +Hard by Pompey's Pillar is a dreary waste, dotted with curiously carved +structures. This is the Mohammedan cemetery. As in most Oriental towns, +the cemetery is at the west end of the town, as the Mohammedans consider +that the quarter of the horizon in which the sun sets is the most suitable +spot for their burying-places. + +In this melancholy city of the dead are buried also many of the ruins of +the Serapeum, and scattered about among the tombs are fragments of columns +and broken pedestals. On some of the tombs a green turban is roughly +painted, strangely out of harmony with the severe stone carving. This +signifies that the tomb holds the remains of a descendant of the prophet, +or of a devout Moslem, who had himself, and not vicariously as is so often +done, made the pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mecca. Some of the +head-stones are elaborately carved, but most are quite plain, with the +exception of a verse of the Koran cut in the stone. The observant tourist +will notice on many of the tombs a curious little round hole cut in the +stone at the head, which seems to be intended to form a passage to the +interior of the vault, though the aperture is generally filled up with +earth. It is said that this passage is made to enable the Angel Israfel at +the Resurrection to draw out the occupant by the hair of his head; and the +custom which obtains among the lower class Moslems of shaving the head +with the exception of a round tuft of hair in the middle--a fashion which +suggests an incipient pigtail or an inverted tonsure--is as much due to +this superstition as to sanitary considerations. + +Of far greater interest than this comparatively modern cemetery are the +cave cemeteries of El-Meks. These catacombs are some four miles from the +city. The route along the low ridge of sand-hills is singularly +unpicturesque, but the windmills which fringe the shore give a homely +aspect to the country, and serve at any rate to break the monotony of this +dreary and prosaic shore. We soon reach Said Pacha's unfinished palace of +El-Meks, which owes its origin to the mania for building which helped to +make the reign of that weak-minded ruler so costly to his over-taxed +subjects. One glimpse at the bastard style of architecture is sufficient +to remove any feeling of disappointment on being told that the building is +not open to the public. The catacombs, which spread for a long distance +along the seashore, and of which the so-called Baths of Cleopatra are a +part, are very extensive, and tourists are usually satisfied with +exploring a part. There are no mummies, but the niches can be clearly +seen. The plan of the catacombs is curiously like the wards of a key. + +There are few "sights" in Alexandria of much interest besides those +already mentioned. In fact, Alexandria is interesting more as a city of +sites than sights. It is true that the names of some of the mosques, such +as that of the One Thousand and One Columns, built on the site of St. +Mark's martyrdom, and the Mosque of St. Athanasius, are calculated to +arouse the curiosity of the tourist: but the interest is in the name +alone. The Mosque of many Columns is turned into a quarantine station, and +the Mosque of St. Athanasius has no connection with the great Father +except that it stands on the site of a church in which he probably +preached. + +Then there is the Coptic Convent of St. Mark, which, according to the +inmates, contains the body of the great Evangelist--an assertion which +would scarcely deceive the most ignorant and the most credulous tourist +that ever entrusted himself to the fostering care of Messrs. Cook, as it +is well known that St. Mark's body was removed to Venice in the ninth +century. The mosque, with the ornate exterior and lofty minaret, in which +the remains of Said Pacha are buried, is the only one besides those +already mentioned which is worth visiting. + +The shores of the Delta from Alexandria to Rosetta are singularly rich in +historical associations, and are thickly strewn with historic landmarks. +The plain in which have been fought battles which have decided the fate of +the whole western world, may well be called the "Belgium of the East." In +this circumscribed area the empires of the East and West struggled for the +mastery, and many centuries later the English here wrested from Napoleon +their threatened Indian Empire. In the few miles' railway journey between +Alexandria and the suburban town of Ramleh the passenger traverses classic +ground. At Mustapha Pacha the line skirts the Roman camp, where Octavius +defeated the army of Antony, and gained for Rome a new empire. +Unfortunately there are now few ruins left of this encampment, as most of +the stones were used by Ismail Pacha in building one of his innumerable +palaces, now converted into a hospital and barracks for the English +troops. Almost on this very spot where Octavius conquered, was fought the +battle of Alexandria, which gave the death-blow to Napoleon's great scheme +of founding an Eastern Empire, and converting the Mediterranean into "un +lac français." This engagement was, as regards the number of troops +engaged, an insignificant one; but as the great historian of modern Europe +has observed, "The importance of a triumph is not always to be measured by +the number of men engaged. The contest of 12,000 Britons with an equal +number of French on the sands of Alexandria, in its remote effect, +overthrew a greater empire than that of Charlemagne, and rescued mankind +from a more galling tyranny than that of the Roman Emperors."[5] A few +minutes more and the traveller's historical musings are interrupted by the +shriek of the engine as the train enters the Ramleh station. This pleasant +and salubrious town, with its rows of trim villas standing in their own +well-kept grounds and gardens, the residences of Alexandrian merchants, +suggests a fashionable or "rising" English watering place rather than an +Oriental town. As a residence it has no doubt many advantages, including a +good and sufficient water supply, and frequent communication by train with +Alexandria. But these are not the attractions which appeal to the +traveller or tourist. The only objects of interest are the ruins of the +Temple of Arsenoe, the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Concerning this +temple there is an interesting and romantic legend, which no doubt +suggested to Pope his fanciful poem, "The Rape of the Lock":-- + + "Not Berenice's hair first rose so bright, + The heavens bespangling with dishevelled light." + +This pretty story, which has been immortalized by Catullus, is as +follows:--When Ptolemy Euergetes left for his expedition to Syria, his +wife Berenice vowed to dedicate her hair to Venus Zephyrites should her +husband return safe and sound. Her prayer was answered, and in fulfilment +of her vow she hung within the Temple of Arsenoe the golden locks that had +adorned her head. Unfortunately they were stolen by some sacrilegious +thief. The priests were naturally troubled, the King was enraged, and the +Queen inconsolable. However, the craft of Conon, the Court astronomer, +discovered a way by which the mysterious disappearance could be +satisfactorily explained, the priests absolved of all blame, and the +vanity of the Queen gratified. The wily astronomer-courtier declared that +Jupiter had taken the locks and transformed them into a constellation, +placing it in that quarter of the heavens (the "Milky Way") by which the +gods, according to tradition, passed to and from Olympus. This pious fraud +was effected by annexing the group of stars which formed the tail of the +constellation Leo, and declaring that this cluster of stars was the new +constellation into which Berenice's locks had been transformed. This +arbitrary modification of the celestial system is known by the name of +Coma Berenices, and is still retained in astronomical charts. + + "I 'mongst the stars myself resplendent now, + I, who once curled on Berenice's brow, + The tress which she, uplifting her fair arm, + To many a god devoted, so from harm + They might protect her new-found royal mate, + When from her bridal chamber all elate, + With its sweet triumph flushed, he went in haste + To lay the regions of Assyria waste."[6] + +A few miles northwest of Ramleh, at the extremity of the western horn of +Aboukir Bay, lies the village of Aboukir. The railway to Rosetta skirts +that bay of glorious memory, and as the traveller passes by those silent +and deserted shores which fringe the watery arena whereon France and +England contended for the Empire of the East, he lives again in those +stirring times, and the dramatic episodes of that famous Battle of the +Nile crowd upon the memory. That line of deep blue water, bounded on the +west by the rocky islet, now called Nelson's Island, and on the east by +Fort St. Julien on the Rosetta headland, marks the position of the French +fleet on the 1st of August, 1798. The fleet was moored in the form of a +crescent close along the shore, and was covered by the batteries of Fort +Aboukir. So confident was Bruèys, the French Admiral, in the strength of +his position, and in his superiority in guns and men (nearly as three to +two) over Nelson's fleet, that he sent that famous despatch to Paris, +declaring that the enemy was purposely avoiding him. Great must have been +his dismay when the English fleet, which had been scouring the +Mediterranean with bursting sails for six long weeks in search of him, was +signaled, bearing down unflinchingly upon its formidable foe--that foe +with which Nelson had vowed he would do battle, if above water, even if he +had to sail to the Antipodes. "By to-morrow I shall have gained a peerage +or Westminster Abbey," were the historic words uttered by the English +Admiral when the French fleet was sighted, drawn up in order of battle in +Aboukir Bay. The soundings of this dangerous roadstead were unknown to +him, but declaring that "where there was room for the enemy to swing, +there must be room for us to anchor," he ordered his leading squadron to +take up its position to the landward of the enemy. The remainder of the +English fleet was ordered to anchor on the outside of the enemy's line, +but at close quarters, thus doubling on part of the enemy's line, and +placing it in a defile of fire. In short, the effect of this brilliant and +masterly disposition of the English fleet was to surround two-thirds of +the enemy's ships, and cut them off from the support of their consorts, +which were moored too far off to injure the enemy or aid their friends. +The French Admiral, in spite of his apparently impregnable position, was +consequently out-manoeuvred from the outset, and the victory of Nelson +virtually assured. + +Evening set in soon after Nelson had anchored. All through the night the +battle raged fiercely and unintermittently, "illuminated by the incessant +discharge of over two thousand cannon," and the flames which burst from +the disabled ships of the French squadron. The sun had set upon as proud a +fleet as ever set sail from the shores of France, and morning rose upon a +strangely altered scene. Shattered and blackened hulks now only marked the +position they had occupied but a few hours before. On one ship alone, the +_Tonnant_, the tricolor was flying. When the _Theseus_ drew near to take +her as prize, she hoisted a flag of truce, but kept her colors flying. +"Your battle flag or none!" was the stern reply, as her enemy rounded to +and prepared to board. Slowly and reluctantly, like an expiring hope, that +pale flag fluttered down her lofty spars, and the next that floated there +was the standard of Old England. "And now the battle was over--India was +saved upon the shores of Egypt--the career of Napoleon was checked, and +his navy was annihilated. Seven years later that navy was revived, to +perish utterly at Trafalgar--a fitting hecatomb for the obsequies of +Nelson, whose life seemed to terminate as his mission was then and thus +accomplished." The glories of Trafalgar, immortalized by the death of +Nelson, have no doubt obscured to some extent those of the Nile. The +latter engagement has not, indeed, been enshrined in the memory of +Englishmen by popular ballads--those instantaneous photographs, as they +might be called, of the highest thoughts and strongest emotions inspired +by patriotism--but hardly any great sea-fight of modern times has been +more prolific in brilliant achievements of heroism and deeds of splendid +devotion than the Battle of the Nile. The traditions of this terrible +combat have not yet died out among the Egyptians and Arabs, whose +forefathers had lined the shores of the bay on that memorable night, and +watched with mingled terror and astonishment the destruction of that great +armament. It was with some idea of the moral effect the landing of English +troops on the shores of this historic bay would have on Arabi's soldiery, +that Lord Wolseley contemplated disembarking there the English +expeditionary force in August, 1882. + +On the eastern horn of Aboukir Bay, on the Rosetta branch of the Nile, and +about five miles from its mouth, lies the picturesque town of Rosetta. Its +Arabic name is Rashid, an etymological coincidence which has induced some +writers to jump to the conclusion that it is the birthplace of Haroun Al +Rashid. To some persons no doubt the town would be shorn of much of its +interest if dissociated from our old friend of "The Thousand and One +Nights;" but the indisputable fact remains that Haroun Al Rashid died some +seventy years before the foundation of the town in A. D. 870. Rosetta was +a port of some commercial importance until the opening of the Mahmoudiyeh +Canal in 1819 diverted most of its trade to Alexandria. The town is not +devoid of architectural interest, and many fragments of ruins may be met +with in the half-deserted streets, and marble pillars, which bear signs of +considerable antiquity, may be noticed built into the doorways of the +comparatively modern houses. One of the most interesting architectural +features of Rosetta is the North Gate, flanked with massive towers of a +form unusual in Egypt, each tower being crowned with a conical-shaped +roof. Visitors will probably have noticed the curious gabled roofs and +huge projecting windows of most of the houses. It was from these +projecting doorways and latticed windows that such fearful execution was +done to the British troops at the time of the ill-fated English expedition +to Egypt in 1807. General Wauchope had been sent by General Fraser, who +was in command of the troops, with an absurdly inadequate force of 1,200 +men to take the strongly-garrisoned town. Mehemet Ali's Albanian troops +had purposely left the gates open in order to draw the English force into +the narrow and winding streets. Their commander, without any previous +examination, rushed blindly into the town with all his men. The Albanian +soldiery waited till the English were confined in this infernal labyrinth +of narrow, crooked streets, and then from every window and housetop rained +down on them a perfect hail of musket-shot and rifle-ball. Before the +officers could extricate their men from this terrible death-trap a third +of the troops had fallen. Such was the result of this rash and futile +expedition, which dimmed the lustre of their arms in Egypt, and +contributed a good deal to the loss of their military prestige. That this +crushing defeat should have taken place so near the scene of the most +glorious achievement of their arms but a few years before, was naturally +thought a peculiar aggravation of the failure of this ill-advised +expedition. + +To archæological students and Egyptologists Rosetta is a place of the +greatest interest, as it was in its neighborhood that the famous inscribed +stone was found which furnished the clue--sought in vain for so many years +by Egyptian scholars--to the hieroglyphic writings of Egypt. Perhaps none +of the archæological discoveries made in Egypt since the land was +scientifically exploited by the savants attached to Napoleon's expedition, +not even that of the mummified remains of the Pharaohs, is more precious +in the eyes of Egyptologists and antiquarians than this comparatively +modern and ugly-looking block of black basalt, which now reposes in the +Egyptian galleries of the British Museum. The story of its discovery is +interesting. A certain Monsieur Bouchard, a French Captain of Engineers, +while making some excavations at Fort St. Julien, a small fortress in the +vicinity of Rosetta, discovered this celebrated stone in 1799. The +interpretation of the inscription for many years defied all the efforts of +the most learned French savants and English scholars, until, in 1822, two +well-known Egyptologists, Champollion and Dr. Young, after independent +study and examination, succeeded in deciphering that part of the +inscription which was in Greek characters. From this they learnt that the +inscription was triplicate and trilingual: one in Greek, the other in the +oldest form of hieroglyphics, the purest kind of "picture-writing," and +the third in demotic characters--the last being the form of hieroglyphics +used by the people, in which the symbols are more obscure than in the pure +hieroglyphics used by the priests. The inscription, when finally +deciphered, proved to be one of comparatively recent date, being a decree +of Ptolemy V., issued in the year 196 B. C. The Rosetta stone was acquired +by England as part of the spoils of war in the Egyptian expedition of +1801. + +At Rosetta the railway leaves the coast and goes south to Cairo. + +If the traveller wishes to see something of the agriculture of the Delta, +he would get some idea of the astonishing fertility of the country by +merely taking the train to Damanhour, the center of the cotton-growing +district. The journey does not take more than a couple of hours. The +passenger travelling by steamer from Alexandria to Port Said, though he +skirts the coast, can see no signs of the agricultural wealth of Egypt, +and for him the whole of Egypt might be an arid desert instead of one of +the most fertile districts in the whole world. The area of cultivated +lands, which, however, extends yearly seawards, is separated from the +coast by a belt composed of strips of sandy desert, marshy plain, low +sandhills, and salt lagunes, which varies in breadth from fifteen to +thirty miles. A line drawn from Alexandria to Damietta, through the +southern shore of Lake Boorlos, marks approximately the limit of +cultivated land in this part of the Delta. The most unobservant traveller +in Egypt cannot help perceiving that its sole industry is agriculture, and +that the bulk of its inhabitants are tillers of the soil. Egypt seems, +indeed, intended by nature to be the granary and market-garden of North +Africa, and the prosperity of the country depends on its being allowed to +retain its place as a purely agricultural country. The ill-advised, but +fortunately futile, attempts which have been made by recent rulers to +develop manufactures at the expense of agriculture, are the outcome of a +short-sighted policy or perverted ambition. Experience has proved that +every acre diverted from its ancient and rational use as a bearer of crops +is a loss to the national wealth. + +That "Egypt is the gift of the Nile" has been insisted upon with "damnable +iteration" by every writer on Egypt, from Herodotus downwards. According +to the popular etymology,[7] the very name of the Nile ([Greek: Neilos], +from [Greek: nea ilys], new mud) testifies to its peculiar fertilizing +properties. The Nile is all in all to the Egyptian, and can we wonder that +Egyptian mythologists recognized in it the Creative Principle waging +eternal warfare with Typhon, the Destructive Principle, represented by the +encroaching desert? As Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole has well observed, "without +the Nile there would be no Egypt; the great African Sahara would spread +uninterruptedly to the Red Sea. Egypt is, in short, a long oasis worn in +the rocky desert by the ever-flowing stream, and made green and fertile by +its waters." + +At Cairo the Nile begins to rise about the third week in June, and the +beginning of the overflow coincides with the heliacal rising of the Dog +Star. The heavens have been called the clocks of the Ancients, and, +according to some writers, it was the connection between the rise of the +Nile and that of the Dog Star that first opened the way to the study of +astronomy among the ancient Egyptians, so that not only was the Nile the +creator of their country, but also of their science. The fellahs, however, +still cherish a lingering belief in the supernatural origin of the +overflow. They say that a miraculous drop of water falls into the Nile on +the 17th of June, which causes the river to swell. Till September the +river continues to rise, not regularly, but by leaps and bounds. In this +month it attains its full height, and then gradually subsides till it +reaches its normal height in the winter months. + +As is well known, the quality of the harvest depends on the height of the +annual overflow--a rise of not less than eighteen feet at Cairo being just +sufficient, while a rise of over twenty-six feet, or thereabouts, would +cause irreparable damage. It is a common notion that a very high Nile is +beneficial; whereas an excessive inundation would do far more harm to the +country than an abnormal deficiency of water. Statistics show conclusively +that most of the famines in Egypt have occurred after an exceptionally +high Nile. Shakespeare, who, we know, is often at fault in matters of +natural science, is perhaps partly accountable for this popular +error:--"The higher Nilus swells, the more it promises," he makes +Antony say, when describing the wonders of Egypt to Cæsar. + +[Illustration] + +The coast between Rosetta and Port Said is, like the rest of the Egyptian +littoral, flat and monotonous. The only break in the dreary vista is +afforded by the picturesque-looking town of Damietta, which, with its +lofty houses, looking in the distance like marble palaces, has a striking +appearance seen from the sea. The town, though containing some spacious +bazaars and several large and well-proportioned mosques, has little to +attract the visitor, and there are no antiquities or buildings of any +historic interest. The traveller, full of the traditions of the Crusades, +who expects to find some traces of Saladin and the Saracens, will be +doomed to disappointment. Damietta is comparatively modern, the old +Byzantine city having been destroyed by the Arabs early in the thirteenth +century, and rebuilt--at a safer distance from invasion by sea--a few +miles inland, under the name of Mensheeyah. One of the gateways of the +modern town, the Mensheeyah Gate, serves as a reminder of its former name. +Though the trade of Damietta has, in common with most of the Delta +sea-ports, declined since the construction of the Mahmoudiyeh Canal, it is +still a town of some commercial importance, and consular representatives +of several European powers are stationed here. To sportsmen Damietta +offers special advantages, as it makes capital headquarters for the +wild-fowl shooting on Menzaleh Lake, which teems with aquatic birds of all +kinds. Myriads of wild duck may be seen feeding here, and "big game"--if +the expression can be applied to birds--in the shape of herons, pelicans, +storks, flamingoes, etc., is plentiful. In the marshes which abut on the +lake, specimens of the papyrus are to be found, this neighborhood being +one of the few habitats of this rare plant. Soon after rounding the +projecting ridge of low sand-hills which fringe the estuary of the +Damietta Branch of the Nile, the noble proportions of the loftiest +lighthouse of the Mediterranean come into view. It is fitted with one of +the most powerful electric lights in the world, its penetrating rays being +visible on a clear night at a distance of over twenty-five miles. Shortly +afterwards the forest of masts, apparently springing out of the desert, +informs the passenger of the near vicinity of Port Said. + +There is, of course, nothing to see at Port Said from a tourist's +standpoint. The town is little more than a large coaling station, and is +of very recent growth. It owes its existence solely to the Suez Canal, and +to the fact that the water at that part of the coast is deeper than at +Pelusium, where the isthmus is narrowest. The town is built partly on +artificial foundations on the strip of low sand-banks which forms a +natural sea-wall protecting Lake Menzaleh from the Mediterranean. In the +autumn at high Nile it is surrounded on all sides by water. An imaginative +writer once called Port Said the Venice of Africa--not a very happy +description, as the essentially modern appearance of this coaling station +strikes the most unobservant visitor. The comparison might for its +inappositeness rank with the proverbial one between Macedon and Monmouth. +Both Venice and Port Said are land-locked, and that is the only feature +they have in common. + +The sandy plains in the vicinity of the town are, however, full of +interest to the historian and archæologist. Here may be found ruins and +remains of antiquity which recall a period of civilization reaching back +more centuries than Port Said (built in 1859) does years. The ruins of +Pelusium (the Sin of the Old Testament), the key of Northeastern Egypt in +the Pharaonic period, are only eighteen miles distant, and along the shore +may still be traced a few vestiges of the great highway--the oldest road +in the world of which remains exist--constructed by Rameses II., in 1350 +B. C., when he undertook his expedition for the conquest of Syria. + +To come to more recent history. It was on the Pelusiac shores that +Cambyses defeated the Egyptians, and here some five centuries later Pompey +the Great was treacherously murdered when he fled to Egypt, after the +Battle of Pharsalia. + +To the southwest of Port Said, close to the wretched little fishing +village of Sais, situated on the southern shore of Lake Menzaleh, are the +magnificent ruins of Tanis (the Zoan of the Old Testament). These seldom +visited remains are only second to those of Thebes in historical and +archæological interest. It is a little curious that while tourists flock +in crowds to distant Thebes and Karnak, few take the trouble to visit the +easily accessible ruins of Tanis. The ruins were uncovered at great cost +of labor by the late Mariette Bey, and in the great temple were unearthed +some of the most notable monuments of the Pharaohs, including over a dozen +gigantic fallen obelisks--a larger number than any Theban temple contains. +This vast building, restored and enlarged by Rameses II., goes back to +over five thousand years. As Thebes declined Tanis rose in importance, and +under the kings of the Twenty-first Dynasty it became the chief seat of +Government. Mr. John Macgregor (Rob Roy), who was one of the first of +modern travellers to call attention to these grand ruins, declares that of +all the celebrated remains he had seen none impressed him "so deeply with +the sense of fallen and deserted magnificence" as the ruined temple of +Tanis. + +The Suez Canal is admittedly one of the greatest undertakings of modern +times, and has perhaps effected a greater transformation in the world's +commerce, during the thirty years that have elapsed since its completion, +than has been effected in the same period by the agency of steam. It was +emphatically the work of one man, and of one, too, who was devoid of the +slightest technical training in the engineering profession. Monsieur de +Lesseps cannot, of course, claim any originality in the conception of this +great undertaking, for the idea of opening up communication between the +Mediterranean and the Red Sea by means of a maritime canal is almost as +old as Egypt itself, and many attempts were made by the rulers of Egypt +from Sesostris downwards to span the Isthmus with "a bridge of water." +Most of these projects proved abortive, though there was some kind of +water communication between the two seas in the time of the Ptolemies, and +it was by this canal that Cleopatra attempted to escape after the battle +of Actium. When Napoleon the Great occupied Egypt, he went so far as to +appoint a commission of engineers to examine into a projected scheme for a +maritime canal, but owing to the ignorance of the commissioners, who +reported that there was a difference of thirty feet in the levels of the +two seas--though there is really scarcely more than six inches--which +would necessitate vast locks, and involve enormous outlay of money, the +plan was given up. + +The Suez Canal is, in short, the work of one great man, and its existence +is due to the undaunted courage, the indomitable energy, to the intensity +of conviction, and to the magnetic personality of M. de Lesseps, which +influenced everyone with whom he came in contact, from Viceroy down to the +humblest fellah. This great project was carried out, too, not by a +professional engineer, but by a mere consular clerk, and was executed in +spite of the most determined opposition of politicians and capitalists, +and in the teeth of the mockery and ridicule of practical engineers, who +affected to sneer at the scheme as the chimerical dream of a vainglorious +Frenchman. + +The Canal, looked at from a purely picturesque standpoint, does not +present such striking features as other great monuments of engineering +skill--the Forth Bridge, the Mont Cenis Tunnel, or the great railway which +scales the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains. This "huge ditch," as it +has been contemptuously called, "has not indeed been carried over high +mountains, nor cut through rock-bound tunnels, nor have its waters been +confined by Titanic masses of masonry." In fact, technically speaking, the +name canal as applied to this channel is a misnomer. It has nothing in +common with other canals--no locks, gates, reservoirs, nor pumping +engines. It is really an artificial strait, or a prolongation of an arm of +the sea. We can freely concede this, yet to those of imaginative +temperament there are elements of romance about this great enterprise. It +is the creation of a nineteenth-century wizard who, with his enchanter's +wand--the spade--has transformed the shape of the globe, and summoned the +sea to flow uninterruptedly from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. +Then, too, the most matter-of-fact traveller who traverses it can hardly +fail to be impressed with the genius loci. Every mile of the Canal passes +through a region enriched by the memories of events which had their birth +in the remotest ages of antiquity. Across this plain four thousand years +ago Abraham wandered from far-away Ur of the Chaldees. Beyond the placid +waters of Lake Menzaleh lie the ruins of Zoan, where Moses performed his +miracles. On the right lies the plain of Pelusium, across which Rameses +II. led his great expedition for the conquest of Syria; and across this +sandy highway the hosts of Persian, Greek, and Roman conquerors +successively swept to take possession of the riches of Egypt. In passing +through the Canal at night--the electric light seeming as a pillar of fire +to the steamer, as it swiftly, but silently, ploughs its course through +the desert--the strange impressiveness of the scene is intensified. "The +Canal links together in sweeping contrast the great Past and the greater +Present, pointing to a future which we are as little able to divine, as +were the Pharaohs or Ptolemies of old to forecast the wonders of the +twentieth century." + + + + +XII + +MALTA + + "England's Eye in the Mediterranean"--Vast systems of + fortifications--Sentinels and martial music--The Strada Reale of + Valletta--Church of St. John--St. Elmo--The Military Hospital, the + "very glory of Malta"--Citta Vecchia--Saint Paul and his voyages. + + +There is a difference of opinion among voyagers as to whether it is best +to approach Malta by night or by day; whether there is a greater charm in +tracing the outline of "England's Eye in the Mediterranean" by the long, +undulating lines of light along its embattled front, and then, as the sun +rises, to permit the details to unfold themselves, or to see the entire +mass of buildings and sea walls and fortifications take shape according to +the rapidity with which the ship nears the finest of all the British +havens in the Middle Sea. Much might be said for both views, and if by +"Malta" is meant its metropolis, then the visitor would miss a good deal +who did not see the most picturesque portion of the island in both of +these aspects. And by far the majority of those who touch at Valletta, on +their way to or from some other place, regard this city as "the colony" in +miniature. Many, indeed, are barely aware that it has a name apart from +that of the island on which it is built; still fewer that the "Villa" of +La Valletta is only one of four fortified towns all run into one, and +that over the surface of this thickly populated clump are scattered scores +of villages, while their entire coasts are circled by a ring of forts +built wherever the cliffs are not steep enough to serve as barriers +against an invader. On the other hand, while there is no spot in the +Maltese group half so romantic, or any "casal" a tithe as magnificent as +Valletta and its suburbs, it is a little unfortunate for the scenic +reputation of the chief island-fortress that so few visitors see any other +part of it than the country in the immediate vicinity of its principal +town. For, if none of the islands are blessed with striking scenery, that +of Malta proper is perhaps the least attractive. + +Though less than sixty miles from Sicily, these placid isles oft though +they have been shaken by earthquakes, do not seem to have ever been +troubled by the volcanic outbursts of Etna. Composed of a soft, creamy +rock, dating from the latest geological period, the elephants and +hippopotami disinterred from their caves show that, at a time when the +Mediterranean stretched north and south over broad areas which are now dry +land, these islands were still under water, and that at a date +comparatively recent, before the Straits of Gibraltar had been opened, and +when the contracted Mediterranean was only a couple of lakes Malta was +little more than a peninsula of Africa. Indeed, so modern is the group as +we know it, that within the human era Comino seems to have been united +with the islands on each side of it. For, as the deep wheel-ruts on the +opposite shores of the two nearer islands, even at some distance in the +water, demonstrate, the intervening straits have either been recently +formed, or were at one period so shallow as to be fordable. + +But if it be open to doubt whether night or day is the best time to make +our first acquaintance with Malta, there can be none as to the season of +the year when it may be most advantageously visited; for if the tourist +comes to Malta in spring, he will find the country bright with flowers, +and green with fields of wheat and barley, and cumin and "sulla" clover, +or cotton, and even with plots of sugar-cane, tobacco, and the fresh +foliage of vineyards enclosed by hedges of prickly pears ready to burst +into gorgeous blossom. Patches of the famous Maltese potatoes flourish +cheek by jowl with noble crops of beans and melons. Figs and pomegranates, +peaches, pears, apricots, and medlars are in blossom; and if the curious +pedestrian peers over the orchard walls, he may sight oranges and lemons +gay with the flowers of which the fragrance is scenting the evening air. +But in autumn, when the birds of passage arrive for the winter, the land +has been burnt into barrenness by the summer sun of the scorching sirocco. +The soil, thin, but amazingly fertile, and admirably suited by its spongy +texture to retain the moisture, looks white and parched as it basks in the +hot sunshine; and even the gardens, enclosed by high stone walls to +shelter them from the torrid winds from Africa, or the wild "gregale" from +the north, or the Levanter which sweeps damp and depressing towards the +Straits of Gibraltar, fail to relieve the dusty, chalk-like aspect of the +landscape. Hills there are--they are called the "Bengemma mountains" by +the proud Maltese--but they are mere hillocks to the scoffer from more +Alpine regions, for at Ta-l'aghlia, the highest elevation in Malta, 750 +feet is the total tale told by the barometer, while it is seldom that the +sea cliffs reach half that height. The valleys in the undulating surface +are in proportion, and even they and the little glens worn by the +watercourses are bald, owing to the absence of wood; for what timber grew +in ancient times has long ago been hewn down, and the modern Maltee has so +inveterate a prejudice against green leaves which are not saleable that he +is said to have quietly uprooted the trees which a paternal Government +planted for the supposed benefit of unappreciative children. Hence, with +the exception of a bosky grove around some ancient palace of the knights, +or a few carob trees, so low that the goats in lack of humble fodder can, +as in Morocco, climb into them for a meal, the rural districts of Malta +lack the light and shade which forests afford, just as its arid scenery is +unrelieved either by lake, or river, or by any brook worthy of the name. +However, as the blue sea, running into inlet and bay, or ending the vista +of some narrow street, or driving the spray before the "tempestuous" wind, +called "Euroklydon," is seldom out of sight, the sparkle of inland water +is less missed than it would be were the country larger. + +But Malta proper is only one of the Maltese group. As the geography books +have it, there are three main islands, Malta, Gozo, and between them the +little one of Comino, which with Cominetto, a still smaller islet close +by, seems to have been the crest of a land of old, submerged beneath the +sea. The voyager is barely out of sight of Sicily before the faint +outlines of these isles are detected, like sharply defined clouds against +a serenely blue sky. Yet, undeniably, the first view of Malta is +disappointing; for with Etna fresh in the memory of the visitor from one +direction, and the great Rock of Gibraltar vivid in the recollection of +those arriving from the other end of the Mediterranean, there is little in +any of the three islands to strike the imagination. For most of the +picturesqueness of Malta is due to the works of man, and all of its +romance to the great names and mighty events with which its historic +shores are associated. But there are also around the coasts of this major +member of the Maltese clump the tiny Filfla, with its venerable church; +the Pietro Negro, or Black Rock; Gzeier sanctified by the wreck of St. +Paul; and Scoglio Marfo, on which a few fishermen encamp, or which grow +grass enough for some rabbits or a frugal goat or two; and, great in fame +though small in size, the Hagra tal General, or Fungus Rock, on which +still flourishes that curious parasitic plant, the _Fungus Melitensis_ of +the old botanists, the _Cynomorium coccineum_ of latter-day systematists. +The visitor who has the curiosity to land on the rock in April or May will +find it in full flower, and perhaps, considering its ancient reputation, +may be rather disappointed with the appearance of a weed which at one time +enjoyed such a reputation as a stauncher of blood and a sovereign remedy +for a host of other diseases that the Knights of Malta stored it carefully +as a gift for friendly monarchs and to the hospitals of the island. It is +less valued in our times, though until very recently the keeper of the +rock on which it flourishes most abundantly was a permanent official in +the colonial service. The place indeed is seldom profaned nowadays by +human feet; for the box drawn in a pulley by two cables, which was the +means of crossing the hundred and fifty feet of sea between the rocks and +the shore of Dueira, was broken down some years ago, and has not since +been renewed. But, apart from these scientific associations of this +outlier of Gozo, the second largest island of the Maltese group is worthy +of being more frequently examined than it is, albeit the lighthouse of Ta +Giurdan is familiar enough to every yachtsman in the "Magnum Mare." For it +is the first bit of Malta seen from the west, and the last memory of it +which the home-coming exile sights as he returns with a lighter heart from +the East. Yet except for its classical memories (it was the fable isle of +Calypso, the Gaulos of the Greeks, the Gaulum of the Romans, and the +Ghaudex of the Arabs, a name still in use among the natives), the tourist +in search of the picturesque will not find a great deal to gratify him in +Gozo, with its bay-indented shore, rugged in places, but except in the +southern and western coast rarely attaining a height of three hundred feet +above the sea. Still, its pleasing diversity of hill and dale, its +occasional groves of trees, and the flourishing gardens from which +Valletta market is supplied with a great portion of its vegetables, lend +an appearance of rural beauty to Gozo seldom seen or altogether lacking in +the rest of the group. Gozo appears to have suffered less from foreign +invasions than Malta or even Comino. Its goat cheese still preserves +something of the reputation that comestible obtained in days when the +world had a limited acquaintance with dairy produce, and the "Maltese +jacks," potent donkeys (the very antipodes of their tiny kindred on the +Barbary coast) are mostly exported from this spot. But, like the peculiar +dogs and cats of the group, they are now getting scarce. + +The appearance of the Gozitans also is somewhat different from that of +their countrymen elsewhere, and they speak the Maltese tongue with a +closer approach to the Arabic than do the inhabitants of the other +islands, whose speech has become intermingled with that of every +Mediterranean race, from the Tyrians to the Italians, though the basis of +it is unquestionably Phoenician, and is gradually getting dashed with the +less sonorous language of their latest rulers. Indeed, the lamps in daily +use are identical in shape with the earthenware ones disinterred from the +most ancient of Carthaginian tombs, and until lately a peculiar jargon, +allied to Hebrew, and known as "Braik," was spoken at Casal Garbo, an +inland village not far from the bay off which lies the General's Rock. But +the Gozo folk nowadays trade neither in tin nor in purple, their +gaily-painted boats crossing the Straits of Freghi with no more romantic +cargoes than cabbages and cucumbers for His Majesty's ships; and the +swarthy damsels who sit at the half-doors of the white houses are intent +on nothing so much as the making of the famous Maltese lace. Except, +however, in the strength, industry, and thrift of the Gozitans, there is +little in this island to remind the visitor of their Phoenician +forefathers, and in a few years, owing to the steady intercourse which +daily steam communication has brought about between them and their less +sophisticated countrymen, the "Giant's Tower" (the ruins of a temple of +Astarte) at Casal Xghara will be about the only remnant of these +pre-historic settlers. But Casal Nadur, with its robust men and handsome +women, the Tierka Zerka or Azure Window, a natural arch on the seashore, +and Rabato, the little capital in the center of the island, which, in +honor of the Jubilee year, changed its name for that of Victoria, are all +worthy of a walk farther afield than Migiarro, or the "carting place," off +which the Valletta steamer anchors. From the ruined walls of the citadel +the visitor can survey Gozo with its conical hills, flattened at the top +owing to the wearing away of the upper limestone by the action of the +weather and sinking of the underlying greensand, the whole recalling a +volcano-dotted region. Then, if he cares to tarry so long, the sightseer +may from this pleasant center tramp or drive to the Bay of Ramla, in a +rock overhanging which is another "Grotto of Calypso," or to the Bay of +Marsa-il-Forno, or to the Bay of Xlendi, through a well-watered ravine +filled with fruit-trees, a walk which offers an opportunity of seeing the +best cliff scenery in the island; or, finally, to the Cala Dueira, hard by +which is the General's Rock, which (as we already know) forms one of the +chief lions of Gozo. Comino with its caves will not detain the most eager +of sightseers very long, and its scanty industries, incapable of +supporting more than forty people, are not calculated to arouse much +enthusiasm. + +The shortest route to Valletta from Migiarro is to Marfa; but most people +will prefer to land at once at Valletta. Here the change from the quiet +islands to the busy metropolis of the group is marked. Everything betokens +the capital of a dependency which, if not itself wealthy, is held by a +wealthy nation, and a fortress upon which money has been lavished by a +succession of military masters without any regard to the commercial +aspects of the outlay. For if Malta has been and must always continue to +be a trading center, it has for ages never ceased to be primarily a place +of arms, a stronghold to the defensive strength of which every other +interest must give way. All the public buildings are on a scale of +substantiality which, to the voyager hitherto familiar only with +Gibraltar, is rather striking. Even the residences of the officials are +finer than one would expect in a "colony" (though there are no colonists, +and no room for them) with a population less than 170,000, and a +revenue rarely exceeding £250,000 per annum. Dens, vile beyond belief, +there are no doubt in Valletta. But these are for the most part in narrow +bye-lanes, which have few attractions for the ordinary visitor, or in the +Manderaggio, a quasi-subterranean district, mostly below sea-level, where +the houses are often without windows and conveniences even more important; +so that there is an unconscious grimness in the prophetic humor which has +dubbed this quarter of Valletta (two-and-a-half acres in area, peopled by +2,544 persons) "the place of cattle." Yet though the ninety-five square +miles of the Maltese islands are about the most densely populated portions +of the earth, the soil is so fertile, and the sources of employment, +especially since the construction of the Suez Canal, so plentiful, that +extreme penury is almost unknown, while the rural population seem in the +happy mean of being neither rich nor poor. + +[Illustration] + +But the tourist who for the first time surveys Valletta from the deck of a +steamer as she anchors in the Quarantine Harbor, or still better from the +Grand Harbor on the other side of the peninsula on which the capital is +built, sees little of this. Scarcely is the vessel at rest before she is +surrounded by a swarm of the peculiar high-prowed "dghaisas," or Maltese +boats, the owners of which, standing while rowing, are clamorous to pull +the passenger ashore; for Malta, like its sister fortress at the mouth of +the Mediterranean, does not encourage wharves and piers, alongside of +which large craft may anchor and troublesome crews swarm when they are not +desired. Crowds of itinerant dealers, wily people with all the supple +eagerness of the Oriental, and all the lack of conscience which is the +convenient heritage of the trader of the Middle Sea, establish themselves +on deck, ready to part with the laces, and filigrees, and corals, and +shells, and apocryphal coins of the Knights of St. John, for any ransom +not less than twice their value. But in Malta, as elsewhere in the +Mediterranean ports, there are always two prices, the price for which the +resident obtains anything, and the price which the stranger is asked to +pay. To these tariffs a new one has of late years been added, and this is +that paradisaical figure, that fond legend of a golden age invoked only +when the buyer is very eager, or very verdant, or very rich, "the price +that Lady Brassey paid." However, even when the sojourner fancies that he +has made a fair bargain (and the appraisements fall suddenly as the last +bell begins to ring), the pedler is well in pocket, so well, indeed, that +it has been calculated every steamer leaves behind it something like two +hundred pounds in cash. + +But if the rubbish sold in Valletta can be bought quite as good and rather +more cheaply in London, Valletta itself must be seen _in situ_. The +entrance to either of the harbors enables one to obtain but a slight idea +of the place. It seems all forts and flat-roofed buildings piled one above +the other in unattractive terraces. There are guns everywhere, and, right +and left, those strongholds which are the final purposes of cannon. As the +steamer creeps shrieking into "Port Marsa-Musciet" (the "Port" is +superfluous, since the Arabic "Marsa" means the same thing) or Quarantine +Harbor, it passes Dragut Point, with Fort Tigne on the right and Fort St. +Elmo on the left, in addition to Fort Manoel and the Lazaretto on an +island straight ahead. Had our destination been the Grand Harbor on the +other side of Valletta, Fort Ricasoli and Fort St. Angelo would have been +equally in evidence, built on two of the various projections which +intersect the left side of that haven. But the forts are, as it were, +only the ganglia of the vast systems of fortifications which circle every +creek and bay and headland of Valletta and its offshoots. Ages of toil, +millions of money, and the best talent of three centuries of engineers +have been lavished on the bewildering mass of curtains and horn-works, and +ravelins and demilunes, and ditches and palisades, and drawbridges and +bastions, and earthworks, which meet the eye in profusion enough to have +delighted the soul of Uncle Toby. Sentinels and martial music are the most +familiar of sights and sounds, and after soldiers and barracks, sailors +and war-ships, the most frequent reminders that Malta, like Gibraltar, is +a great military and naval station. But it is also in possession of some +civil rights unknown to the latter. Among these is a legislature with +limited power and boundless chatter, and, what is of more importance to +the visitor, the citizens can go in and out of Valletta at all hours of +the day and night, no raised drawbridge or stolid portcullis barring their +movements in times of peace. The stranger lands without being questioned +as to his nationality, and in Malta the Briton is bereft of the +_Civis-Romanus-sum_ sort of feeling he imbibes in Gibraltar; for here the +alien can circulate as freely as the lords of the soil. But the man who +wishes to explore Valletta must be capable of climbing; for from the +landing place to the chief hotel in the main street the ascent is +continuous, and for the first part of the way is by a flight of stairs. +Indeed, these steps are so often called into requisition that one can +sympathize with the farewell anathema of Bryon as he limped up one of +these frequent obstacles to locomotion, + + "Adieu! ye cursed streets of stairs! + (How surely he who mounts you swears)." + +The reason of this peculiar construction is that Valletta is built on the +ridge of Mount Scebarras, so that the ascent from the harbor to the +principal streets running along the crest of the hill is necessarily +steep. The result is, however, a more picturesque town than would have +been the case had the architect who laid out the town when Jean de La +Valette, Grand Master of the Knights, resolved in 1566 to transfer the +capital here from the center of the island, been able to find funds to +form a plateau by leveling down the summit of the mound. Hence Valletta is +composed of streets running longitudinally and others crossing the former +at right angles. Most of these are eked out by steps; one, the Strada +Santa Lucia, is made up of flights of them, and none are level from end to +end. The backbone of the town and the finest of its highways is the Strada +Reale, or Royal Street, which in former days was known as the Strada San +Georgio, and during the brief French occupation as "the Street of the +Rights of Man." Seven main streets run parallel with it, while eleven at +right angles extend in straight lines across the promontory from harbor to +harbor. The Strada Reale, with the Strada Mercanti alongside of it are, +however, the most typical bits of the capital, and the visitor who +conscientiously tramps through either, with a peep here and there up or +down the less important transverse "strade," obtains a fair idea of the +city of La Valette, whose statue stands with that of L'Isle Adam over the +Porta Reale at the farther end of the street bearing that name. Here the +first barrier to an invasion from the landward side is met with in the +shape of a deep ditch hewn through the solid rock, right across the +peninsula from the one harbor to the other, cutting off if necessary the +suburb of Floriana from the town proper, though Floriana, with its rampart +gardens, parade ground, and barracks, is again protected on the inland +aspect by other of the great fortifications which circle the seashore +everywhere. + +However, the drawbridge is down at present, and a long stream of people, +civil and military, are crossing and recrossing it, to and from the Strada +Reale. For this street is the chief artery through which is ever +circulating the placid current of Valletteese life. Soldiers in the varied +uniforms of the regiments represented in the garrison are marching +backwards and forwards, to or from parade, or to keep watch on the +ramparts, or are taking their pleasure afoot, or in the neat little +covered "carrozzellas" or cabs of the country, in which, unlike those of +Gibraltar of a similar build, a drive can be taken at the cost of the coin +which, according to Sydney Smith, was struck to enable a certain thrifty +race to be generous. Sailors from the war-ships in the Grand Harbor, and +merchant seamen on a run ashore, are utilizing what time they can spare +from the grog shops in the lower town to see the sights of the place. +Cabmen and carmen driving cars without sides, and always rushing at the +topmost speed of their little horses, scatter unwary pedestrians. Native +women, with that curious "faldetta," or one-sided hood to their black +cloaks which is a characteristic of Malta as the mantilla is of Spain, +pass side by side with English ladies in the latest of London fashions, or +sturdy peasant women, returning from market, get sadly in the way of the +British nursemaid dividing her attention in unequal proportions between +her infantile charges and the guard marching for "sentry-go" to the +ramparts. Flocks of goats, their huge udders almost touching the ground, +are strolling about to be milked at the doors of customers. Maltese +laborers, brown little men, bare-footed, broad-shouldered, and muscular, +in the almost national dress of a Glengarry cap, cotton trousers, and +flannel shirt, with scarlet sash, coat over one arm, and little earrings, +jostle the smart officers making for the Union Club, or the noisy +"globe-trotter" just landed from the steamer which came to anchor an hour +ago. A few snaky-eyed Hindoos in gaily embroidered caps invite you to +inspect their stock of ornamental wares, but except for an Arab or two +from Tunis, or a few hulking Turks from Tripoli with pilot jackets over +their barracans, the Strada Reale of Valletta has little of that human +picturesqueness imparted to the Water-port Street of Gibraltar by the +motley swarms of Spaniards, and Sicilians, and negroes, and Moors, and +English who fill it at all periods between morning gun-fire to the hour +when the stranger is ousted from within the gates. Malta being a most +religiously Roman Catholic country, priests and robe-girded Carmelites are +everywhere plentiful, and all day long the worshipers entering and leaving +the numerous churches, with the eternal "jingle-jingle" of their bells, +remind one of Rabelais's description of England in his day. At every +turning the visitor is accosted by whining beggars whose pertinacity is +only equaled by that of the boot-blacks and cabmen, who seem to fancy that +the final purpose of man in Malta is to ride in carrozzellas with shining +shoes. In Gibraltar we find a relief to the eye in the great rock towering +overhead, the tree-embosomed cottages nestling on its slopes, or the +occasional clumps of palms in the hollows. These are wanting to the chief +strada of Valletta. In architectural beauty the two streets cannot, +however, be compared. The Water-port is lined with houses, few of which +are handsome and most of which are mean, while the scarcity of space tends +to crowd the narrow "ramps" as thickly as any lane in Valletta. It is +seldom that the shops are better than those of a petty English town, and +altogether the civil part of the rock fortresses has not lost the impress +of having been reared by a people with but little of the world's wealth to +spare, and kept alive by a population who have not a great deal to spend. + +The main street of Valletta on the other hand is lined by good, and in +most cases by handsome, houses, frequently with little covered stone +balconies which lend a peculiar character to the buildings. The yellow +limestone is also pleasant to look upon, while the many palaces which the +comfort-loving knights erected for their shelter, impart to Valletta the +appearance of a "a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen." Here on the +right is the pretty Opera House (open, in common with the private +theaters, on Sunday and Saturday alike), and on the other side of the road +the Auberge of the Language of Provence, now occupied by the Union Club. A +little farther on, in an open space shaded with trees, is the Church of +St. John, on which the knights lavished their riches, and still, +notwithstanding the pillage of the French troops in 1798, rich in vessels +of gold and silver, crosses, pixes, jewels, monuments chivalric +emblazonments, paintings, carven stone and other ecclesiastical +embellishments, though like the wealthy order of military monks, whose +pride it was, the Church of St. John is ostentatiously plain on the +outside. The Auberge d'Auvergne, now the Courts of Justice, is on the +other side of the street, and hard by, a building which was formerly the +Treasury of the Knights, the storehouse into which was gathered the +contributions of the Commanderies throughout Europe. The Public Library +fronted by some trees a little way back from the road is interesting from +its containing the books of the Bailiff Louis de Tencin, the Grand Master +de Rohan (who erected it), and of many of the more lettered knights, +besides a good collection of the island antiquities. Close to it is the +palace of the Grand Master, now the residence of the Governor, or in part +utilized as Government offices. The courtyards, planted with oranges, +euphorbias, hibiscus, and other greenery, and the walls covered with +Bougainvillia, have a delightfully cool appearance to the pedestrian who +enters from the hot street; while the broad marble staircase, the +corridors lined with portraits and men-at-arms, and pictures representing +the warlike exploits of the knightly galleys, the armory full of ancient +weapons, and majolica vases from the Pharmacy, and the numerous relics of +the former rulers of the island, are worthy of a long study by those +interested in art or antiquity. The Council Chamber also merits a visit, +for there may be seen the priceless hangings of Brussels tapestry. And +last of all, the idlest of tourists is not likely to neglect the Hall of +St. Michael and St. George, the frescoes celebrating the famous deeds of +the Order of St. John, and the quaint clock in the interior court, which, +according to Maltese legend, was brought from Rhodes when that island was +abandoned after a resistance only less glorious than a victory. For, as +Charles V. exclaimed when he heard of the surrender which led to Malta +becoming the home of the knights, "there has been nothing in the world so +well lost as Rhodes." The main guard, with its pompous Latin inscription +recording how "Magnæ et invictæ Britanniæ Melitensium Amor et Europæ vox +Has insulas confirmant AN MDCCCXIV," is exactly opposite the palace. But +when the visitor sees the wealth of art which the knights were forced to +leave behind them, he is apt to be puzzled how the Maltese, who +contributed not one baiocco to buy it, or to build these palaces or +fortifications, could either through "Amor," or that necessity which knows +no law, make them over us to us, or how "Magna et invicta Britannia" could +accept without compensation the property of the military monks, whose +Order, bereft of wealth and influence, still exists and claims with the +acquiescence of at least one court to rank among the sovereign Powers of +Christendom. The knights are, however, still the greatest personalities in +Malta. We come upon them, their eight-pointed cross and their works at +every step. Their ghosts still walk the highways. The names of the Grand +Masters are immortalized in the cities they founded and in the forts they +reared. Their portraits in the rude art of the Berlin lithographer hang on +even the walls of the hotels. Their ecclesiastical side is in evidence by +the churches which they reared, by the hagiological names which they gave +to many of the streets, by the saintly figures with which, in spite of +three-fourths of a century of Protestant rulers, still stand at the +corners, and by the necessity which we have only recently found to come to +an understanding with the Pope as to the limits of the canon law in this +most faithful portion of his spiritual dominions. + +On the other hand, the secular side of the Order is quite as prominent. +Here, for instance, after descending some steps which serve as a +footpath, we come to the Fort of St. Elmo, which terminates the Strada +Reale. But long before there was any regular town on Monte Sceberras, when +the capital was in the center of the island, this fortress on the point +midway between the two harbors was a place round which the tide of battle +often swirled, when Paynim and Christian fought for the mastery of the +island. Of all these sieges the greatest is that of 1565, a year before +the town of Valletta was laid out. Twice previously, in 1546 and 1551, the +Turks had endeavored to expel the knights, but failed to effect a landing. +But in the year mentioned Sultan Solyman, The Magnificent, the same +Solyman who thirty-four years before had driven them from Rhodes, +determined to make one supreme effort to dislodge the Order from their new +home. The invading fleet consisted of a hundred and thirty-eight vessels +under the Renegade Piali, and an army of thirty-three thousand men under +the orders of Mustafa Pasha. These sea and land forces were soon +afterwards increased by the arrival of two thousand five hundred resolute +old Corsairs brought from Algiers by Hassan Pasha, and eighteen ships +containing sixteen hundred men under the still more famous Dragut, the +Pirate Chief of Tripoli, who, by the fortunes of war, was in a few years +later fated to toil as a galley-slave in this very harbor. The siege +lasted for nearly four months. Every foot of ground was contested with +heroic determination until it was evident that Fort St. Elmo could no +longer hold out. Then the knights, worn and wounded, and reduced to a mere +remnant of their number, received the viaticum in the little castle +chapel, and embracing each other went forth on the ramparts to meet +whatever lot was in store for them. But St. Angelo and Senglea, at the +end of the peninsula on which Isola is now built, held out until, on the +arrival of succor from Sicily, the Turks withdrew. Of the forty thousand +men who on the 18th of May had sat down before the Castle, not ten +thousand re-embarked; whilst of the eight or nine thousand defenders, +barely six hundred were able to join in the Te Deum of thanks for the +successful termination of what was one of the greatest struggles in +ancient or modern times. Then it was that "the most illustrous and most +Reverend Lord, Brother John de la Valette," to quote his titles inscribed +over the Porta Reale, determined to lay out the new city, so that, before +twelve months passed, the primeval prophecy that there would be a time +when every foot of land in Monte Sceberras would be worth an ounce of +silver bade fair to come true. St. Elmo is still the chief of the island +fortresses, and the little chapel which the knights left to fall under the +Turkish scimitars is again in good preservation, after having been long +forgotten under a pile of rubbish. But though churchmen and soldiers, the +masters of Malta were, if all tales are true, a good deal more +_militaires_ than monks. Eye-witnesses describe the knights as they sailed +on a warlike expedition waving their hands to fair ladies on the shore. In +their albergos or barracks the "Languages" lived luxuriously, and though +dueling was strictly prohibited, there is a narrow street, the Strada +Stretta, running parallel with the Reale, in which this extremely +unecclesiastical mode of settling disputes was winked at. For by a +pleasant fiction, any encounter within its limits was regarded as simply a +casual difficulty occasioned by two fiery gentlemen accidentally jostling +each other! + +Turning into the Strada Mercanti, the San Giacomio of a former +nomenclature, we come upon more reminders of this picturesque brotherhood. +For close by the Hospital for Incurables is the site of their cemetery, +and farther up the steep street is the Military Hospital, which was +founded by the Grand Master, Fra Luis de Vasconçelos. This infirmary, as +an old writer tells us, was in former days "the very glory of Malta." +Every patient had two beds for change, and a closet with lock and key to +himself. No more than two people were put in one ward, and these were +waited upon by the "Serving Brothers," their food being brought to them on +silver dishes, and everything else ordered with corresponding +magnificence. Nowadays, though scarcely so sumptuous, the hospital is +still a noble institution, one of the rooms, four hundred and eighty feet +in length, being accounted the longest in Europe. But there are no silver +dishes, and the nurses have ceased to be of knightly rank. The University, +an institution which turns out doctors with a celerity which accounts for +the number of them in the island, is an even less imposing building than +the public pawnbroking establishment hard by, and neither is so noteworthy +as the market, which is remarkable from a literary point of view as being +perhaps the only edifice in Valletta the founder of which has been content +to inscribe his merits in the vulgar tongue. On the top of the hill, for +we have been climbing all the time, is a house with a fine marble doorway, +which also is the relic of the knights. For this building was the +Castellania, or prison, and the pillory in which prisoners did penance, +and the little window from above which prisoners were suspended by the +hands, are still, with the huge hook to which the rope was attached, to be +seen by those who are curious in such disciplinary matters. But like the +rock-hewn dungeons in which the knights kept their two thousand +galley-slaves, in most cases Turks and Moors who had fallen in the way of +their war-ships, which still exist in the rear of the Dockyard Terrace, +such reminders of a cruel age and a stern Order are depressing to the +wanderer in search of the picturesque. He prefers to look at the Auberge +of the Language of Italy, where the Royal Engineers have their quarters, +or at the Palazzo Parisi, opposite (it is a livery stable at present), +where General Bonaparte resided during that brief stay in Malta which has +served ever since to make the French name abhorred in the island, or at +the Auberge de Castille, the noblest of all the knights' palaces, where +the two scientific corps hold their hospitable mess. + +We have now tramped the entire length of the two chief longitudinal +streets of Malta, and have seen most of the buildings of much general +interest. But in the Strade Mezzodi and Britannica there are many private +dwellings of the best description, and even some public ones, like the +Auberge de France (devoted to the head of the Commissariat Department), +warrant examination from a historical if not from an architectural, point +of view. All of these knightly hotels are worthy of notice. Most of them +are now appropriated to the needs of Government offices or, like the +Auberge d'Arragon (an Episcopal residence), to the housing of local +dignitaries. But where the Auberge d'Allemagne once stood the collegiate +church of St. Paul has been built, and if there ever was an Auberge +d'Angleterre (for the language of England was suppressed when Henry VIII. +confiscated the English Commanderies and was early succeeded by that of +Bavaria), the building which bore her name was leveled when the new +theater was built. It is nevertheless certain that the Turcopolier or +General of the Horse was, until the Reformation, selected from the +Language of England, just as that of Provence always furnished the Grand +Commander, France the Grand Hospitaller, Italy the Admiral, Arragon the +Drapier, Auvergne the Commander, Germany the Grand Bailiff, and Castile +the Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Order, whose Grand Master held among +other titles those of Prince of Malta and Gozo. + +We are now at the Upper Barracca, one of those arcades erected as +promenades by the knights, and still the favorite walk of the citizens in +the cool of morning and evening. From this point also is obtained a good +bird's-eye view of Valletta and much of the neighboring country, and if +the visitor continues his walk to St. Andrew's Bastion he may witness a +panorama of both harbors; one, which the Maltese affirm (and we are not +called upon to contradict them), is surpassed by the Bosphorus alone. It +is at all events the most picturesque of the island views. There at a +glance may be seen the two chief harbors alive with boats, sailing +vessels, and steamers, from the huge ironclad to the noisy little launch. +We then see that beside the main peninsula upon which Valletta is built, +and which divides the Quarantine from the Grand Harbor, there are several +other headlands projecting into these ports in addition to the island +occupied by Fort Manoel and the Lazaretto. These narrow peninsulas cut the +havens into a host of subsidiary basins, bays, and creeks, while Valletta +itself has overflowed into the suburbs of Floriana, Sliema, and St. +Julian, and may by-and-by occupy Tasbiesch and Pieta; Bighi, where the +Naval Hospital is situated, and Corradino, associated with gay memories of +the racecourse, and the more sombre ones which pertain to the cemeteries +and the prisons, all of which are centered in this quarter, where in +former days the knights had their horse-breeding establishments and their +game preserves. + +But there are certain suburbs of Valletta which no good Maltese will +describe by so humble a name. These are the "Three Cities" of Vittoriosa +and Senglea, built on the two peninsulas projecting into the Grand Harbor, +and separated by the Dockyard Creek, and Burmola or Cosspicua, stretching +back from the shore. These three "cities" are protected by the huge +Firenzuola and Cottonera lines of fortifications, and as Fort Angelo, the +most ancient of the Maltese strongholds, and Fort Ricasoli, recalling the +name of its builder, are among their castles, they hold their heads very +high in Malta. Indeed, long before Valletta was thought of, and when +Notabile was seen to be unfitted for their purpose, the knights took up +their residence in Borgo or the Burgh, which, as the Statue of Victory +still standing announces, was dignified by the name of Citta Vittoriosa +after their victory over the Turks. Strada Antico Palazzo del Governatore +recalls the old Palace which once stood in this street, and indeed until +1571 this now poor town was the seat of Government. Antique buildings, +like the Nunnery of Santa Scolastica, once a hospital, and the +Inquisitor's Palace, now the quarters of the English garrison, are +witnesses to its fatten dignity. Burmola is also a city of old churches, +and Senglea named after the Grand Master De la Sengle, though at present a +place of little consequence, contains plenty of architectural proofs that +when its old name of "Chersoneso," or the Peninsula, was changed to Isola, +or "The Unconquered," this "city," with Fort Michael to do its fighting, +played in Malta militant a part almost as important as it does nowadays +when its dockyard and arsenal are its chief titles to fame. + +Turning our survey inland, we see from the Barracca a rolling country, +whitish, dry, and uninviting, dotted with white rocks projecting above the +surface; white little villages, each with its church and walled fields; +and topping all, on the summit of a rising ground, a town over which rise +the spires of a cathedral. This is Citta Vecchia, the "old city" as it was +called when the capital was transferred to Valletta, though the people +round about still call it by the Saracenic name of "Medina," (the town), +the more modern designation of "Notabile" being due to a complimentary +remark of Alfonso the Magnanimous, King of Castile. No town in Malta is +more ancient. Here, we know from the famous oration of Cicero, that +Verres, Prætor of Sicily, established some manufactories for cotton goods, +out of which were made women's dresses of extraordinary magnificence, and +here also the same voluptuous ruler did a reprehensible amount of +plundering from temples and the "abodes of wealthy and honorable +citizens." In their time-honored capital the Grand Masters had to be +inaugurated, and in its cathedral every Bishop of Malta must still be +consecrated. But the glory of Notabile is its memories, for in all +Christendom there is no more silent city than the one towards which we +creep by means of the island railway which has of late years shortened the +eight miles between it and Valletta. Every rood, after leaving the +cave-like station hollowed out of the soft solid rock, and the tunnels +under the fortifications, seems sleepier and sleepier. Every few minutes +we halt at a white-washed shed hard by a white-washed "casal." And all the +"casals" seem duplicates of each other. The white streets of these +villages are narrow, and the people few. But the church is invariably +disproportionately large, well built, and rich in decorations, while the +shops in the little square are much poorer than people who support so fine +a church ought to patronize. There is Hamrun, with its Apostolic Institute +directed by Algerian missionaries, Misada in the valley, and Birchircara. +Casal Curmi, where the cattle market is held, is seen in the distance, and +at Lia and Balzan we are among the orange and lemon gardens for which +these villages are famous. The San Antonio Palace, with its pleasant +grounds, forms a relief to the eye. At Attard, "the village of roses," the +aqueduct which supplies Valletta with the water of Diar Handur comes in +sight, and then, at San Salvador, the train begins the steep pull which +ends at the base of the hill on which Notabile is built. + +On this slope are little terraced fields and remains of what must at one +time have been formidable fortifications. But all is crumbling now. A few +of the Valletta merchants are taking advantage of the railway by building +country houses, and some of the old Maltese nobility cling to the town +associated with their quondam glory. But its decaying mansions with their +mouldering coats of arms, palaces appropriated to prosaic purposes, +ramparts from which for ages the clash of arms has departed, and streets +silent except for the tread of the British soldiers stationed there or the +mumble of the professional beggar, tell a tale of long-departed greatness. +A statue of Juno is embedded in the gateway, and in the shed-like museum +have been collected a host of Phoenician, Roman, and other remains dug out +of the soil of the city. Maltese boys pester us to buy copper coins of the +knights which are possibly honest, and their parents produce silver ones +which are probably apocryphal. + +In Notabile itself there is not, however, a great deal to look at, though +from the summit of the Sanatorium, of old the Courts of Justice (and there +are dreadful dungeons underneath it still), a glance may be obtained over +the entire island. To the prosaic eye it looks rather dry to be the "Fior +del Mondo," the flower of the world, as the patriotic Maltese terms the +land which he leaves with regret and returns to with joy. There to the +south lies Verdala Palace, and the Boschetto, a grove in much request for +picnic parties from Valletta, and beyond both, the Inquisitor's summer +palace, close to where the sea spray is seen flying against the rugged +cliffs. The Bingemma hills, thick with Phoenician tombs, are seen to the +west, and if the pedestrian cares he may visit the old rock fortress of +Kala ta Bahria, Imtarfa, where stood the temple of Proserpine, and +Imtahleb near the seashore, where in the season wild strawberries abound. +Musta, with its huge domed church, is prominent enough to the northeast, +while with a glass it is not difficult to make out Zebbar and Zeitun, +Zurrico, Paola, and other villages of the southeastern coast scattered +through a region where remains of the past are very plentiful. For here +are the ruins of the temples of Hagiar Khim and Mnaidra, rude prehistoric +monuments, and on the shore of the Marsa Scirocco (a bay into which the +hot wind of Africa blows direct), is a megalithic wall believed to be the +last of the temple of Melkarte, the Tyrian Hercules. + +But in Notabile, far before Apollo and Proserpine, whose marble temples +stood here, before even the knights, whose three centuries of iron rule +have a singular fascination for the Maltese, there is a name very often in +many mouths. And that is "San Paolo." Saint Paul is in truth the great +man of Malta, and the people make very much of him. He is almost as +popular a personage as Sir Thomas Maitland, the autocratic "King Tom," of +whose benevolent despotism and doughty deeds also one is apt in time to +get a little tired. Churches and streets and cathedrals are dedicated to +the Apostle of the Gentiles, and from the summit of the Sanatorium a +barefooted Maltese points out "the certain creek with a shore" in which he +was wrecked, the island of Salmun, on which there is a statue of him, and +the church erected in his honor. It is idle to hint to this pious son of +Citta Vecchia that it is doubtful whether Paul was ever wrecked in Malta +at all, that not unlikely the scene of that notable event was Melita, in +the Gulf of Ragusa. Are there not hard by serpents turned into stone, if +no living serpents to bite anybody, and a miraculous fountain which bursts +forth at the Apostle's bidding? And is not "the tempestuous wind called +Euroklydon" blowing at this very moment? And in the cathedral we learn for +the first time that Publius, on the site of whose house it is built, +became the first bishop of Malta. For is not his martyrdom sculptured in +marble, and painted on canvas? And by-and-by we see the grotto in which +St. Paul did three months' penance, though the reason is not explained, +and over it the chapel raised to the memory of the converted Roman +Governor, and not far away the Catacombs in which the early Christians +sheltered themselves, though whether there is an underground passage from +there to Valletta, as historians affirm, is a point in which our +barefooted commentator is not agreed. + +All these are to him irreverent doubts. Notabile, with its cathedral, and +convents, and monasteries, its church of St. Publius, the "stone of which +never grows less," the seminary for priests, the Bishop's Palace and the +Bishop's Hospital, is no place for scepticism touching Saint Paul and his +voyages. Any such unbeliefs we had better carry elsewhere. The day is hot +and the old city is somnolent, and the talk is of the past. At the wicket +gate of the little station at the hill foot the engine is, at least, of +the present. And as we slowly steam into Valletta, and emerge into the +busy street, we seem to have leapt in an hour from the Middle Ages into +the Twentieth Century. The band is playing in the Palace Square, and the +politicians are in procession over some event with which we as seekers +after the picturesque are not concerned. But in Valletta we are in the +land of living men. Behind us is a city of the dead, and around it lie +villages which seem never to have been alive. + + + + +XIII + +SICILY + + Scylla and Charybdis--Messina, the chief commercial center of + Sicily--The magnificent ruins of the Greek Theater at + Taormina--Omnipresence of Mt. Etna--Approach to Syracuse--The famous + Latomia del Paradiso--Girgenti, the City of Temples--Railway route to + Palermo--Mosaics--Cathedral and Abbey of Monreale--Monte Pellegrino at + the hour of sunset. + + +To the traveller who proposes to enter Sicily by the favorite sea-route +from Naples to Messina the approach to the island presents a scene of +singular interest and beauty. A night's voyage from the sunny bay which +sleeps at the foot of Vesuvius suffices to bring him almost within the +shadow of Etna. By daybreak he has just passed the Punta del Faro, the +lighthoused promontory at the extreme northeastern angle of this +three-cornered isle, the Trinacria of the ancients, and is steaming into +the Straits. Far to his left he can see, with the eye of faith at any +rate, the rock of Scylla jutting out from the Calabrian coast, while the +whirlpool of Charybdis, he will do well to believe, is eddying and foaming +at the foot of the Pharos a few hundred yards to his right. Here let him +resolutely locate the fabled monster of the gaping jaws into which were +swept those luckless mariners of old whose dread of Scylla drove them too +near to the Sicilian shore. Modern geographers may maintain (as what will +they not maintain?) that Charybdis should be identified with the +Garofalo, the current which sweeps round the breakwater of Messina seven +miles to the south; but Circe distinctly told Ulysses that the two +monsters were not a "bowshot apart"; and the perfectly clear and +straightforward account given of the matter by Æneas to Dido renders it +impossible to doubt that Scylla and Charybdis faced each other at the +mouth of the Straits. The traveller will be amply justified in believing +that he has successfully negotiated the passage between these two terrors +as soon as he has left the Pharos behind him and is speeding along the +eastern coast of the island towards the city of Messina. + +Very bold and impressive grows the island scenery under the gradually +broadening daylight. Tier on tier above him rise the bare, brown +hill-slopes, spurs of the great mountain pyramid which he is approaching. +These tumbled masses of the mountains, deepening here where the night +shadow still lingers into downright black, and reddening there where they +"take the morning" to the color of rusty iron, proclaim their volcanic +character, to all who are familiar with the signs thereof, unmistakably +enough. Just such a ferruginous face does Nature turn towards you as you +drop down at twilight past the Isleta of Las Palmas, in Gran Canaria, or +work your way from the eastern to the western coast of Teneriffe, round +the spreading skirts of the Peak. Rock scenery of another character is +visible on the left, among the Calabrian mountains, dwarfed somewhat by +the nearer as well as loftier heights of the island opposite, but bearing +no mean part in the composition of the land- and sea-scape, nevertheless. +Mile after mile the view maintains its rugged beauty, and when at last the +town and harbor of Messina rise in sight, and the fort of Castellaccio +begins to fill the eye, to the exclusion of the natural ramparts of the +hills, the traveller will be fain to admit that few islands in the world +are approached through scenery so romantic and so well attuned to its +historic associations. + +There are those who find Messina disappointing, and there is no doubt that +to quit the waters of a rock-embosomed strait for the harbor of a large +commercial seaport possessing no special claim to beauty of situation, is +to experience a certain effect of disenchantment. It would not be fair, +however, to hold the town, as a town, responsible for this. It is only +some such jewel as Naples or as Algiers that could vie with such a +setting. Messina is not an Algiers or a Naples; it is only an honest, +ancient, prosperous, active, fairly clean, and architecturally +unimpressive town. The chief commercial center of Sicily, with upwards of +eighty thousand inhabitants, a Cathedral, an Archbishop, and a University, +it can afford, its inhabitants perhaps believe, to dispense with æsthetic +attractions. But its spacious quays, its fine and curiously shaped port, +the Harbor of the Sickle as it was called by the ancients when after it +they named the city "Zancle," have an interest of their own if they are +without much claim to the picturesque; and the view from the Faro Grande +on the curve of the Sickle, with the Sicilian mountains behind, the +Calabrian rocks in front, and the Straits to the right and left of the +spectator, is not to be despised. + +Still, Messina is not likely to detain any pleasure-tourist long, +especially with Taormina, the gem of the island, and one might almost say, +indeed, of all Italy, awaiting him at only the distance of a railway +journey of some sixty to a hundred miles. The line from Messina to +Giardini, the station for Taormina, and the spot whence Garibaldi crossed +to Calabria in the autumn of 1860, skirts the sea-coast, burrowing under +headlands and spanning dry river-beds for a distance of thirty miles, amid +the scenery which has been already viewed from the Straits, but which +loses now from its too close neighborhood to the eye. The rock-built town +of ancient Taormina is perched upon a steep and craggy bluff some four +hundred feet above the railway line, and is approached by an extremely +circuitous road of about three miles in length. Short cuts there are for +the youthful, the impetuous, and the sound in wind; but even these +fortunate persons might do worse than save their breath and restrain their +impatience to reach their destination, if only for the sake of the varying +panorama which unfolds itself as they ascend from level to level on their +winding way. There can be no denying that Taormina stands nobly and +confronts the Straits with a simple dignity that many greater and even +higher cities might well envy. To see it from a favoring angle of the +battlemented road, with the southern sunlight bathing its bright white +walls and broken lines of housetops, with the tower of Sant' Agostino +traced against the cone of Etna, and the wall that skirts it almost +trembling on the utmost verge of the cliff, while at the foot of the +declivity the Straits trend southward in "tender, curving lines of creamy +spray," to see this is at least to admit that some short cuts are not +worth taking, and that the bridle-path up the hillside might well be left +to those animals for whose use it was constructed, and who are generally +believed to prefer an abridgment of their journey to any conceivable +enhancement of its picturesque attractions. + +[Illustration] + +At Taormina one may linger long. The pure, inspiriting air of its lofty +plateau, and the unequaled beauty of the prospect which it commands, would +alone be sufficient to stay the hurried footsteps of even the most +time-pressed of "globe-trotters"; but those who combine a love of scenery +with a taste for archæology and the classical antique will find it indeed +a difficult place to leave. For, a little way above the town, and in the +center of an exquisite landscape stand the magnificent ruins of the Greek +Theater, its auditorium, it is true, almost leveled with the plain, but +more perfect as to the remains of its stage and proscenium than any other +in Sicily, and, with one exception, in the world. But there is no need to +be a scholar or an antiquarian to feel the extraordinary fascination of +the spot. Nowhere among all the relics of bygone civilizations have Time +and Nature dealt more piously with the work of man. Every spring and +summer that have passed over those mouldering columns and shattered arches +have left behind them their tribute of clasping creeper and clambering +wild flower and softly draping moss. Boulder and plinth in common, the +masonry alike of Nature and of man, have mellowed into the same exquisite +harmony of greys and greens; and the eye seeks in vain to distinguish +between the handiwork of the Great Mother and those monuments of her +long-dead children which she has clothed with an immortality of her own. + +Apart, however, from the indescribable charm of its immediate +surroundings, the plateau of the theater must fix itself in the memory of +all who have entered Sicily by way of Messina as having afforded them +their first "clear" view of Etna, their first opportunity, that is to say, +of looking at the majestic mountain unintercepted at any point of its +outline or mass by objects on a lower level. The whole panorama indeed +from this point is magnificent. To the left, in the foreground, rise the +heights of Castiglione from the valley of the Alcantara; while, as the eye +moves round the prospect from left to right, it lights in succession on +the hermitage of S. Maria della Rocca, the Castle of Taormina, the +overhanding hill of Mola, and Monte Venere towering above it. But, +dominating the whole landscape, and irresistibly recalling to itself the +gaze which wanders for a moment to the nearer chain of mountains or the +blue Calabrian hills across the Strait, arises the never-to-be-forgotten +pyramid of Etna, a mountain unrivaled in its combination of majesty and +grace, in the soft symmetry of its "line," and the stern contrast between +its lava-scarred sides, with their associations of throe and torture, and +the eternal peace of its snow-crowned head. It will be seen at a closer +view from Catania, and, best of all, on the journey from that place to +Syracuse; but the first good sight of it from Taormina, at any rate when +weather and season have been favorable, is pretty sure to become an +abiding memory. + +Twenty miles farther southwards along the coast lie the town and baths of +Aci Reale, a pleasant resort in the "cure" season, but to others than +invalids more interesting in its associations with Theocritus and Ovid, +with "Homer the Handel of Epos, and Handel the Homer of song;" in a word, +with Acis and Galatea, and Polyphemus, and the much-enduring Ulysses. Aci +Castello, a couple of miles or so down the coast, is, to be precise, the +exact spot which is associated with these very old-world histories, though +Polyphemus's sheep-run probably extended far along the coast in both +directions, and the legend of the giant's defeat and discomfiture by the +hero of the Odyssey is preserved in the nomenclature of the rocky chain +which juts out at this point from the Sicilian shore. The Scogli dei +Ciclopi are a fine group of basaltic rocks, the biggest of them some two +hundred feet in height and two thousand feet in circumference, no doubt +"the stone far greater than the first" with which Polyphemus took his shot +at the retreating Wanderer, and which "all but struck the end of the +rudder." It is a capital "half-brick" for a giant to "heave" at a +stranger, whether the Cyclops did, in fact, heave it or not; and, together +with its six companions, it stands out bravely and with fine sculpturesque +effect against the horizon. A few miles farther on is Catania, the second +city in population and importance of Sicily, but, except for one advantage +which would give distinction to the least interesting of places, by no +means the second in respect of beauty. As a town, indeed, it is +commonplace. Its bay, though of ample proportions, has no particular grace +of contour; and even the clustering masts in its busy harbor scarcely +avail to break the monotony of that strip of houses on the flat seaboard, +which, apart from its surroundings, is all that constitutes Catania. But +with Etna brooding over it day and night, and the town lying outstretched +and nestling between the two vast arms which the giant thrusts out towards +the sea on each side, Catania could not look wholly prosaic and +uninteresting even if she tried. + +We must again return to the mountain, for Etna, it must be remembered, is +a persistent feature, is _the_ persistent feature of the landscape along +nearly the whole eastern coast of Sicily from Punta di Faro to the Cape of +Santa Croce, if not to the promontory of Syracuse. Its omnipresence +becomes overawing as one hour of travel succeeds another and the great +mountain is as near as ever. For miles upon miles by this southward course +it haunts the traveller like a reproving conscience. Each successive stage +on his journey gives him only a different and not apparently more distant +view. Its height, ten thousand feet, although, of course, considerable, +seems hardly sufficient to account for this perpetual and unabating +prominence, which, however, is partly to be explained by the outward trend +taken by the sea-coast after we pass Catania, and becoming more and more +marked during the journey from that city to Syracuse. There could be no +better plan of operations for one who wishes to view the great mountain +thoroughly, continuously, protractedly, and at its best, than to await a +favorable afternoon, and then to take the journey in question by railway, +so timing it as to reach the tongue of Santa Croce about sunset. From +Catania to Lentini the traveller has Etna, wherever visible, on his right; +at Lentini the line of railway takes a sharp turn to the left, and, +striking the coast at Agnone, hugs it all along the northern shore of the +promontory, terminating with Cape Santa Croce, upon approaching which +point it doubles back upon itself, to follow the "re-entering angle" of +the cape, and then, once more turning to the left, runs nearly due +southward along the coast to Syracuse. Throughout the twenty miles or so +from Lentini to Augusta, beneath the promontory of Santa Croce, Etna lies +on the traveller's left, with the broad blue bay fringed for part of the +way by a mile-wide margin of gleaming sand between him and it. Then the +great volcanic cone, all its twenty miles from summit to sea-coast +foreshortened into nothingness by distance, seems to be rising from the +very sea; its long-cooled lava streams might almost be mingling with the +very waters of the bay. As the rays of the westering sun strike from +across the island upon silver-gray sand and blue-purple sea and +russet-iron mountain slopes, one's first impulse is to exclaim with +Wordsworth, in vastly differing circumstances, that "earth hath not +anything to show more fair." But it has. For he who can prolong his view +of the mountain until after the sun has actually sunk will find that even +the sight he has just witnessed can be surpassed. He must wait for the +moment when the silver has gone out of the sand, and the purple of the sea +has changed to gray, and the russet of Etna's lava slopes is deepening +into black; for that is also the moment when the pink flush of the +departed sunset catches its peak and closes the symphony of color with a +chord more exquisitely sweet than all. + +From Cape Santa Croce to Syracuse the route declines a little perhaps in +interest. The great volcano which has filled the eye throughout the +journey is now less favorably placed for the view, and sometimes, as when +the railway skirts the Bay of Megara in a due southward direction, is +altogether out of sight. Nor does the approach to Syracuse quite prepare +one for the pathetic charm of this most interesting of the great, dead, +half-deserted cities of the ancient world, or even for the singular beauty +of its surroundings. You have to enter the inhabited quarter itself, and +to take up your abode on that mere sherd and fragment of old Greek +Syracuse, the Island of Ortygia, to which the present town is confined (or +rather, you have to begin by doing this, and then to sally forth on a long +walk of exploration round the _contorni_, to trace the line of the ancient +fortifications, and to map out as best you may the four other quarters, +each far larger than Ortygia, which, long since given over to +orange-gardens and scattered villas and farmhouses, were once no doubt +well-peopled districts of the ancient city), ere you begin either to +discover its elements of material beauty or to feel anything of its +spiritual magic. It is hard to believe that this decayed and apparently +still decaying little island town was once the largest of the Hellenic +cities, twenty miles, according to Strabo, in circumference, and even in +the time of Cicero containing in one of its now deserted quarters "a very +large Forum, most beautiful porticoes, a highly decorated Town Hall, a +most spacious Senate House, and a superb Temple of Jupiter Olympius." A +spoiler more insatiable than Verres has, alas! carried off all these +wonders of art and architecture, and of most of them not even a trace of +the foundations remains. Of the magnificent Forum a single unfluted column +appears to be the solitary relic. The porticoes, the Town Hall, the Senate +House, the Temple of the Olympian Jove are irrecoverable even by the most +active architectural imagination. But the west wall of the district which +contained these treasures is still partially traceable, and in the +adjoining quarter of the ancient city we find ourselves in its richest +region both of the archæological and the picturesque. + +For here is the famous Latomia del Paradiso, quarry, prison, guard-house, +and burial-place of the Syracusan Greek, and the yet more famous Theater, +inferior to that of Taormina in the completeness of the stage and +proscenium, but containing the most perfectly preserved auditorium in the +world. The entrance to the Latomia, that gigantic, ear-shaped orifice hewn +out of the limestone cliff, and leading into a vast whispering-chamber, +the acoustic properties of which have caused it to be identified with the +(historic or legendary) Ear of Dionysius, has a strange, wild +impressiveness of its own. But in beauty though not in grandeur it is +excelled by another abandoned limestone quarry in the neighborhood, which +has been converted by its owner into an orangery. This lies midway between +the Latomia del Paradiso and the Quarry of the Cappuccini, and is in truth +a lovely retreat. Over it broods the perfect stillness that never seems so +deep as in those deserted places which have once been haunts of busy life. +It is rich in the spiritual charm of natural beauty and the sensuous +luxury of sub-tropical culture: close at hand the green and gold of orange +trees, in the middle distance the solemn plumes of the cypresses, and +farther still the dazzling white walls of the limestone which the blue sky +bends down to meet. + +To pass from the quarries to the remains of the Greek Theater hard by is +in some measure to exchange the delight of the eye for the subtler +pleasures of mental association. Not that the concentric curves of these +moldering and moss-lined stone benches are without their appeal to the +senses. On the contrary, they are beautiful in themselves, and, like all +architectural ruins, than which no animate things in nature more perfectly +illustrate the scientific doctrine of "adaptation to environment," they +harmonize deliciously in line and tone with their natural surroundings. +Yet to most people, and especially so to those of the contemplative habit, +the Greek Theater at Syracuse, like the Amphitheaters of Rome and Verona, +will be most impressive at moments when the senses are least active and +the imagination busiest. It is when we abstract the mind from the existing +conditions of the ruin; it is when we "restore" it by those processes of +mental architecture which can never blunder into Vandalism; it is when we +re-people its silent, time-worn benches with the eager, thronging life of +twenty centuries ago, that there is most of magic in its spell. And here +surely imagination has not too arduous a task, so powerfully is it +assisted by the wonderful completeness of these remains. More than forty +tiers of seats shaped out of the natural limestone of the rock can still +be quite distinctly traced; and though their marble facings have of course +long moldered into dust, whole _cunei_ of them are still practically as +uninjured by time, still as fit for the use for which they were intended, +as when the Syracusans of the great age of Attic Drama flocked hither to +hear the tragedies of that poet whom they so deeply reverenced that to be +able to recite his verse was an accomplishment rewarded in the prisoners +who possessed it by liberation from bondage. To the lover of classical +antiquity Syracuse will furnish "moments" in abundance; but at no other +spot either in Ortygia itself or in these suburbs of the modern city, not +at the Fountain of Arethusa on the brink of the great port; not in the +Temple of Minerva, now the Cathedral, with its Doric columns embedded in +the ignominy of plaster; not in that wildest and grandest of those ancient +Syracusan quarries, the Latomia dei Cappuccini, where the ill-fated +remnant of the routed army of Nicias is supposed to have expiated in +forced labor the failure of the Sicilian Expedition, will he find it so +easy to rebuild the ruined past as here on this desolate plateau, with +these perfect monuments of the immortal Attic stage around him, and at his +feet the town, the harbor, the promontory of Plemmyrium, the blue waters +of the Ionian Sea. + +It is time, however, to resume our journey and to make for that hardly +less interesting or less beautifully situated town of Sicily which is +usually the next halting-place of the traveller. The route to Girgenti +from Syracuse is the most circuitous piece of railway communication in the +island. To reach our destination it is necessary to retrace our steps +almost the whole way back to Catania. At Bicocca, a few miles distant from +that city, the line branches off into the interior of the country for a +distance of some fifty or sixty miles, when it is once more deflected, and +then descends in a southwesterly direction towards the coast. At a few +miles from the sea, within easy reach of its harbor, Porto Empedocle, lies +Girgenti. The day's journey will have been an interesting one. Throughout +its westward course the line, after traversing the fertile Plain of +Catania, the rich grain-bearing district which made Sicily the granary of +the Roman world, ascends gradually into a mountainous region and plunges +between Calascibetta and Castrogiovanni into a tortuous ravine, above +which rise towering the two last-named heights. The latter of the two is +planted on the site of the plain of Enna, the scene of the earliest +abduction recorded in history. Flowers no longer flourish in the same +abundance on the meads from which Persephone was carried off by the Dark +King of Hades; but the spot is still fair and fertile, truly a "green +navel of the isle," the central Omphalos from which the eye ranges +northward, eastward, and south-westward over each expanse of Trinacria's +triple sea. But those who do not care to arrest their journey for the sake +of sacrificing to Demeter, or of enjoying the finest, in the sense of the +most extensive, view in Sicily, may yet admire the noble situation of the +rock-built town of Castrogiovanni, looking down upon the railway from its +beetling crag. + +Girgenti, the City of Temples, the richest of all places in the world +save one in monuments of Pagan worship, conceals its character effectually +enough from him who enters it from the north. Within the precincts of the +existing city there is little sign to be seen of its archæological +treasures, and, to tell the truth, it has but few attractions of its own. +Agrigentum, according to Pindar "the most beautiful city of mortals," will +not so strike a modern beholder; but that, no doubt, is because, like +Syracuse and other famous seats of ancient art and religious reverence, it +has shrunk to dimensions so contracted as to leave all the riches of those +stately edifices to which it owed the fame of its beauty far outside its +present boundaries. Nothing, therefore, need detain the traveller in the +town itself (unless, indeed, he would snatch a brief visit to the +later-built cathedral, remarkable for nothing but the famous marble +sarcophagus with its relief of the Myth of Hippolytus), and he will do +well to mount the Rupe Atenea without delay. The view, however, in every +direction is magnificent, the town to the right of the spectator and +behind him, the sea in front, and the rolling, ruin-dotted plain between. +From this point Girgenti itself looks imposing enough with the irregular +masses of its roofs and towers silhouetted against the sky. But it is the +seaward view which arrests and detains the eye. Hill summit or hotel +window, it matters little what or where your point of observation is, you +have but to look from the environs of Girgenti towards Porto Empedocle, a +few miles to the south, and you bring within your field of vision a space +of a few dozen acres in extent which one may reasonably suppose to have no +counterpart in any area of like dimensions on the face of the globe. It is +a garden of moldering shrines, a positive orchard of shattered porticoes +and broken column-shafts, and huge pillars prostrate at the foot of their +enormous plinths. You can count and identify and name them all even from +where you stand. Ceres and Proserpine, Juno Lacinia, Concord, Hercules, +Æsculapius, Jupiter Olympius, Castor and Pollux, all are visible at once, +all recognizable and numerable from east to west in their order as above. +It is a land of ruined temples, and, to all appearance, of nothing else. +One can just succeed, indeed, in tracing the coils of the railway as it +winds like a black snake towards Porto Empedocle, but save that there are +no signs of life. One descries no wagon upon the roads, no horse in the +furrows, no laborer among the vines. Girgenti itself, with its hum and +clatter, lies behind you; no glimpse of life or motion is visible on the +quays of the port. All seems as desolate as those gray and moldering fanes +of the discrowned gods, a solitude which only changes in character without +deepening in intensity as the eye travels across the foam-fringed +coast-line out on the sailless sea. There is a strange beauty in this +silent Pantheon of dead deities, this landscape which might almost seem to +be still echoing the last wail of the dying Pan; and it is a beauty of +death and desolation to which the like of nature, here especially +abounding, contributes not a little by contrast. For nowhere in Sicily is +the country-side more lavishly enriched by the olive. Its contorted stem +and quivering, silvery foliage are everywhere. Olives climb the +hill-slopes in straggling files; olives cluster in twos and threes and +larger groups upon the level plain; olives trace themselves against the +broken walls of the temples, and one catches the flicker of their branches +in the sunlight that streams through the roofless peristyles. From Rupe +Atenea out across the plain to where the eye lights upon the white loops +of the road to Porto Empedocle one might almost say that every object +which is not a temple or a fragment of a temple is an olive tree. + +By far the most interesting of the ruins from the archæologist's point of +view is that of the Temple of Concord, which, indeed, is one of the +best-preserved in existence, thanks, curiously enough, to the religious +Philistinism which in the Middle Ages converted it into a Christian +church. It was certainly not in the spirit of its tutelary goddess that it +was so transformed: nothing, no doubt, was farther from the thoughts of +those who thus appropriated the shrine of Concord than to illustrate the +doctrine of the unity of religion. But art and archæology, if not romance, +have good reason to thank them that they "took over" the building on any +grounds, for it is, of course, to this circumstance that we owe its +perfect condition of preservation, and the fact that all the details of +the Doric style as applied to religious architecture can be studied in +this temple while so much of so many of its companion fanes has crumbled +into indistinguishable ruin. Concordia has remained virtually intact +through long centuries under the homely title of "the Church of St. +Gregory of the Turnips," and it rears its stately façade before the +spectator in consequence with architrave complete, a magnificent hexastyle +of thirty-four columns, its lateral files of thirteen shafts apiece +receding in noble lines of perspective. Juno Lacinia, or Juno Lucinda (for +it may have been either as the "Lacinian Goddess" or as the Goddess of +Childbed that Juno was worshipped here), an older fane than Concordia, +though the style had not yet entered on its decline when the latter temple +was built, is to be seen hard by, a majestic and touching ruin. It dates +from the fifth century B. C., and is therefore Doric of the best period. +Earthquakes, it seems, have co-operated with time in the work of +destruction, and though twenty-five whole pillars are left standing, the +façade, alas! is represented only by a fragment of architrave. More +extensive still have been the ravages inflicted on the Temple of Hercules +by his one unconquerable foe. This great and famous shrine, much venerated +of old by the Agrigentines, and containing that statue of the god which +the indefatigable "collector" Verres vainly endeavored to loot, is now +little more than a heap of tumbled masonry, with one broken column-shaft +alone still standing at one extremity of its site. But it is among the +remains of the ancient sanctuary of Zeus, all unfinished, though that +edifice was left by its too ambitious designers, that we get the best idea +of the stupendous scale on which those old-world religious architects and +masons worked. The ruin itself has suffered cruelly from the hand of man; +so much so, indeed, that little more than the ground plan of the temple is +to be traced by the lines of column bases, vast masses of its stone having +been removed from its site to be used in the construction of the Mole. But +enough remains to show the gigantic scale on which the work was planned +and partially carried out. The pillars which once stood upon those bases +were twenty feet in circumference, or more than two yards in diameter and +each of their flutings forms a niche big enough to contain a man! Yon +Caryatid, who has been carefully and skillfully pieced together from the +fragments doubtless of many Caryatids, and who now lies, hands under head, +supine and staring at the blue sky above him, is more than four times the +average height of a man. From the crown of his bowed head to his stony +soles he measures twenty-five feet, and to watch a tourist sitting by or +on him and gazing on Girgenti in the distance is to be visited by a touch +of that feeling of the irony of human things to which Shelley gives +expression in his "Ozymandias." + +The railway route from Girgenti to Palermo is less interesting than that +from Catania to Girgenti. It runs pretty nearly due south and north across +the island from shore to shore, through a country mountainous indeed, as +is Sicily everywhere, but not marked by anything particularly striking in +the way of highland scenery. At Termini we strike the northern coast, and +the line branches off to the west. Another dozen miles or so brings us to +Santa Flavia, whence it is but half an hour's walk to the ruins of +Soluntum, situated on the easternmost hill of the promontory of Catalfano. +The coast-view from this point is striking, and on a clear day the +headland of Cefalu, some twenty miles away to the eastward, is plainly +visible. Ten more miles of "westing" and we approach Palermo, the Sicilian +capital, a city better entered from the sea, to which it owes its beauty +as it does its name. + +To the traveller fresh from Girgenti and its venerable ruins, or from +Syracuse with its classic charm, the first impressions of Palermo may very +likely prove disappointing. Especially will they be so if he has come with +a mind full of historic enthusiasm and a memory laden with the records of +Greek colonization, Saracen dominion, and Norman conquest, and expecting +to find himself face to face with the relics and remainder of at any rate +the modern period of the three. For Palermo is emphatically what the +guide-books are accustomed to describe as "a handsome modern city"; which +means, as most people familiar with the Latin countries are but too well +aware, a city as like any number of other Continental cities, built and +inhabited by Latin admirers and devotees of Parisian "civilization," as +"two peas in a pod." In the Sicilian capital the passion for the +monotonous magnificence of the boulevard has been carried to an almost +amusing pitch. Palermo may be regarded from this point of view as +consisting of two most imposing boulevards of approximately equal length, +each bisecting the city with scrupulous equality from east to west and +from north to south, and intersecting each other in its exact center at +the mathematically precise angle of ninety degrees. You stand at the Porta +Felice, the water-gate of the city, with your back to the sea, and before +you, straight as a die, stretches the handsome Via Vittorio Emanuele for a +mile or more ahead. You traverse the handsome Via Vittorio Emanuele for +half its length and you come to the Quattro Canti, a small octagonal +piazza which boasts itself to be the very head of Palermo, and from this +intersection of four cross-roads, you see stretching to right and left of +you the equally handsome Via Macqueda. Walk down either of these two great +thoroughfares, the Macqueda or the Vittorio Emanuele, and you will be +equally satisfied with each; the only thing which may possibly mar your +satisfaction will be your consciousness that you would be equally +satisfied with the other, and, indeed, that it requires an effort of +memory to recollect in which of the two you are. There is nothing to +complain of in the architecture or decoration of the houses. All is +correct, regular, and symmetrical in line, bright and cheerful in color, +and, as a whole, absolutely wanting in individuality and charm. + +It is, however, of course impossible to kill an ancient and interesting +city altogether with boulevards. Palermo, like every other city, has its +"bits," to be found without much difficulty by anyone who will quit the +beaten track of the two great thoroughfares and go a-questing for them +himself. He may thus find enough here and there to remind him that he is +living on the "silt" of three, nay, four civilizations, on a fourfold +formation to which Greek and Roman, Saracen and Norman, have each +contributed its successive layer. It need hardly be said that the latter +has left the deepest traces of any. The Palazzo Reale, the first of the +Palermitan sights to which the traveller is likely to bend his way, will +afford the best illustration of this. Saracenic in origin, it has received +successive additions from half-a-dozen Norman princes, from Robert +Guiscard downwards, and its chapel, the Cappella Palatina, built by Roger +II. in the early part of the twelfth century, is a gem of decorative art +which would alone justify a journey to Sicily to behold. The purely +architectural beauties of the interior are impressive enough, but the eye +loses all sense of them among the wealth of their decoration. The stately +files of Norman arches up the nave would in any other building arrest the +gaze of the spectator, but in the Cappella Palatina one can think of +nothing but mosaics. Mosaics are everywhere, from western door to eastern +window, and from northern to southern transept wall. A full-length, +life-sized saint in mosaic grandeur looks down upon you from every +interval between the arches of the nave, and medallions of saints in +mosaic, encircled with endless tracery and arabesque, form the inner face +of every arch. Mosaic angels float with outstretched arms above the apse. +A colossal Madonna and Bambino, overshadowed by a hovering Père Eternel, +peer dimly forth in mosaic across the altar through the darkness of the +chancel. The ground is golden throughout, and the somber richness of the +effect is indescribable. In Palermo and its environs, in the Church of +Martorana, and in the Cathedral of Monreale, no less than here, there is +an abundance of that same decoration, and the mosaics of the latter of the +two edifices above mentioned are held to be the finest of all; but it is +by those of the Cappella Palatina, the first that he is likely to make the +acquaintance of, that the visitor, not being an expert or connoisseur in +this particular species of art-work, will perhaps be the most deeply +impressed. + +The Palazzo Reale may doubtless too be remembered by him, as affording him +the point of view from which he has obtained his first idea of the +unrivaled situation of Palermo. From the flat roof of the Observatory, +fitted up in the tower of S. Ninfa, a noble panorama lies stretched around +us. The spectator is standing midway between Amphitrite and the Golden +Shell that she once cast in sport upon the shore. Behind him lies the +Conca d'Oro, with the range of mountains against which it rests, Grifone +and Cuccio, and the Billieni Hills, and the road to Monreale winding up +the valley past La Rocca; in front lies the noble curve of the gulf, from +Cape Mongerbino to the port, the bold outlines of Monte Pellegrino, the +Bay of Mondello still farther to the left, and Capo di Gallo completing +the coast-line with its promontory dimly peering through the haze. +Palermo, however, does not perhaps unveil the full beauty of its situation +elsewhere than down at the sea's edge, with the city nestling in the curve +behind one and Pellegrino rising across the waters in front. + +But the environs of the city, which are of peculiar interest and +attraction, invite us, and first among these is Monreale, at a few miles' +distance, a suburb to which the traveller ascends by a road commanding at +every turn some new and striking prospect of the bay. On one hand as he +leaves the town, lies the Capuchin Monastery, attractive with its +catacombs of mummified ex-citizens of Palermo to the lover of the gruesome +rather than of the picturesque. Farther on is the pretty Villa Tasca, then +La Rocca, whence by a winding road of very ancient construction we climb +the royal mount crowned by the famous Cathedral and Benedictine Abbey of +Monreale. Here more mosaics, as has been said, as fine in quality and in +even greater abundance than those which decorate the interior of the +Cappella Palatina; they cover, it is said, an area of seventy thousand +four hundred square feet. From the Cathedral we pass into the beautiful +cloisters, and thence into the fragrant orange-garden, from which another +delightful view of the valley towards Palermo is obtained. San Martino, +the site of a suppressed Benedictine monastery, is the next spot of +interest. A steep path branching off to the right from Monreale leads to a +deserted fort, named Il Castellaccio, from which the road descends as far +as S. Martino, whence a pleasant journey back to Palermo is made through +the picturesque valley of Bocca di Falco. + +The desire to climb a beautiful mountain is as strong as if climbing it +were not as effectual a way of hiding its beauties as it would be to sit +upon its picture; and Monte Pellegrino, sleeping in the sunshine, and +displaying the noble lines of what must surely be one of the most +picturesque mountains in the world, is likely enough to lure the traveller +to its summit. That mass of gray limestone, which takes such an exquisite +flush under the red rays of the evening, is not difficult to climb. The +zigzag path which mounts its sides is plainly visible from the town, and +though steep at first, it grows gradually easier of ascent on the upper +slopes of the mountain. Pellegrino was originally an island, and is still +separated by the plain of the Conca d'Oro from the other mountains near +the coast. Down to a few centuries ago it was clothed with underwood, and +in much earlier times it grew corn for the soldiers of Hamilcar Barca, who +occupied it in the first Punic War. Under an overhanging rock on its +summit is the Grotto of Sta. Rosalia, the patron saint of the city, the +maiden whom tradition records to have made this her pious retreat several +centuries ago, and the discovery of whose remains in 1664 had the effect +of instantaneously staying the ravages of the plague by which Palermo was +just then being desolated. The grotto has since been converted, as under +the circumstances was only fitting, into a church, to which many +pilgrimages are undertaken by the devout. A steep path beyond the chapel +leads to the survey station on the mountain top, from which a +far-stretching view is commanded. The cone of Etna, over eighty miles off +as the crow flies, can be seen from here, and still farther to the north, +among the Liparæan group, the everlasting furnaces of Stromboli and +Vulcano. There is a steeper descent of the mountain towards the southwest, +and either by this or by retracing our original route we regain the road, +which skirts the base of the mountain on the west, and, at four miles' +distance from the gate of the town, conducts to one of the most charmingly +situated retreats that monarch ever constructed for himself, the royal +villa-chateau of La Favorita, erected by Ferdinand IV. (Ferdinand I. of +the Two Sicilies), otherwise not the least uncomfortable of the series of +uncomfortable princes whom the Bourbons gave to the South Italian +peoples. + +Great as are the attractions of Palermo, they will hardly avail to detain +the visitor during the rest of his stay in Sicily. For him who wishes to +see Trinacria thoroughly, and who has already made the acquaintance of +Messina and Syracuse, of Catania and Girgenti, the capital forms the most +convenient of head-quarters from which to visit whatever places of +interest remain to be seen in the western and southwestern corner of the +island. For it is hence that, in the natural order of things, he would +start for Marsala (famous as the landing-place of "the Thousand," under +Garibaldi, in 1860, and the commencement of that memorable march which +ended in a few weeks in the overthrow of the Bourbon rule) and Trapani +(from _drepanon_), another sickle-shaped town, dear to the Virgilian +student as the site of the games instituted by Æneas to the memory of the +aged Anchises, who died at Eryx, a poetically appropriate spot for a lover +of Aphrodite to end his days in. The town of the goddess on the top of +Monte San Giuliano, the ancient Eryx, is fast sinking to decay. Degenerate +descendants, or successors would perhaps be more correct, of her ancient +worshippers prefer the plain at its foot, and year by year migrations take +place thither which threaten to number this immemorial settlement of pagan +antiquity among the dead cities of the past, and to leave its grass-grown +streets and moldering cathedral alone with the sea and sky. There are no +remains of the world-famed shrine of Venus Erycina now save a few traces +of its foundation and an ancient reservoir, once a fountain dedicated to +the goddess. One need not linger on San Giuliano longer than is needful to +survey the mighty maritime panorama which surrounds the spectator, and to +note Cape Bon in Africa rising faintly out of the southward haze. + +For Selinunto has to be seen, and Segesta, famous both for the grandeur +and interest of their Greek remains. From Castelvetrano station, on the +return route, it is but a short eight miles to the ruins of Selinus, the +westernmost of the Hellenic settlements of Sicily, a city with a history +of little more than two centuries of active life, and of upwards of two +thousand years of desolation. Pammilus of Megara founded it, so says +legend, in the seventh century B. C. In the fifth century of that era the +Carthaginians destroyed it. Ever since that day it has remained deserted +except as a hiding-place for the early Christians in the days of their +persecution, and as a stronghold of the Mohammedans in their resistance to +King Roger. Yet in its short life of some two hundred and twenty years it +became, for some unknown reason of popular sanctity, the site of no fewer +than seven temples, four of them among the largest ever known to have +existed. Most of them survive, it is true, only in the condition of +prostrate fragments, for it is supposed that earthquake and not time has +been their worst foe, and the largest of them, dedicated to Hercules, or +as some hold, to Appollo, was undoubtedly never finished at all. Its +length, including steps, reaches the extraordinary figure of three hundred +and seventy-one feet; its width, including steps, is a hundred and +seventy-seven feet; while its columns would have soared when completed to +the stupendous height of fifty-three feet. It dates from the fifth century +B. C., and it was probably the appearance of the swarthy Carthaginian +invaders which interrupted the masons at their work. It now lies a +colossal heap of mighty, prostrate, broken columns, their flutings worn +nearly smooth by time and weather, and of plinths shaped and rounded by +the same agencies into the similitude of gigantic mountain boulders. + +It is, however, the temples of Selinunto rather than their surroundings +which command admiration and in this respect they stand in marked contrast +to that site of a single unnamed ruin, which is, perhaps, taking site and +ruin together, the most "pathetic" piece of the picturesque in all Sicily, +the hill and temple of Segesta. From Calatafimi, scene of one of the +Garibaldian battles, to Segesta the way lies along the Castellamare road, +and through a beautiful and well-watered valley. The site of the town +itself is the first to be reached. Monte Barbaro, with the ruins of the +theater, lies to the north, to the west the hill whereon stands the famous +Temple. No one needs a knowledge of Greek archæology or Greek history, or +even a special love for Greek art, in order to be deeply moved by the +spectacle which the spot presents. He needs no more than the capacity of +Virgil's hero to be touched by "the sense of tears in mortal things." The +Temple itself is perfect, except that its columns are still unfluted; but +it is not the simple and majestic outline of the building, its lines of +lessening columns, or its massive architraves upborne upon those mighty +shafts, which most impress us, but the harmony between this great work of +man and its natural surroundings. In this mountain solitude, and before +this deserted shrine of an extinct worship we are in presence of the union +of two desolations, and one had well-nigh said of two eternities, the +everlasting hills and the imperishable yearnings of the human heart. No +words can do justice to the lonely grandeur of the Temple of Segesta. It +is unlike any other in Sicily in this matter of unique position. It has +no rival temple near it, nor are there even the remains of any other +building, temple or what not, to challenge comparison, within sight of the +spectator. This ruin stands alone in every sense, alone in point of +physical isolation, alone in the austere pathos which that position +imparts to it. + +In the Museum of Palermo, to which city the explorer of these ruined +sanctuaries of art and religion may now be supposed to have returned, the +interesting metopes of Selinus will recall the recollection of that +greater museum of ruins which he just visited at Selinunto; but the +suppressed monastery, which has been now turned into a Museo Nazionale, +has not much else besides its Hellenic architectural fragments to detain +him. And it may be presumed, perhaps, that the pursuit of antiquities, +which may be hunted with so much greater success in other parts of the +islands, is not precisely the object which leads most visitors to Sicily +to prolong their stay in this beautifully seated city. Its attraction +lies, in effect and almost wholly, in the characteristic noted in the +phrase just used. Architecturally speaking, Palermo is naught: it is +branded, as has been already said, with the banality and want of +distinction of all modern Italian cities of the second class. And, +moreover, all that man has ever done for her external adornment she can +show you in a few hours; but days and weeks would not more than suffice +for the full appreciation of all she owes to nature. Antiquities she has +none, or next to none, unless, indeed, we are prepared to include relics +of the comparatively modern Norman domination, which of course abound in +her beautiful mosaics, in that category. The silt of successive ages, and +the detritus of a life which from the earliest times has been a busy one, +have irrecoverably buried almost all vestiges of her classic past. Her +true, her only, but her all-sufficient attraction is conveyed in her +ancient name. She is indeed "Panormus"; it is as the "all harbor city" +that she fills the eye and mind and lingers in the memory and lives anew +in the imagination. When the city itself and its environs as far as +Monreale and San Martino and La Zisa have been thoroughly explored; when +the imposing Porta Felice has been duly admired; when the beautiful +gardens of La Flora, with its wealth of sub-tropical vegetation, has been +sufficiently promenaded on; when La Cala, a quaint little narrow, shallow +harbor, and the busy life on its quays have been adequately studied; then +he who loves nature better than the works of man, and prefers the true +eternal to the merely figurative "immortal," will confess to himself that +Palermo has nothing fairer, nothing more captivating, to show than that +_chef-d' oeuvre_ which the Supreme Artificer executed in shaping those +noble lines of rock in which Pellegrino descends to the city at its foot, +and in tracing that curve of coast-line upon which the city has sprung up +under the mountain's shadow. The view of this guardian and patron height, +this tutelary rock, as one might almost fancy it, of the Sicilian capital +is from all points and at all hours beautiful. It dominates the city and +the sea alike from whatever point one contemplates it, and the bold yet +soft beauty of its contours has in every aspect a never-failing charm. The +merest lounger, the most frivolous of promenaders in Palermo, should +congratulate himself on having always before his eyes a mountain, the mere +sight of which may be almost described as a "liberal education" in poetry +and art. He should haunt the Piazza Marina, however, not merely at the +promenading time of day, but then also, nay, then most of all, when the +throng has begun to thin, and, as Homer puts it, "all the ways are +shadowed," at the hour of sunset. For then the clear Mediterranean air is +at its clearest, the fringing foam at its whitest, the rich, warm +background of the Conca d'Oro at its mellowest, while the bare, +volcanic-looking sides of Monte Pellegrino seem fusing into ruddy molten +metal beneath the slanting rays. Gradually, as you watch the color die out +of it, almost as it dies out of a snow-peak at the fading of the +_Alpen-gluth_, the shadows begin to creep up the mountain-sides, +forerunners of the night which has already fallen upon the streets of the +city, and through which its lights are beginning to peer. A little longer, +and the body of the mountain will be a dark, vague mass, with only its +cone and graceful upper ridges traced faintly against pale depths of sky. + +Thus and at such an hour may one see the city, bay, and mountain at what +may be called their æsthetic or artistic best. But they charm, and with a +magic of almost equal potency, at all hours. The fascination remains +unabated to the end, and never, perhaps, is it more keenly felt by the +traveller than when Palermo is smiling her God-speed upon the parting +guest, and from the deck of the steamer which is to bear him away he waves +his last farewell to the receding city lying couched, the loveliest of +Ocean's Nereids, in her shell of gold. + +If his hour of departure be in the evening, when the rays of the westering +sun strike athwart the base of Pellegrino, and tip with fire the summits +of the low-lying houses of the seaport, and stream over and past them upon +the glowing waters of the harbor the sight is one which will not be soon +forgotten. Dimmer and dimmer grows the beautiful city with the increasing +distance and the gathering twilight. The warm rose-tints of the noble +mountain cool down into purple, and darken at last into a heavy mass of +somber shadows; the sea changes to that spectral silver which overspreads +it in the gloaming. It is a race between the flying steamer and the +falling night to hide the swiftly fading coast-line altogether from the +view; and so close is the contest that up to the last it leaves us +doubtful whether it be darkness or distance that has taken it from us. But +in a few more minutes, be it from one cause or from the other, the +effacement is complete. Behind us, where Palermo lay a while ago, there +looms only a bank of ever-darkening haze, and before the bows of our +vessel the gray expanse of Mediterranean waters which lie between us and +the Bay of Naples. + + + + +XIV + +NAPLES + + The Bay of Naples--Vesuvius--Characteristic scenes of street life--The + _alfresco_ restaurants--Chapel of St. Januarius--Virgil's Tomb--Capri, + the Mecca of artists and lovers of the picturesque--The Emperor + Tiberius--Description of the Blue Grotto--The coast-road from + Castellamare to Sorrento--Amalfi--Sorrento, "the village of flowers + and the flower of villages"--The Temples of Pæstum. + + +Naples in itself, apart from its surroundings, is not of surpassing +beauty. Its claim to be "the most beautiful city in Europe" rests solely +on the adventitious aid of situation. When the fictitious charm which +distance gives is lost by a near approach, it will be seen that the city +which has inspired the poets of all ages is little more than a huge, +bustling, commonplace commercial port, not to be compared for a moment, +æsthetically speaking, with Genoa, Florence, Venice, or many other Italian +towns equally well known to the traveller. This inherent lack is, however, +more than compensated for by the unrivaled natural beauties of its +position, and of its charming environs. No town in Europe, not Palermo +with its "Golden Shell," Constantinople with its "Golden Horn," nor Genoa, +the "Gem of the Riviera," can boast of so magnificent a situation. The +traveller who approaches Naples by sea may well be excused for any +exuberance of language. As the ship enters the Gulf, passing between the +beautiful isles of Ischia and Capri, which seem placed like twin outposts +to guard the entrance of this watery paradise, the scene is one which will +not soon fade from the memory. All around stretches the bay in its azure +immensity, its sweeping curves bounded on the right by the rocky +Sorrentine promontory, with Sorrento, Meta, and a cluster of little +fishing villages nestling in the olive-clad precipices, half hidden by +orange groves and vineyards, and the majestic form of Monte Angelo +towering above. Farther along the coast, Vesuvius, the tutelary genius of +the scene, arrests the eye, its vine-clad lower slopes presenting a +startling contrast to the dark cone of the volcano belching out fire and +smoke, a terrible earnest of the hidden powers within. On the left the +graceful undulations of the Camaldoli hills descend to the beautifully +indented bay of Pozzuoli, which looks like a miniature replica of the +parent gulf with the volcano of Monte Nuovo for its Vesuvius. Then +straight before the spectator lies a white mass like a marble quarry; +this, with a white projecting line losing itself in the graceful curve of +Vesuvius, resolves itself, as the steamer draws nearer, into Naples and +its suburbs of Portici and Torre del Greco. Beyond, in the far background, +the view is shut in by a phantom range of snowy peaks, an offshoot of the +Abruzzi Mountains, faintly discerned in the purple haze of the horizon. +All these varied prospects unite to form a panorama which, for beauty and +extent, is hardly to be matched in Europe. + +This bald and inadequate description may perhaps serve to explain one +reason for the pre-eminence among the many beautiful views in the South of +Europe popularly allowed to the Bay of Naples. One must attribute the +æsthetic attraction of the Bay a good deal to the variety of beautiful and +striking objects comprised in the view. Here we have not merely a +magnificent bay with noble, sweeping curves (the deeply indented coasts of +the Mediterranean boast many more extensive), but in addition we have in +this comparatively circumscribed area an unequaled combination of sea, +mountain, and island scenery. In short, the Gulf of Naples, with its +islands, capes, bays, straits, and peninsulas, is an epitome of the +principal physical features of the globe, and might well serve as an +object lesson for a child making its first essay at geography. Then, too, +human interest is not lacking. The mighty city of Naples, like a huge +octopus, stretches out its feelers right and left, forming the straggling +towns and villages which lie along the eastern and western shores of the +bay. A more plausible, if prosaic, reason for the popularity of the Bay of +Naples may, however, be found in its familiarity. Naples and Vesuvius are +as well known to us in prints, photographs, or engravings as St. Paul's +Cathedral or the Houses of Parliament. If other famous bays, Palermo or +Corinth, for instance, were equally well known, that of Naples would have +many rivals in popular estimation. + +The traveller feels landing a terrible anticlimax. The noble prospect of +the city and the bay has raised his expectations to the highest pitch, and +the disenchantment is all the greater. The sordid surroundings of the +port, the worst quarter of the city, the squalor and filth of the streets, +preceded by the inevitable warfare with the rapacious rabble of yelling +boatmen, porters, and cab-drivers, make the disillusionized visitor +inclined to place a sinister interpretation on the equivocal maxim, _Vedi +Napoli e poi mori_; and Goethe's aphorism, that a man can never be +utterly miserable who retains the recollection of Naples, seems to him the +hollowest mockery and the cruellest irony. + +The streets of Naples are singularly lacking in architectural interest. +Not only are there few historic buildings or monuments, which is curious +when we consider the important part Naples played in the mediæval history +of the South of Europe, but there are not many handsome modern houses or +palaces of any pretensions. Not that Naples is wanting in interest. The +conventional sight-seer, who calls a place interesting in proportion to +the number of pages devoted to its principal attractions in the +guide-books, may, perhaps, contemptuously dismiss this great city as a +place which can be sufficiently well "done" in a couple of days; but to +the student of human nature Naples offers a splendid field in its varied +and characteristic scenes of street life. To those who look below the +surface, this vast hive of humanity, in which Italian life can be studied +in all its varied phases and aspects, cannot be wholly commonplace. + +It is a truism that the life of Naples must be seen in the streets. The +street is the Neapolitan's bedroom, dining-room, dressing-room, club, and +recreation ground. The custom of making the streets the home is not +confined to the men. The fair sex are fond of performing _al fresco_ +toilettes, and may frequently be seen mutually assisting each other in the +dressing of their magnificent hair in full view of the passers-by. + +As in Oriental cities, certain trades are usually confined to certain +streets or alleys in the poorer quarters of the town. The names at street +corners show that this custom is a long-established one. There are streets +solely for cutlers, working jewelers, second-hand bookstalls, and old +clothes shops, to name a few of the staple trades. The most curious of +these trading-streets is one not far from the Cathedral, confined to the +sale of religious wares; shrines, tawdry images, cheap crucifixes, +crosses, and rosaries make up the contents of these ecclesiastical marine +stores. This distinctive local character of the various arts and crafts is +now best exemplified in the Piazza degli Orefici. This square and the +adjoining streets are confined to silversmiths and jewelers, and here the +characteristic ornaments of the South Italian peasant women can still be +bought, though they are beginning to be replaced by the cheap, +machine-made abominations of Birmingham. Apart from the thronging crowds +surging up and down, these narrow streets and alleys are full of dramatic +interest. The curious characteristic habits and customs of the people may +best be studied in the poor quarters round the Cathedral. He who would +watch this shifting and ever-changing human kaleidoscope must not, +however, expect to do it while strolling leisurely along. This would be as +futile as attempting to stem the ebb and flow of the street currents, for +the streets are narrow and the traffic abundant. A doorway will be found a +convenient harbor of refuge from the long strings of heavily laden mules +and donkeys which largely replace vehicular traffic. A common and highly +picturesque object is the huge charcoal-burner's wagon, drawn usually by +three horses abreast. The richly decorated pad of the harness is very +noticeable, with its brilliant array of gaudy brass flags and the shining +_repoussé_ plates, with figures of the Madonna and the saints, which, +together with the Pagan symbols of horns and crescents, are supposed to +protect the horses from harm. Unfortunately these talismans do not seem +able to protect them from the brutality of their masters. The Neapolitan's +cruelty to animals is proverbial. This characteristic is especially +noticeable on Festas and Sundays. A Neapolitan driver apparently considers +the seating capacity of a vehicle and the carrying power of a horse to be +limited only by the number of passengers who can contrive to hang on, and +with anything less than a dozen perched on the body of the cart, two or +three in the net, and a couple on the shafts, he will think himself weakly +indulgent to his steed. It is on the Castellamare Road on a Festa that the +visitor will best realize the astonishing elasticity of a Neapolitan's +notions as to the powers of a beast of burden. A small pony will often be +seen doing its best to drag uphill a load of twelve or fifteen hulking +adults, incited to its utmost efforts by physical suasion in the form of +sticks and whips, and moral suasion in the shape of shrill yells and +oaths. Their diabolical din seems to give some color to the saying that +"Naples is a paradise inhabited by devils." + +The _al fresco_ restaurants of the streets are curious and instructive. +That huge jar of oil simmering on a charcoal fire denotes a fried-fish +stall, where fish and "oil-cakes" are retailed at one sou a portion. These +stalls are much patronized by the very poor, with whom macaroni is an +almost unattainable luxury. At street corners a snail-soup stall may often +be seen, conspicuous by its polished copper pot. The poor consider snails +a great delicacy; and in this they are only following ancient customs, for +even in Roman times snails were in demand, if we may judge from the number +of snail-shells found among the Pompeii excavations. A picturesque feature +are the herds of goats. These ambulating dairies stream through the town +in the early morning. The intelligent beasts know their customers, and +each flock has its regular beat, which it takes of its own accord. +Sometimes the goats are milked in the streets, the pail being let down +from the upper floors of the houses by a string, a pristine type of +_ascenseur_. Generally, though, the animal mounts the stairs to be milked, +and descends again in the most matter-of-fact manner. + +The gaudily painted stalls of the iced-water and lemonade dealers give +warmth of color to the streets. There are several grades in the calling of +_acquaiolo_ (water-seller). The lowest member of the craft is the +peripatetic _acquaiolo_, who goes about furnished simply with a barrel of +iced water strapped on his back, and a basket of lemons slung to his +waist, and dispenses drinks at two centesimi a tumbler. It was thought +that the completion of the Serino aqueduct, which provides the whole of +Naples with excellent water at the numerous public fountains, would do +away with the time-honored water-seller; but it seems that the poorer +classes cannot do without a flavoring of some sort, and so this humble +fraternity continue as a picturesque adjunct of the streets. These are +only a few of the more striking objects of interest which the observer +will not fail to notice in his walks through the city. But we must leave +this fascinating occupation and turn to some of the regulation sights of +Naples. + +Though, in proportion to its size, Naples contains fewer sights and +specific objects of interest than any other city in Italy, there are still +a few public buildings and churches which the tourist should not neglect. +There are quite half-a-dozen churches out of the twenty-five or thirty +noticed by the guide-books which fully repay the trouble of visiting them. +The Cathedral is in the old part of the town. Its chief interest lies in +the gorgeous Chapel of St. Januarius, the patron saint of Naples. In a +silver shrine under the richly decorated altar is the famous phial +containing the coagulated blood of the saint. This chapel was built at the +beginning of the seventeenth century, in fulfilment of a vow by the +grateful populace in honor of the saint who had saved their city "from the +fire of Vesuvius by the intercession of his precious blood." St. Januarius +is held in the highest veneration by the lower classes of Naples, with +whom the liquefaction ceremony, which takes place twice a year, is an +article of faith in which they place the most implicit reliance. The +history of the holy man is too well known to need repetition here. The +numerous miracles attributed to him, and the legends which have grown +round his name, would make no inconsiderable addition to the hagiological +literature of Italy. + +Of the other churches, Sta. Chiara, S. Domenico Maggiore, and S. Lorenzo +are best worth visiting. In building Sta. Chiara the architect would seem +to have aimed at embodying, as far as possible, the idea of the church +militant, the exterior resembling a fortress rather than a place of +worship. In accordance with the notions of church restoration which +prevailed in the last century, Giotto's famous frescoes have been covered +with a thick coating of whitewash, the sapient official who was +responsible for the restoration considering these paintings too dark and +gloomy for mural decoration. Now the most noteworthy objects in the church +are the Gothic tombs of the Angevin kings. + +The two churches of S. Domenico and S. Lorenzo are not far off, and the +sightseer in this city of "magnificent distances" is grateful to the +providence which has placed the three most interesting churches in Naples +within a comparatively circumscribed area. S. Domenico should be visited +next, as it contains some of the best examples of Renaissance sculpture in +Naples as Sta. Chiara does of Gothic art. It was much altered and repaired +in the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but still +remains one of the handsomest of the Neapolitan churches. Its most +important monument is the marble group in relief of the Virgin, with SS. +Matthew and John, by Giovanni da Nola, which is considered to be the +sculptor's best work. The Gothic church of S. Lorenzo has fortunately +escaped in part the disfiguring hands of the seventeenth century restorer. +This church is of some literary and historical interest, Petrarch having +spent several months in the adjoining monastery; and it was here that +Boccaccio saw the beautiful princess immortalized in his tales by the name +of Fiammetta. + +In order to appreciate the true historical and geographical significance +of Naples, we must remember that the whole of this volcanic district is +one great palimpsest, and that it is only with the uppermost and least +important inscription that we have hitherto concerned ourselves. To form +an adequate idea of this unique country we must set ourselves to decipher +the earlier-written inscriptions. For this purpose we must visit the +National Museum, which contains rich and unique collections of antiquities +elsewhere absolutely unrepresented. Here will be found the best treasures +from the buried towns of Cumæ, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. The history of +nearly a thousand years may be read in this vast necropolis of ancient +art. + +To many, however, the living present has a deeper interest than the buried +past, and to these the innumerable beautiful excursions round Naples will +prove more attractive than all the wealth of antiquities in the Museum. +Certainly, from a purely æsthetic standpoint, all the best things in +Naples are out of it if the bull may be allowed. To reach Pozzuoli and the +classic district of Baiæ and Cumæ, we pass along the fine promenade of the +Villa Nazionale, which stretches from the Castello dell' Ovo (the Bastille +of Naples) to the Posilipo promontory, commanding, from end to end, superb +unobstructed views of the Bay. Capri, the central point of the prospect, +appears to change its form from day to day, like a fairy island. +Sometimes, on a cloudless day, the fantastic outlines of the cliffs stand +out clearly defined against the blue sea and the still bluer background of +the sky; the houses are plainly distinguished, and you can almost fancy +that you can descry the groups of idlers leaning over the parapet of the +little piazza, so clear is the atmosphere. Sometimes the island is bathed +in a bluish haze, and by a curious atmospheric effect a novel form of +_Fata Morgana_ is seen, the island, appearing to be lifted out of the +water and suspended between sea and sky. + +The grounds of the Villa Nazionale are extensive, and laid out with taste, +but are disfigured by inferior plaster copies, colossal in size, of famous +antique statues. It is strange that Naples, while possessing some of the +greatest masterpieces of ancient sculptors, should be satisfied with these +plastic monstrosities for the adornment of its most fashionable promenade. +The most interesting feature of the Villa Nazionale is the Aquarium. It is +not merely a show place, but an international biological station, and, in +fact, the portion open to the public consists only of the spare tanks of +the laboratory. This institution is the most important of its kind in +Europe, and is supported by the principal European Universities, who each +pay for so many "tables." + +[Illustration] + +At the entrance to the tunneled highway known as the Grotto di Posilipo, +which burrows through the promontory that forms the western bulwark of +Naples, and serves as a barrier to shut out the noise of that overgrown +city, is a columbarium known as Virgil's Tomb. The guide-books, with their +superior erudition, speak rather contemptuously of this historic spot as +the "so-called tomb of Virgil." Yet historical evidence seems to point to +the truth of the tradition which has assigned this spot as the place where +Virgil's ashes were once placed. A visit to this tomb is a suitable +introduction to the neighborhood of which Virgil seems to be the tutelary +genius. Along the sunny slopes of Posilipo the poet doubtless occasionally +wended his way to the villa of Lucullus, at the extreme end of the +peninsula. Leaving the gloomy grotto, the short cut to Pozzuoli, on our +right, we begin to mount the far-famed "Corniche" of Posilipo, which +skirts the cliffs of the promontory. The road at first passes the +fashionable Mergellina suburb, fringed by an almost uninterrupted series +of villa gardens. This is, perhaps, one of the most beautiful drives in +the South of Europe. Every winding discloses views which are at once the +despair and the delight of the painter. At every turn we are tempted to +stop and feast the eyes on the glorious prospect. Perhaps of all the fine +views in and around Naples, that from the Capo di Posilipo is the most +striking, and dwells longest in the memory. At one's feet lies Naples, its +whitewashed houses glittering bright in the flood of sunshine. Beyond, +across the deep blue waters of the gulf, Vesuvius, the evil genius of this +smiling country, arrests the eye, from whose summit, like a halo, + + "A wreath of light blue vapor, pure and rare, + Mounts, scarcely seen against the deep blue sky; + + * * * * * + + ... It forms, dissolving there, + The dome, as of a palace, hung on high + Over the mountains." + +Portici, Torre del Greco, and Torre del' Annunziata can hardly be +distinguished in this densely populated fringe of coast-line, which +extends from Naples to Castellamare. Sometimes at sunset we have a +magnificent effect. This sea-wall of continuous towns and villages lights +up under the dying rays of the sun like glowing charcoal. The +conflagration appears to spread to Naples, and the huge city is "lit up +like Sodom, as if fired by some superhuman agency." This atmospheric +phenomenon may remind the imaginative spectator of the dread possibilities +afforded by the proximity of the ever-threatening volcano towering _in +terrorem_ over the thickly populated plain. There is a certain weird charm +born of impending danger, which gives the whole district a pre-eminence in +the world of imagination. It has passed through its baptism of fire; and +who knows how soon "the dim things below" may be preparing a similar fate +for a city so rashly situated? These dismal reflections are, however, out +of place on the peaceful slopes of Posilipo, whose very name denotes +freedom from care. + +The shores of this promontory are thickly strewed with Roman ruins, which +are seldom explored owing to their comparative inaccessibility. Most of +the remains, theaters, temples, baths, porticoes, and other buildings, +whose use or nature defies the learning of the antiquary, are thought to +be connected with the extensive villa of the notorious epicure Vedius +Polio. Traces of the fish-tanks for the eels, which Seneca tells us were +fed with the flesh of disobedient slaves, are still visible. Descending +the winding gradients of Posilipo, we get the first glimpse of the lovely +little Bay of Pozzuoli. The view is curious and striking. So deeply and +sharply indented is the coast, and so narrow and tortuous are the channels +that separate the islands Ischia, Procida, and Nisida, that it is +difficult to distinguish the mainland. We enjoy a unique panorama of land +and sea, islands, bays, straits, capes, and peninsulas all inextricably +intermingled. + +Continuing our journey past the picturesque town of Pozzuoli, its +semi-oriental looking houses clustered together on a rocky headland, like +Monaco, we reach the hallowed ground of the classical student. No one who +has read his Virgil or his Horace at school can help being struck by the +constant succession of once familiar names scattered so thickly among the +dry bones of the guide-books. The district between Cumæ and Pozzuoli is +the _sanctum sanctorum_ of classical Italy, and "there is scarcely a spot +which is not identified with the poetical mythology of Greece, or +associated with some name familiar in the history of Rome." Leaving +Pozzuoli, we skirt the Phlegræan Fields, which, owing to their +malaria-haunted situation, still retain something of their ancient +sinister character. This tract is, however, now being drained and +cultivated a good deal. That huge mound on our right, looking like a +Celtic sepulchral barrow, is Monte Nuovo, a volcano, as its name denotes, +of recent origin. Geologically speaking, it is a thing of yesterday, +being thrown up in the great earthquake of September 30th, 1538, when, as +Alexandre Dumas graphically puts it, "One morning Pozzuoli woke up, looked +around, and could not recognize its position; where had been the night +before a lake was now a mountain." The lake referred to is Avernus, a name +familiar to all through the venerable and invariably misquoted classical +tag, _facilis descensus Averni_, etc. This insignificant-looking volcanic +molehill is the key to the physical geography of the whole district. +Though the upheaval of Monte Nuovo has altered the configuration of the +country round, the depopulation of this deserted but fertile country is +due, not to the crater, but to the malaria, the scourge of the coast. The +scarcity of houses on the western horn of the Bay of Naples is very +marked, especially when contrasted with the densely populated sea-board on +the Castellamare side. Leaving Monte Nuovo we come to a still more fertile +tract of country, and the luxuriant vegetation of these Avernine hills +"radiant with vines" contrasts pleasingly with the gloomy land "where the +dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells" of the poet. The mythological traditions +of the beautiful plain a few miles farther on, covered with vineyards and +olive-groves and bright with waving corn-fields, where Virgil has placed +the Elysian Fields, seem far more appropriate to the landscape as we see +it. Perhaps a sense of the dramatic contrast was present in the poet's +mind when he placed the Paradiso and the Inferno of the ancients so near +together. + +Quite apart from the charm with which ancient fable and poetry have +invested this district, the astonishing profusion of ruins makes it +especially interesting to the antiquary. A single morning's walk in the +environs of Baiæ or Cumæ will reveal countless fragmentary monuments of +antiquities quite outside of the stock ruins of the guide-books, which the +utilitarian instincts of the country people only partially conceal, Roman +tombs serving as granaries or receptacles for garden produce, temples +affording stable-room for goats and donkeys, amphitheaters half-concealed +by olive-orchards or orange-groves, walls of ancient villas utilized in +building up the terraced vineyards; and, in short, the trained eye of an +antiquary would, in a day's walk, detect a sufficient quantity of antique +material almost to reconstruct another Pompeii. But though every acre of +this antiquary's paradise teems with relics of the past, and though every +bay and headland is crowded with memories of the greatest names in Roman +history, we must not linger in this supremely interesting district, but +must get on to the other beautiful features of the Gulf of Naples. + +Capri, as viewed from Naples, is the most attractive and striking feature +in the Bay. There is a kind of fascination about this rocky island-garden +which is felt equally by the callow tourist making his first visit to +Italy, and by the seasoned traveller who knew Capri when it was the center +of an art colony as well known as is that of Newlyn at the present day. No +doubt Capri is now considered by super-sensitive people to be as +hopelessly vulgarized and hackneyed as the Isle of Man or the Channel +Isles, now that it has become the favorite picknicking ground of shoals of +Neapolitan excursionists; but that is the fate of most of the beautiful +scenery in the South of Europe, if at all easy of access. These fastidious +minds may, however, find consolation in the thought that to the noisy +excursionists, daily carried to and from Naples by puffing little +cockle-shell steamers, the greater part of the island will always remain +an undiscovered country. They may swarm up the famous steps of Anacapri, +and even penetrate into the Blue Grotto, but they do not, as a rule, carry +the spirit of geographical research farther. + +The slight annoyance caused by the great crowds is amply compensated for +by the beauties of the extraordinarily grand scenery which is to be found +within the island desecrated by memories of that "deified beast Tiberius," +as Dickens calls him. What constitutes the chief charm of the natural +features of Capri are the sharp contrasts and the astonishing variety in +the scenery. Rugged precipices, in height exceeding the cliffs of +Tintagel, and in beauty and boldness of outline surpassing the crags of +the grandest Norwegian fiords, wall in a green and fertile garden-land +covered with orange-orchards, olive-groves, and corn-fields. Cruising +round this rock-bound and apparently inaccessible island, it seems a +natural impregnable fortress, a sea-girt Gibraltar guarding the entrance +of the gulf, girdled round with precipitous crags rising a thousand feet +sheer out of the sea, the cliff outline broken by steep ravines and rocky +headlands, with outworks of crags, reefs, and Titanic masses of tumbled +rocks. + +These physical contrasts are strikingly paralleled in the history of the +island. This little speck on the earth's surface, now given up solely to +fishing, pastoral pursuits, and the exploitation of tourists, and as +little affected by public affairs as if it were in the midst of the +Mediterranean, instead of being almost within cannon-shot of the +metropolis of South Italy, has passed through many vicissitudes, conquered +in turn by Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans; under Rome little known and +used merely as a lighthouse station for the benefit of the corn-galleys +plying from Sicily to Naples, till the old Emperor Augustus took a fancy +to it, and used it as a sanatorium for his declining years. Some years +later we find this isolated rock in the occupation of the infamous +Tiberius, as the seat of government from which he ruled the destinies of +the whole empire. Then, to run rapidly through succeeding centuries, we +find Capri, after the fall of Rome, sharing in the fortunes and +misfortunes of Naples, and losing all historic individuality till the +beginning of the present century, when the Neapolitan Gibraltar became a +political shuttlecock, tossed about in turn between Naples, England, and +France; and now it complacently accepts the destiny Nature evidently +marked out for it, and has become the sanatorium of Naples, and the Mecca +of artists and lovers of the picturesque. + +One cannot be many hours in Capri without being reminded of its tutelary +genius Tiberius. In fact as Mr. A. J. Symonds has forcibly expressed it, +"the hoof-print of illustrious crime is stamped upon the island." All the +_religio loci_, if such a phrase is permissible in connection with +Tiberius, seems centered in this unsavoury personality. We cannot get away +from him. His palaces and villas seem to occupy every prominent point in +the island. Even the treasure-trove of the antiquary bears undying witness +to his vices, and shows that Suetonius, in spite of recent attempts to +whitewash the Emperor's memory, did not trust to mere legends and fables +for his biography. Even the most ardent students of Roman history would +surely be glad to be rid of this forbidding spectre that forces itself so +persistently on their attention. To judge by the way in which the simple +Capriotes seek to perpetuate the name of their illustrious patron, one +might almost suppose that the Emperor, whose name is proverbial as a +personification of crime and vice, had gone through some process akin to +canonization. + +Capri, though still famous for beautiful women, whose classic features, +statuesque forms, and graceful carriage, recall the Helens and the +Aphrodites of the Capitol and Vatican, and seem to invite transfer to the +painter's canvas, can no longer be called the "artist's paradise." The +pristine simplicity of these Grecian-featured daughters of the island, +which made them invaluable as models, is now to a great extent lost. The +march of civilization has imbued them with the commercial instinct, and +they now fully appreciate their artistic value. No casual haphazard +sketches of a picturesque group of peasant girls, pleased to be of service +to a stranger, no impromptu portraiture of a little Capriote fisher-boy, +is now possible. It has become a "sitting" for a consideration, just as if +it took place in an ordinary Paris atelier or a Rome studio. The idea that +the tourist is a gift of Providence, sent for their especial benefit, to +be looked at in the same light as are the "kindly fruits of the earth," +recalls to our mind the quaint old Indian myth of Mondamin, the beautiful +stranger, with his garments green and yellow, from whose dead body sprang +up the small green feathers, afterwards to be known as maize. However, the +Capriotes turn their visitors to better account than that; in fact, their +eminently practical notions on the point appear to gain ground in this +once unsophisticated country, while the recognized methods of agriculture +remain almost stationary. The appearance of a visitor armed with +sketch-book or camera is now the signal for every male and female Capriote +within range to pose in forced and would-be graceful attitudes, or to +arrange themselves in unnatural conventional groups: aged crones sprout +up, as if by magic, on every doorstep; male loungers "lean airily on +posts"; while at all points of the compass bashful maidens hover around, +each balancing on her head the indispensable water-jar. These vulgarizing +tendencies explain why it is that painters are now beginning to desert +Capri. + +But we are forgetting the great boast of Capri, the Blue Grotto. Everyone +has heard of this famous cave, the beauties of which have been described +by Mr. A. J. Symonds in the following graphic and glowing picture in +prose: Entering the crevice-like portal, "you find yourself transported to +a world of wavering, subaqueous sheen. The grotto is domed in many +chambers; and the water is so clear that you can see the bottom, silvery, +with black-finned fishes diapered upon the blue-white sand. The flesh of a +diver in this water showed like the face of children playing at +snap-dragon; all around him the spray leaped up with living fire; and when +the oars struck the surface, it was as though a phosphorescent sea had +been smitten, and the drops ran from the blades in blue pearls." It must, +however, be remembered that these marvels can only be perfectly seen on a +clear and sunny day, and when, too, the sun is high in the sky. Given +these favorable conditions, the least impressionable must feel the magic +of the scene, and enjoy the shifting brilliancy of light and color. The +spectators seem bathed in liquid sapphire, and the sensation of being +enclosed in a gem is strange indeed. But we certainly shall not experience +any such sensation if we explore this lovely grotto in the company of the +noisy and excited tourists who daily arrive in shoals by the Naples +steamer. To appreciate its beauties the cave must be visited alone and at +leisure. + +Those who complain of the village of Capri being so sadly modernized and +tourist-ridden will find at Anacapri some of that Arcadian simplicity they +are seeking, for the destroying (æsthetically speaking) fingers of +progress and civilization have hardly touched this secluded mountain +village, though scarcely an hour's walk from the "capital" of the island. + +We will, of course, take the famous steps, and ignore the excellently +engineered high-road that winds round the cliffs, green with arbutus and +myrtle, in serpentine gradients, looking from the heights above mere loops +of white ribbon. Anacapri is delightfully situated in a richly cultivated +table-land, at the foot of Monte Solaro. Climbing the slopes of the +mountain, we soon reach the Hermitage, where we have a fine bird's-eye +view of the island, with Anacapri spread out at our feet, and the town of +Capri clinging to the hillsides on our right. But a far grander view +rewards our final climb to the summit. We can see clearly outlined every +beautiful feature of the Bay of Naples, with its magnificent coast-line +from Misenum to Sorrento in prominent relief almost at our feet, and +raising our eyes landwards we can see the Campanian Plain till it is +merged in the purple haze of the Apennines. To the south the broad expanse +of water stretches away to the far horizon, and to the right this +incomparable prospect is bounded by that "enchanted land" where + + "Sweeps the blue Salernian bay, + With its sickle of white sand." + +and on a very clear day we can faintly discern a purple, jagged outline, +which shows where "Pæstum and its ruins lie." + +In spite of the undeniable beauties of Capri, it seems so given up to +artists and amateur photographers that it is a relief to get away to a +district not quite so well known. We have left to the last, as a fitting +climax, the most beautiful bit of country, not only in the neighborhood of +Naples, but in the whole of South Italy. The coast-road from Castellamare +to Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi offers a delightful alternation and +combination of the softest idyllic scenery with the wildest and most +magnificent mountain and crag landscape. In fact, it is necessary to +exercise some self-restraint in language and to curb a temptation to +rhapsodize when describing this beautiful region. The drive from Naples to +Castellamare is almost one continuous suburb, and the change from this +monotonous succession of streets of commonplace houses to the beautiful +country we reach soon after leaving the volcanic district at Castellamare +is very marked. In the course of our journey we cannot help noticing the +bright yellow patches of color on the beach and the flat house-tops. This +is the wheat used for the manufacture of macaroni, of which Torre dell' +Annunziata is the great center. All along the road the houses, too, have +their loggias and balconies festooned with the strips of finished macaroni +spread out to dry. All this lights up the dismal prospect of apparently +never-ending buildings, and gives a literally local color to the district. +There is not much to delay the traveller in Castellamare, and soon after +leaving the overcrowded and rather evil-smelling town we enter upon the +beautiful coast-road to Sorrento. For the first few miles the road runs +near the shore, sometimes almost overhanging the sea. We soon get a view +of Vico, picturesquely situated on a rocky eminence. The scenery gets +bolder as we climb the Punta di Scutola. From this promontory we get the +first glimpse of the beautiful Piano di Sorrento. It looks like one vast +garden, so thickly is it covered with vineyards, olive groves, and orange +and lemon orchards, with an occasional aloe and palm tree to give an +Oriental touch to the landscape. The bird's-eye view from the promontory +gives the spectator a general impression of a carpet, in which the +prevailing tones of color are the richest greens and gold. Descending to +this fertile plateau, we find a delightful blending of the sterner +elements of the picturesque with the pastoral and idyllic. The plain is +intersected with romantic, craggy ravines and precipitous, tortuous +gorges, resembling the ancient stone quarries of Syracuse, their rugged +sides covered with olives, wild vines, aloes, and Indian figs. The road to +Amalfi here leaves the sea and is carried through the heart of this rich +and fertile region, and about three miles from Sorrento it begins to climb +the little mountain range which separates the Sorrento plain from the Bay +of Salerno. + +We can hardly, however, leave the level little town, consecrated to +memories of Tasso, unvisited. Its flowers and its gardens, next to its +picturesque situation, constitute the great charm of Sorrento. It seems a +kind of garden-picture, its peaceful and smiling aspect contrasting +strangely with its bold and stern situation. Cut off, a natural fortress, +from the rest of the peninsula by precipitous gorges, like Constantine in +Algeria, while its sea-front consists of a precipice descending sheer to +the water's edge, no wonder that it invites comparison with such +dissimilar towns as Grasse, Monaco, Amalfi and Constantine, according to +the aspect which first strikes the visitor. After seeing Sorrento, with +its astonishing wealth of flowers, the garden walls overflowing with +cataracts of roses, and the scent of acacias, orange and lemon flowers +pervading everything, we begin to think that, in comparing the outlying +plain of Sorrento to a flower-garden, we have been too precipitate. +Compared with Sorrento itself, the plain is but a great orchard or +market-garden. Sorrento is the real flower-garden, a miniature Florence, +"the village of flowers and the flower of villages." + +We leave Sorrento and its gardens and continue our excursion to Amalfi and +Salerno. After reaching the point at the summit of the Colline del Piano, +whence we get our first view of the famous Isles of the Syrens, looking +far more picturesque than inviting, with their sharp, jagged outline, we +come in sight of a magnificent stretch of cliff and mountain scenery. The +limestone precipices extend uninterruptedly for miles, their outline +broken by a series of stupendous pinnacles, turrets, obelisks, and +pyramids cutting sharply into the blue sky-line. The scenery, though so +wild and bold is not bleak and dismal. The bases of these towering +precipices are covered with a wild tangle of myrtle, arbutus, and +tamarisk, and wild vines and prickly pears have taken root in the ledges +and crevices. The ravines and gorges which relieve the uniformity of this +great sea-wall of cliff have their lower slopes covered with terraced and +trellised orchards of lemons and oranges, an irregular mass of green and +gold. Positano, after Amalfi, is certainly the most picturesque place on +these shores, and, being less known, and consequently not so much +reproduced in idealized sketches and "touched up" photographs as Amalfi, +its first view must come upon the traveller rather as a delightful +surprise. Its situation is curious. The town is built along each side of a +huge ravine, cut off from access landwards by an immense wall of +precipices. The houses climb the craggy slopes in an irregular +ampitheater, at every variety of elevation and level, and the views from +the heights above give a general effect of a cataract of houses having +been poured down each side of the gorge. After a few miles of the grandest +cliff and mountain scenery we reach the Capo di Conca, which juts out into +the bay, dividing it into two crescents. Looking west, we see a broad +stretch of mountainous country, where + + "... A few white villages + Scattered above, below, some in the clouds, + Some on the margins of the dark blue sea, + And glittering through their lemon groves, announce + The region of Amalfi." + +To attempt to describe Amalfi seems a hopeless task. The churches, towers, +and arcaded houses, scattered about in picturesque confusion on each side +of the gigantic gorge which cleaves the precipitous mountain, gay with the +rich coloring of Italian domestic architecture, make up an indescribably +picturesque medley of loggias, arcades, balconies, domes, and cupolas, +relieved by flat, whitewashed roofs. The play of color produced by the +dazzling glare of the sun and the azure amplitude of sea and sky gives +that general effect of light, color, sunshine, and warmth of atmosphere +which is so hard to portray, either with the brush or the pen. Every nook +of this charming little rock-bound Eden affords tempting material for the +artist, and the whole region is rich in scenes suggestive of poetical +ideas. + +When we look at the isolated position of this once famous city, shut off +from the rest of Italy by a bulwark of precipices, in places so +overhanging the town that they seem to dispute its possession with the +tideless sea which washes the walls of the houses, it is not easy to +realize that it was recognized in mediæval times as the first naval Power +in Europe, owning factories and trading establishments in all the chief +cities of the Levant, and producing a code of maritime laws whose leading +principles have been incorporated in modern international law. No traces +remain of the city's ancient grandeur, and the visitor is tempted to look +upon the history of its former greatness as purely legendary. + +The road to Salerno is picturesque, but not so striking as that between +Positano and Amalfi. It is not so daringly engineered, and the scenery is +tamer. Vietri is the most interesting stopping-place. It is beautifully +situated at the entrance to the gorge-like valley which leads to what has +been called the "Italian Switzerland," and is surrounded on all sides by +lemon and orange orchards. Salerno will not probably detain the visitor +long, and, in fact, the town is chiefly known to travellers as the +starting-place for the famous ruins of Pæstum. + +These temples, after those of Athens, are the best preserved, and +certainly the most accessible, of any Greek ruins in Europe, and are a +lasting witness to the splendor of the ancient Greek colony of Poseidonia +(Pæstum). "_Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum_," says the poet, +and certainly a visit to these beautiful ruins will make one less regret +the inability to visit the Athenian Parthenon. Though the situation of +the Pæstum Temple lacks the picturesque irregularity of the Acropolis, +and the Temple of Girgenti in Sicily, these ruins will probably impress +the imaginative spectator more. Their isolated and desolate position in +the midst of this wild and abandoned plain, without a vestige of any +building near, suggest an almost supernatural origin, and give a weird +touch to this scene of lonely and majestic grandeur. There seems a +dramatic contrast in bringing to an end at the solemn Temples of Pæstum +our excursion in and around Naples. We began with the noise, bustle, and +teeming life of a great twentieth-century city, and we have gone back some +twenty-five centuries to the long-buried glory of Greek civilization. + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Aboukir, and Nelson's victory, 253-255 + + About, Edmond, on the importance of Marseilles, 95 + + Abruzzi Mountains, 326 + + Aba-Abul-Hajez, builder of Moorish Castle, Gibraltar, 15 + + Abyla, Phoenician name of Ceuta, 26 + + Aci Castello, 300 + + Aci Reale, 300 + + Acis and Galatea, 300 + + Æneas and the games at Trapani, 318 + + Africa, "Crystal atmosphere" of, 5 + + Agate Cape, 57 + + Agay, 148 + + Agnone, 302 + + Alameda Gardens, Gibraltar, 13 + + Alassio, 159 + + Alban, Mont, 143 + + Alcantara, Valley of the, 300 + + Alexander the Great, founding Alexandria, 237 + + Alexandria, 96; + appearance from the sea, 235; + historical interest, 236; + Alexander's choice of the site, 237; + harbor, 238; + main street, 240; + Grand Square, 241; + Palace of Ras-et-teen, 243; + view from Mount Caffarelli and the Delta, 244; + Pompey's Pillar, 246; + Library, 247; + the Serapeum, cemeteries, mosques, Coptic convent, and historic + landmarks, 248; + defeat of Antony, and Napoleon, 251; + Ramleh, 251; + Temple of Arsenoe, 252; + Aboukir Bay and Nelson, 253, 254; + Rosetta, Haroun Al Rashid, and the English expedition of 1807, 256; + fertility of the Delta, 258; + Cairo and the rising of the Nile, 260; + Damietta, 261; + Port Said, 261, 262; + ruins of Pelusium, 263; + Suez Canal and M. de Lesseps, 264 + + Algeciras, 4, 23, 24 + + Algeria, 78, 97 + + Algiers, 96, 123; + "a pearl set in emeralds," 28; + the approach to, and the Djurjura, 29; + the Sahel, Atlas, and the ancient and modern towns, 30; + cathedral and mosque, 31; + tortuous plan of the new town, 33, 34; + Mustapha Supérieur, and English colony, 35, 37; + a Moorish villa, 38; + view from El Biar, Arab cemetery, and idolatry, 39; + superstitions and climate, 41 + + Alhendin, 59 + + Ali, Mehemet, 239; + his works in Alexandria, 241, 242; + destroys English troops at Rosetta, 257 + + Almeria, 55, 56, 57 + + Alps, The, 131; + the Julian, 147, 148, 154 + + Alpujarras, The, 44, 55 + + Altinum, 231 + + Amalfi, 345, 347, 349 + + Amru, 236 + + Amsterdam and its canals, 219 + + Anacapri, 344 + + Anchises, 318 + + André, St., 139, 143 + + Angelo, Michael, and the marble quarries at Seravezza, 197 + + Ansedonia, 211 + + Antibes, 96, 147, 151, 152 + + Antipolis, 151 + + Antony, Mark, defeated by Octavius at Mustapha Pacha, 251 + + Apes' Hill, English designation of Ceuta, 26 + + Aquæ Sextiæ, or Aix, Roman colony on the site of Marseilles, 109 + + Arabic legend and the Moorish Castle, Gibraltar, 15 + + Aragon, Kings of, Palace of the, at Barcelona, 67, 83 + + Arbiter, Petronius, 122 + + Aristophanes, and the sausage-seller, 148 + + Arles, 110 + + Arsenoe, Temple of, and the story related by Catullus, 252 + + Aryan Achæans, 108 + + Aryan and Semite struggle against Christianity and Mohammedanism, 4 + + Athanasius at Alexandria, 236 + + Athens, 96 + + Atlantic, Ideas of ancient Greeks respecting the, 2 + + Atlas, Mount, 29 + + Attard, "village of roses," 291 + + Attila, 233 + + Augustine, St., and the angel, 213; + at St. Honorat, 150 + + Augustus, and Turbia, 153 + + Autran, Joseph, 122 + + Avenza, 195 + + Avernus, 338 + + Avignon, 96 + + + B + + Bab-el-Sok, gate of the market-place at Tangier, 6 + + Baiæ, 339 + + Balzac, witty remark on dinners in Paris, 89 + + Balzan, 291 + + Barbaroux, 122 + + Barcelona, 21, 95, 123; + eulogy of Cervantes, the promenades and the people, 61; + funerals, and the flower-market, 62; + streets, Rambla, and cathedral, 65; + Palais de Justice, and Parliament House, 66; + Palace of the kings of Aragon, 67; + museum, park, and monuments to Prim and Columbus, 69; + bird's-eye view, Fort of Montjuich, Mont Tibidaho, 70; + cemetery and mode of burial, 71; + festival of All Saints, 72; + Catalonia, and the church of Santa Maria del Mar, 74; + organ in cathedral, and the suburbs, 77; + Gracia, 77; + Sarria, 78; + Barceloneta, 79; + Academy of Arts, schools, music, the University, and workmen's clubs, + 80; + Archæological Society, primary education, and places of amusement, 82; + history of, 83; + trade, healthful properties, and charitable institutions, 84; + churches, convents, electric lighting, population, and Protestantism, + 86; + democracy, and holidays of, 87; + Mariolatry, 88; + Caballaro, 89; + climate, 90; + hotels, 90; + good looks of the men and women, the police, 92; + progressive tendencies, the post-office and passports, 93 + + Barco, Hamilcar, founder of Barcelona, 82 + + Barral des Baux, 121 + + Barthélemy, 122 + + Baths of Barcelona, 90; + of Cleopatra, 250; + of Caratraca, 44 + + Bay of Biscay, 1 + + "Belgium of the East," The, 251 + + Bellet, Le, 139 + + Belzunce, Monseigneur, and the plague at Marseilles, 113, 114 + + Bentinck, Lord W., and his attack on Genoa, 166 + + Bérenger, 122 + + Berenice, and the Temple of Arsenoe, 252 + + Bighi, 288 + + Boabdil, last king of Granada, 59 + + Boccaccio, and the church of St. Lorenzo, Naples, 232 + + Bordighera, 158 + + Boron, Mont, 125 + + Bouchard, M., and the Egyptian stone at Rosetta, 257 + + Britain, and Tangier, 4; + and the acquisition of Gibraltar, 22 + + Browning, Robert, and Gibraltar, 6 + + Bruèys, Admiral, defeated by Nelson at Aboukir Bay, 254 + + Buena Vista, Gibraltar, 14, 23 + + Bull-fights at Barcelona, 82, 87; + at Malaga, 54 + + Burgundians, The, 109 + + Burmola, 289 + + Byng, Rear-Admiral, and the siege of Gibraltar, 22 + + + C + + Cabo de Bullones, Spanish name of Ceuta, 26 + + Cadiz Bay, 6 + + Café at Gibraltar, 11 + + Cagliari, 96 + + Cairo, 258; + rising of the Nile, 260 + + Cala Dueira, 271 + + Calpe, Rock of (Gibraltar), 2, 14 + + Camaldoli hills, 326 + + Campyses, at Pelusium, 262 + + Canal, Grand, at Venice, 222-228 + + Cannes, 125, 130; + "a Babel set in Paradise," 150; + principal streets, and origin, 151; + fortifications of Vauban, and Roman remains, 152 + + Capraja, 207 + + Capri, 326; + changes in appearance, 334; + its fascination, 339; + historical associations, 340; + palaces of Tiberias, 341; + its beautiful women, 342; + Blue Grotto, 343 + + Carabacel, 127, 138 + + Caratraca, Baths of, 44, 50 + + Carinthia, Dukes of, 233 + + Carlos, Don, and the rising in Barcelona, 84 + + Carnival at Nice, 133 + + Carqueyranne, 147 + + Carrara, church of St. Andrea, and the marble quarries, 196; + mosquitos, 197 + + Cartama, 51 + + Carthagenians, and Genoa, 162; + destruction of Selinus, 319 + + Casal Curmi, 291 + + Casal Nadur, 273 + + Cassian, St., and the monastery of St. Victor, Marseilles, 116 + + Castellaccio, Fort of, 297 + + Castellamare, 345 + + Castiglione della Pescaia, 209 + + Castile, 25 + + Castle, Moorish, at Gibraltar, 15 + + Catacombs at Alexandria, 249 + + Catania, 302 + + Cathedral, at Gibraltar, 13; + at Marseilles, 98; + at Genoa, 80; + at Barcelona, 65; + at Nice, 129; + at Almeria, 57; + at Algiers, 31; + at Pisa, 194; + St. Mark's, Venice, 224-226 + + Catullus, and his story relating to the temple of Arsenoe, 252 + + Cemetery at Alexandria, 248 + + Cervantes, eulogium on Barcelona, 61 + + Ceuta, 17; + origin of name and history of, 25; + main features of, 26; + ancient names, and shape of rock, 26 + + Champollion, M., and the Egyptian stone at Rosetta, 258 + + Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, and his palace at Genoa, 172 + + "Charles III., King," 21, 22 + + Charles V., 20 + + Château d'If, 105 + + Chiavari, 186 + + Chioggia, 230 + + Cholera, The, at Marseilles, 112 + + Cimiez, 127, 138; + monastery and amphitheatre of, 139, 142 + + Civita Vecchia, its founder and history, 213 + + Cleopatra, and Antony, at Alexandria, 236; + Baths of, at Alexandria, 250 + + Cleopatra's Needle, 246 + + Columbus, Monument to, at Genoa, 177; + monument at Barcelona, 69; + his reception at Barcelona by Ferdinand and Isabella, 69, 83 + + Cominetto, 270 + + Comino, 268, 272 + + Concha, General, and the sugar-cane industry of Malaga, 51 + + Constantinople, 95 + + Contes, 139 + + Convent, Coptic, at Alexandria, 248 + + Coneto, "lifts to heaven a diadem of towers," 212; + churches, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, and origin, 213 + + Cornigliano, 147 + + Corno, Remains of, 212 + + Corradino, 288 + + Cosspicua, 289 + + Cremation suggested for adoption in Barcelona, 71 + + Cressy, Battle of, 179 + + Cumæ, 333, 339 + + Cyclops, The, and the Scogli dei Ciclopi, 301 + + Cyrus, 94 + + + D + + Damanhour, 258 + + Damietta, 261 + + Darby, Admiral, and the siege of Gibraltar, 18 + + Delord, Taxile, 122 + + Delta, Egyptian, Fertility of the, 258 + + Djama-el-Kebir, Mosque at Tangier of the, 6 + + Djurjura, The, 29 + + Don, General, and the Alameda Gardens, Gibraltar, 13 + + Doria, Andrea, and his influence in Genoa, 164, 173; + incidents in his life, 176 + + Drinkwater, Captain John, and the siege of Gibraltar, 18 + + Dumas, Alexandre, allusion to Pozzuoli, 338 + + D'Urfé, 122 + + + E + + "Eagle-Catchers," The (87th Regiment), 4 + + Edward, son of King John of Portugal, and his expedition against + Tangier, 25 + + Egypt, variety of interest connected with, 238; + inscribed stone at Rosetta, 257; + agricultural wealth of, 258; + the "gift of the Nile," 259; + English expedition of 1807, 256 + + Elba, quarries and mines of, 203; + Napoleon's confinement, plans for improving the island, and his + escape, 203-206 + + El Hacho, signal-tower at Gibraltar, 16, 26 + + Elliot, General, Monument at Gibraltar to, 13; + the siege of Gibraltar, 17, 18 + + English statuary, Defective, 13 + + Eryx, 318 + + Esparto grass, 56 + + Espérandieu, and the church of Notre Dame de la Garde, Marseilles, 117 + + Estepona, 23 + + Estérel, The, 148, 150 + + Etna, 295-303 + + Etruscans, The, 211 + + Euganean Hills, The, 230 + + Eugénie, Empress, Spanish origin of, 55 + + Euroklydon, The, at Malta, 270 + + Europa Point, Gibraltar, 13; + cottage at, 14, 18 + + Euthymenes, 97; + statue at Marseilles, 100 + + + F + + Falicon, 139, 144 + + Famine at Genoa, 165 + + Ferdinand, Don, and the Portuguese at Ceuta, 25 + + Ferdinand and Isabella, reception of Columbus at Barcelona, 69, 83 + + Ferdinand IV., 317 + + Ferrat, Cape, 141 + + Fiescho, Count, 177 + + Filfla, 271 + + Flower Market, at Marseilles, 102; + at Barcelona, 63 + + Follonica, 209 + + Folquet, 121 + + Formica, 209 + + Fortifications of Gibraltar, 16; + of Genoa, 164; + of Cannes, 152; + Ventimiglia, 157 + + Fortuny, his paintings at Barcelona, 66, 80 + + Fossa Claudia, 230 + + France, and the siege of Gibraltar, 16; + captures Genoa, 164; + and Barcelona, 84 + + Fraser, General, and the English expedition to Egypt of 1807, 256 + + Frejus, Gulf of, 147 + + Funeral at Venice, A, 229 + + Funerals at Barcelona, 75 + + + G + + Galliera, Duchess of, and the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, 172 + + Garibaldi, Birthplace of, 126; + crossing Calabria, 298; + landing at Marsala, 318 + + Genoa, once a rival of Venice, 160; + its detractors, 161; + the beauty of its women, 162; + history, 163, 164; + old and new towns, 166; + position, and view from the slopes, 166; + mediæval churches, narrowness of streets, and the _palazza_, 168; + the Via Nuova, 170; + Fergusson on the architecture of, 171; + the Palazzo Ducale, and the Statue of Hercules, 172, 173; + incidents in the life of Doria, 176; + monument to Columbus, 177; + the "old dogana," 179; + the Exchange, trade in coral, precious metals, and filigree work, 180; + the cathedral, 180; + reputed origin of, 182; + church of L'Annunziata, and the Campo Santo, 182; + the environs, 184; + meeting-place of the Rivieras, 185; + railway to Spezzia, and places on the coast, 187 + + George I., and Gibraltar, 22 + + Giardini, 298 + + Gibel Mo-osa, Moorish name of Ceuta, 26 + + Gibraltar, 4; + Robert Browning's reference to, 6; + resemblance to a lion, 7; + landing at, 8; + variety of nationalities at, 10; + picturesqueness, 10; + population, 11; + strict military regulations, and chief objects of interest, 12, 13; + Moorish Castle, 15; + fortifications, 16; + siege of, 16-19; + capitulation to the Prince of Hesse, 22; + the "key of the Mediterranean," 21 + + Girgenti, "City of Temples," monuments of Pagan worship, and Pindar's + designation, 307; + Temple of Concord, 309; + Temple of Hercules, ravages of earthquakes, and Shelley's allusion in + "Ozymandias," 311, 312 + + Golfe de la Napoule, 148 + + Gondolas of Venice, 222 + + Gothard, St., 228 + + Gough, Colonel, his defeat of Marshal Victor at Tarifa, 4 + + Government House at Gibraltar, 23 + + Gozo, 270, 272, 273 + + Granada, 17, 59 + + Greeks, at Gibraltar, 10; + their trade at Marseilles, 106, 109, 110 + + Grimaldi, The, 179 + + Gros, Mont, 139 + + Grosseto, 209 + + Grotto, at Malta and St. Paul, 293; + of Sta. Rosalia, 317; + Di Posilipo, 335; + at Capri, 343 + + Guelphs, The, and Genoa, 163 + + Guzman, Alonzo Perez de, and his act of defiance at Tarifa, 4 + + Gzeier, 271 + + + H + + Hamilcar Barca, and Pellegrino, 317 + + Hamrun, 291 + + Harbor of Marseilles, 106 + + Haroun al Rashid, reputed birthplace, 256 + + Hepaticas, Valley of, 139 + + "Hercules, Pillars of," 1, 2, 5, 17 + + Hercules and Temple at Girgenti, 311; + Temple at Selinunto, 319 + + Hesse, Prince of, and the acquisition of Gibraltar, 22 + + Hicks, Captain, and the siege of Gibraltar, 22 + + Hieroglyphics, Egyptian, at Rosetta, 257 + + Hiram, and Malaga, 46 + + Homeric era, "Pillars of Hercules" in the, 2 + + Honorat, St., 149 + + Hougoumont, Château of, 15 + + Hyères, 96, 146 + + Hypatia at Alexandria, 236 + + + I + + Iberian race of Genoa, 162 + + Imtarfa, 292 + + Ischia, 326 + + Islands of the Blest, 2 + + Israfel, The Angel, and a belief of the Moslems, 249 + + Ivory on houses in Tangier, 5 + + + J + + Jews, at Gibraltar, 10 + + John of Portugal, King, takes Ceuta from the Moors, 25 + + Joseph of Arimathea, and the _sacro catino_ at Genoa, 181 + + Jumper, Captain, and the siege of Gibraltar, 20 + + Jupiter, Temple of, at Ortygia, 304 + + + K + + Keats, Grave of, 194 + + + L + + La Haye, Farmhouse of, 15 + + La Mortola, Point, 157 + + _Laguna Morta_, The, at Venice, 230 + + Landslip at Roquebrune, 156 + + Lane-Poole, Mr. Stanley, and the Nile, 259 + + Las Palmas, 296 + + Lazarus, Legend respecting, at Marseilles, 116 + + Leghorn, its dullness, 163; + history, and canals, 201; + streets, harbor, trade, statue of Ferdinand, and burial-place of, + Smollett, 202 + + Lentini, 302 + + Leo, The constellation, and Berenice's locks, 252 + + Lepanto, Battle of, 221 + + Lerici, and Shelley's last days, 192 + + Lérins, Vincent de, at St. Honorat, 149 + + Lesseps, M. de, and the Suez Canal, 264 + + Lia, 291 + + Library, Garrison, at Gibraltar, 13; + at Alexandria, 247 + + Lighthouse of Ta Giurdan, 272 + + Liguria, noted for the cunning of its people, 162 + + Ligurian Sea, 146 + + Limpia, Harbor and village of, 127 + + Lion of St. Mark at Venice, 226 + + Lisbon, 21 + + Louis XIV., 97; + and the storming of Barcelona, 83 + + Luna, Remains of, 194 + + Lyons, Climate of, 90 + + + M + + Macgregor, Mr. John (Rob Roy), and the ruins of Tanis, 263 + + Magnan, The, 139 + + Malaga, 95; + rapid development, 43; + climate, general appearance, and convenient position for excursions, + 44; + the Alpujarras, 44; + Phoenician origin, 46; + history, 48; + water supply, 48; + the vineyards, 50; + sugar industry, 51; + Castle, Grecian Temple, and the Alcazaba, 51; + attractiveness of the women, 54; + harbor, 53; + Almeria, 55; + Cape de Gatt, 57; + the Sierra Tejada, the Sierra Nevada, 58; + Trevelez and Alhendin, 59; + Lanjaron, the Muley Hacen, and the Picacho, 60 + + Malamocco, 230 + + Malta, 267; + "England's eye in the Mediterranean," 267; + formerly a peninsula of Africa, and its fertility, 268; + Gozo, Comino, and Cominetto, and the _Fungus Melitensis_, 270; + the Gozitans, 272 + + Man with the Iron Mask, 149 + + Maremma, The, 209 + + Marengo, Battle of, 165 + + Marfa, 274 + + Marguerite, Ste., 145 + + Mariette Bey and the ruins of Tanis, 263, 264 + + Mark, St., at Alexandria, 236; + reputed place of burial, 250; + Lion at Venice, 224 + + Marriages of Greeks at Marseilles, 107 + + Marsala, 318 + + Marseilles; + its Greek origin, and importance as the capital of the Mediterranean, + 94; + history, 96, 109; + appearance from the sea, 97; + the Old Port and the Cannebière, 98, 99; + the Bourse, promenades, and statues of Pytheas and Euthymenes, 100; + flower market and the Prado, 102; + the Corniche road and _bouillabaisse_, 103, 104; + Public Garden, Château d'If, and the quays, 105; + harbors, Greek merchants, and marriage customs, 106-108; + Greek type in the physique of the people, 109; + hotels, cholera, plague, and the _mistral_, 112, 113; + Palais des Arts and the Church of St. Victor, 115, 116; + Church of Notre Dame de la Garde, 117; + Chain of Estaques, fortress, and people, 119; + birthplace of distinguished men, 121; + its proud position, 123 + + Martin, Cap, 156 + + Mary, The Virgin, image at St. Victor's, Marseilles, 119 + + Mascaron, 122 + + Massa, Quarries and palace at, 197 + + Massena, General, at Genoa, 165 + + Mediterranean, The deep interest connected with the cities and ruins on + the shores of the, 2; + Tarifa, 3, 4; + Tangier, 4-6; + Gibraltar, 6-18; + Algeciras, San Roque, and Estepona, 23; + Ceuta, 25, 26; + Marseilles, 94-123; + Genoa, 160-191; + Barcelona, 61-93; + Alexandria, 234-264; + Nice, 124-144; + Malta, 267-294; + Malaga, 42-60; + Algiers, 28-41; + Tuscan Coast, 192-218; + Sicily, 295-324; + Naples, 325-350; + Venice, 219-233; + The Riviera, 145-159 + + Megara, Bay of, 303 + + Mentone, 103; + mountain paths, 125, 131; + walks and drives at, 157, 158 + + Menzaleh, Lake, 262, 263 + + Mery, 122 + + Messina, route from Naples, 295; + general appearance, trade, cathedral, university, etc., 297 + + Minden, 19 + + Mirabeau imprisoned at Château d'If, 105 + + Misada, 291 + + _Mistral_, The, 112; + at Nice, 131 + + Mole at Gibraltar, 9, 14, 15, 20 + + Monaco, description of, 153, 155 + + Monreale, Cathedral and Abbey of, 316 + + Monte Carlo, 131; + its beauty, 155 + + Monte-Cristo and Château d'If, 105 + + Montpellier, 90 + + Monuments to Elliot and Wellington at Gibraltar, 13 + + Moorish Castle at Gibraltar, 15 + + Moors in Gibraltar, 10; + Ceuta taken from the, 25; + in Spain, 47 + + Mosque of the Djama-el-Kebir at Tangier, 6; + at Algiers, 31 + + Mosques of Alexandria, 250 + + Murano, 231 + + Musta, 292 + + Mustapha Pacha, 251 + + + N + + Naples, its population and trade, 95; + beauty of position, and charming environs, 325; + sordid surroundings of the port, 327; + streets, trades, and _al fresco_ toilettes, 328; + Piazza degli Orefici, and cruelty to animals, 329, 330; + snails, goats, water sellers, and chapel of St. Januarius, 330; + churches of Sta. Chiara, S. Domenico Maggiore, and S. Lorenzo, 332; + antiquities of National Museum, Capri, Villa Nazionale, and Grotto di + Posilipo, 333; + "Corniche" of Posilipo, and Roman ruins, 335; + Pozzuoli, 335; + Monte Nuovo and Avernus, 337; + environs of Baiæ and Cumæ, and fascination of Capri, 339; + the drive to Castellamare, 345; + Sorrento, 346; + Amalfi, 347; + Salerno, 349 + + Napoleon, Wars of, and Tarifa, 4; + and Genoa, 165, 181; + seizure of Barcelona, 83; + defeat at Alexandria, 251, 255; + and a project for a Suez Canal, 264; + at Malta, 287; + confinement at Elba, and escape, 203-206; + at Venice, 222 + + Napoleon III., acquires Nice, 129 + + Negroes at Gibraltar, 10 + + Nelson, feasted at the Moorish Castle, Gibraltar, 16; + victory at Aboukir Bay, 253, 254; + at Capraja, 207 + + Nervi, 186 + + Nevada, Sierra, 58, 59 + + Nicæa, 126, 127 + + Nice, 21, 96, 102; + the Queen of the Riviera, 124; + mountains, and its detractors, 125; + three distinct towns--Greek, Italian, and French, 126; + harbor and village of Limpia, and its early history, 127; + Castle Hill, 128; + Raüba Capeu, and the _mistral_, 131; + Italian division and the Promenade du Midi, 132; + cathedral of St. Réparate, the modern town, and the Promenade des + Anglais, 133; + beauty of the private gardens, carnival and battle of flowers, 134, + 135; + the Jardin Public, quays on the Paillon bank and casino, 137; + theatre, Préfecture, flower market, the Ponchettes, the Place Masséna, + the Boulevards Victor Hugo and Dubouchage, Cimiez and Carabacel, + 138; + suburbs, 139; + the road to Monte Carlo, and Monaco, 141; + Villefranche, and the infinite charms of, 141; + heights of Mont Alban, and the Magnan valley, 143; + "gloriously beautiful," 144 + + Nicholas Alexandrowitch, The Czarewitch, death at Nice, 138 + + Nile, The, alluvial deposit, 237; + battle of the, 253; + fertilizing properties, 260 + + Nimes, 110 + + Notabile, antiquity and manufactures, 290; + cathedral and churches, 292 + + Nuovo, Monte, 337 + + + O + + "Oceanus River," designation of the Atlantic in Homeric times, 2 + + Octavius, defeat of Antony at Mustapha Pacha, 251 + + Odessa, 123 + + O'Hara's Folly, tower at Gibraltar, 17 + + Orange, 110 + + Oranges, at Spezzia, 189 + + Orbitello, Etruscan relics at, 210 + + Ortygia, Island of, 303; + temple of Jupiter, and the Latonia, 304; + Greek Theatre, 305 + + Ostia, 216, 217 + + Ostrogoths, The, and Marseilles, 109 + + + P + + Pæstum, Temples of, 349, 350 + + Paillon, The, 139 + + Paintings in the Palais des Arts, Marseilles, 115 + + _Palazzi_, The, of Genoa and Venice, 168 + + Palermo, 312; + first impressions disappointing, and the imposing aspect of the + streets, 312; + the Palazzo Reale, 315; + the Cappella Palatina, church of Martorana, and the Cathedral, 316; + observatory, Monreale, 316; + museum, and the rocks of Pellegrino, etc., 321, 322; + the Piazza Marina, 322; + its beauty at sunset, 323 + + Pallanza, 147 + + Pammilus of Megara, and the founding of Selinus, 319 + + Pastoret, 122 + + Patrick, St., at St. Honorat, 150 + + Paul, St., wrecked at Gzeier, 271; + popularity at Malta, 293 + + Peak of Teneriffe, and the rock at Ceuta, 27 + + Pegli, 186 + + Pellegrino, Monte, 316, 317 + + Pellew, Admiral, and the destruction of the pirate fleet, 215 + + Pelusium, ruins of, 263 + + Perini del Vaga, his frescoes at Genoa, 175 + + Petrarch, 333 + + Pharos of Tarifa, The, 3 + + Philip V., 22; + bombards Barcelona, 83 + + Phocæa, 94 + + Phoenicians, their designation of Ceuta, 26; + at Marseilles, 95; + and Malaga, 46 + + Pianosa, 206; + historical associations, 206 + + Pietra Santa, 197 + + Pietro Negro, 271 + + "Pillars of Hercules," 1; + in Homeric times, 2, 5, 24, 96 + + Pindar and his designation of Agrigentum, 308 + + Piombino, 207 + + Pirates of Barbary, 97 + + Pisa, rival of Genoa, 163; + Cathedral, Campo Santo, baptistry, and leaning tower of, 198, 199 + + Plague, The, at Marseilles, 112, 113; + at Palermo, 317 + + Pliny, 247 + + Polyphemus and Aci Reale, 198 + + Pompey's Pillar, 247 + + Pons, St., 139 + + Populonia, 207; + defeat of Lars Porsenna of Clusium, and possession by the Etruscans, + 208 + + Port Said, 258; + coaling station, 262 + + Porto (Tuscany), 216, 217 + + Portugal, King John takes Ceuta from the Moors, 25 + + Pozzuoli, Bay of, 326, 334, 335; + town of, 335; + allusion of Alexandre Dumas, 338 + + Prim, Monument to, at Barcelona, 69 + + Proserpine, Temple of, at Imtarfa, 292 + + Ptolemy Philadelphus and the Temple of Arsenoe, 252 + + Punta de Africa, The, the African Pillar of Hercules, 24 + + Pyrgos, 214 + + Pytheas, 97; + statue at Marseilles, 100 + + + Q + + Quarry of the Cappucini, 305 + + + R + + Rabato, 272 + + Rameses, and Pelusium, 263 + + Ramleh, 251 + + Rapallo, Bay of, 186 + + Raphael, 175 + + Raphael, St., 146 + + Raymond des Tours, 121 + + Recco, 186 + + Revolution, French, and Venice, 222 + + Riva, 147 + + Riviera, The, general aspect, 145; + origin of name, 146; + extent, and climate, 147; + the Estérel, Agay, Golfe de la Napoule, 148; + Ste. Marguerite, and St. Honorat, 149; + Cannes, 150-154; + Monaco, 153; + Monte Carlo, 155; + Mentone, 155, 158; + Roquebrune, 156, 157; + Bordighera, and San Remo, 158; + Alassio and Savona, 159 + + Riviera di Levante, 146, 185 + + Riviera di Ponento, 146, 185 + + Rodney, Lord, and the siege of Gibraltar, 18 + + Roger II., 314 + + Rogers, Samuel, on Andrea Doria, 173 + + Romans, The, at Marseilles, 97, 110; + at Genoa, 162; + at Nicæa, 128; + at Malaga, 46 + + Ronda, Mountains of, 17 + + Rooke, Sir George, and the siege of Gibraltar, 21 + + Roquebrune, 156; + quaint story connected with, 156 + + Rose, The Chevalier, and the plague of Marseilles, 113 + + Roses of the Riviera, 145 + + Rosetta, 253; + reputed birthplace of Haroun Al Rashid, 256; + English expedition of 1807, 256; + archælogical discoveries, 258 + + Rosia Bay, Gibraltar, 14, 20, 23 + + Rostang, 121 + + Rusellæ, 211 + + Ruskin, Professor, on St. Mark's, Venice, 223, 224 + + + S + + _Sacro catino_, The, at Genoa, 181 + + Sahel Mountains, The, 30 + + Sais, 263 + + Salerno, temples at, 349 + + Salles, De, 121 + + Salmun, 293 + + Salvian, at St. Honorat, 150 + + San Remo, 131, 158, 159 + + San Roque, 23 + + San Salvador, 291 + + Santa Croce, Cape, 303 + + Santa Marinella, 214 + + Santa Severa, 214 + + Saracens, at Marseilles, 109; + at Genoa, 163; + at Civita Vecchia, 212 + + Sarcophagus of Ashmunazar, King of Sidon, at Girgenti, 308 + + Savona, 159 + + Savoy, Counts of, and Nice, 129 + + Scoglio Marfo, 271 + + Scylla and Charybdis, 295 + + Sebta, or Septem, derivation of "Ceuta," 25 + + Segesta, 319; + temples at, 320 + + Selinunto, 319; + ancient temples at, 320 + + Senglea, 289 + + Serapeum, The, at Alexandria, 248 + + Serapis, Temple of, 236 + + Seravezza, Marble quarries at, and Michael Angelo, 197 + + Serpentine at Spezzia, 188 + + Shakespeare, allusion to the Nile, 260 + + Sheba, Queen of, and the _sacro catino_ in the cathedral of Genoa, 181 + + Shelley, last days at Lerici, and death, 192, 193 + + Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, and the siege of Gibraltar, 21 + + Sicily, appearance from the sea, 295; + Messina, 296, 297; + Taormina, 297, 298; + Etna, and Aci Reale, 299, 300; + Ortygia, 303; + Syracuse, 303; + Girgenti, 307; + Palermo, 312-318; + San Guiliane, 318; + Selinunto, 318; + Monte Pellegrino, 322 + + Siege of Gibraltar, 17-20 + + Sierra of the Snows, The, 17 + + Simos and Protis, supposed founders of Marseilles, 94 + + Smollett, Tobias, Grave of, 202 + + Snails as an article of diet, 330 + + Soldiers at Gibraltar, 11 + + Sorrento, 130, 345; + and Tasso, 346 + + Sovana, 211 + + Spain, Rock of Calpe, 2; + landing of first Berber Sheikh, 3; + antiquity of the Moorish Castle, Gibraltar, 15; + driven from Gibraltar, 19; + acquires Ceuta, 25; + and Columbus, 178; + the most Catholic country in the world, 74; + great number of holidays, 87; + Caballero, lady novelist, 88; + piquancy of the women, 91; + unsettled condition of, 92 + + Spanish, The, at Gibraltar, 11 + + Spanish Succession, War of the, 22 + + Spezzia, Scenery around, 160; + arsenal of, 168; + exquisite scenery and remarkable situation, 187; + oranges at, 189; + villages around, 190; + harbor and men-of-war, 191; + Bay of, 192 + + Stanfield's painting of Vico, 346 + + Statuary, English, its inferior character, 13 + + Stone, Egyptian, with inscription, at Rosetta, 257 + + Strabo, 247 + + Stromboli, 317 + + Suez Canal, 96, 123; + construction by M. de Lesseps, a dream realized, 264 + + Syracuse, interest and beauty of, 303 + + + T + + Taggia, 158 + + Talamone, 211 + + Tangier, Bay of, 4; + distant view and features of the town of, 5; + expedition of Edward, son of King John of Portugal, against, 25 + + Tanis, Ruins of (Zoan of the Old Testament), 263 + + Taormina, 297; + elevation of, 298; + beautiful prospect and ruins of Greek theater, 299 + + Tarascon, 96 + + Tarif Ibn Malek, first Berber sheikh who landed in Spain, 3 + + Tarifa, The Pharos of, 3; + the arms, town, and history of, 4 + + Tarquinii, Ruins of, 212 + + Tasso and Sorrento, 346 + + Tejada, Sierra, 58 + + Teneriffe, 296 + + Termini, 312 + + _Terral_, The, of Malaga, 43 + + Tête de Chien, 153 + + Thackeray and _bouillabaisse_, 104 + + Theodore, St., statue at Venice, 226 + + Thiers, M., 122 + + Tiber, The, 215 + + Tintoret, 175 + + Titian, 175 + + Torcello, the ancient Altinum, 231 + + Torre dell' Annunziata, Manufacture of macaroni at, 345 + + Trajan, founder of Civita Vecchia, 216 + + Tramontana, The, of the Riviera, 43 + + Trapani, 318 + + Trevelez, 59 + + Trinacria, 318 + + Turbia, The, 103 + + Turks, at Gibraltar, 10 + + Tuscan coast (_see_ Lerici, Sarzana, Carrara, Pisa, Leghorn, Elba, + Civita Vecchia, etc.). + + + U + + University of Barcelona, 80; + of Velletta, 286; + of Messina, 297 + + Urban V., Pope, and the church of St. Victor, Marseilles, 116 + + + V + + Valletta, 267; + fortress, buildings, population, and abundance of labor, 274, 275; + the Port, 275; + military station, and peculiar construction, 276; + Strada Reale, 278; + the people, and public buildings, 280; + the Knights, and various sieges, 284; + military hospital, 286; + the University and the prison, 286; + visit of Bonaparte, and the Strada Mezzodi, 287; + suburbs, 289; + Notabile and Hamrun, 290; + popularity of St. Paul, 293; + cathedrals, 293, 294 + + Vanderdussen, Rear-Admiral, and the siege of Gibraltar, 22 + + Vegetation at Marseilles, 104 + + Veii, 212 + + Venice, 95, 122; + contrasted with Genoa, 160; + rival of Genoa, 163; + the _palazzi_ of, 168; + a town unequalled in Europe, and general aspect, 219; + history, 221; + formation and shape, 222; + view of San Marco from the Piazza, 223-226; + date of erection, restoration, and interior of St. Mark's, 225; + view from the Molo, and the Grand Canal, 226, 227; + a funeral, 229; + islands sheltering it from the sea, 230-232 + + Ventimiglia, Fortifications of, 157 + + Venus, Temple of, shrine at Eryx, 318 + + Venus Zephyrites, 252 + + Vesuvius, 161, 326 + + Viareggio, Recovery of Shelley's body at, 193, 198 + + Vico, 346 + + Victor, Marshal, dispersal of his army by Colonel Gough at Tarifa, 4 + + Villa Franca, 21; + treaty of, 129; + picturesqueness of, 141 + + Virgil, reference to the cunning of Ligurians, 161; + the Elysian Fields, 338 + + Visigoths, The, 109 + + Vittoriosa, 289 + + Vulcano, 317 + + + W + + Wade, Marshal, 13 + + War of the Spanish Succession, 22 + + Wauchope, General, at Rosetta, 256 + + Wellington, Monument at Gibraltar to, 13 + + Whittaker, Captain, and the siege of Gibraltar, 22 + + Women, of Genoa, 162; + restrictions at the Cathedral of Genoa against, 181; + of Spain, 92; + of Nice, 129; + their attractiveness at Malaga, 54; + of Naples, 328; + of Capri, 342 + + + X + + Xerxes, 94 + + + Y + + Young, Dr., and the Egyptian stone at Rosetta, 258 + + + Z + + Zerka, 273 + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] History of Modern Architecture. + +[2] Dennis: "Cities of Etruria." + +[3] Dennis: "Cities of Etruria," I., p. xxxii. + +[4] Ruskin: "Stones of Venice." + +[5] Alison's "History of Europe." + +[6] Sir Theodore Martin. + +[7] In Homeric times, as is shown by the Odyssey, the Nile was called +[Greek: Aignptos], a name which was afterwards transferred to the country. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41263 *** |