and memorials of my country. I found here a Kittle France in the midst of Greece. I walked through a long street, still called the street of the knights. It consists of Gothic houses, the walls of which are studded with Gallic devices, and the arms of families that figure in our annals. I remarked the lilies of France crowned, and as fresh as if they had just come from the hands of the sculptor. The Turks, who have every where mutilated the monuments of Greece, have spared those of chivalry; Christian honour astonished infidel bravery, and the Saladins felt respect for the Coucis. At the end of the street of the knights, you come to three Gothic arches which lead to the palace of the grand master. This palace is now converted into a prison. A half ruined convent, inhabited by two monks, is the only memorial at Rhodes of that religion which there performed such miracles. The fathers conducted me to their chapel. You there see a Gothic virgin, with her child, painted on wood; the arms of d'Aubusson, the grand master, are carved at the bottom of the picture. This curious piece of antiquity was discovered some years since by a slave who was at work in the garden belonging to the convent. In the chapel is a second altar dedicated to St. Louis, whose image is met with all over the east, and whose death bed I saw at Carthage. I left my mite upon this altar, requesting the fathers to say a mass for my prosperous voyage, as if I had foreseen the dangers I should encounter on the coast of Rhodes, in my return from Egypt. The commercial port of Rhodes would be very safe, if the ancient works which defended it were rebuilt. At the extremity of this harbour stands a wall flanked with two towers. These tow ers, according to a tradition current in the country, occupy the site of the two rocks which served as a base for the Colossus. Every body knows that the ships did not pass between the legs of this statue; I mention it merely not to omit any thing. Very near this first harbour are situated the basin for gallies and the dock yard. A frigate of thirty guns was then on the stocks, and was to be built entirely of fir from the mountains of the island. The coast of Rhodes opposite to Caramania, the ancient Doris and Caria, is nearly upon a level with the sea; but the land rises in the interior; and a lofty mountain, with a flat summit mentioned by all the geographers of antiquity, appears very conspicuous. At Lindus are yet left some vestiges of the temple of Minerva ; but Camirus and Ialysus have totally disappeared. Rhodes formerly supplied all Anatolia with oil; at present it has not enough for its own consumption. It still exports a small quantity of corn. The vineyards yield an excellent wine, resembling those of the Rhone. The original plants were probably brought from Dauphiné by the chevaliers of that tongue; a conjecture which is strengthened by this circumstance, that these wines are here called as in Cyprus, Commandery wines. Our books of Geography inform us that Rhodes has manufactures of velvet and tapestry, which are held in high estimation. Some coarse linens, which are made up into furniture equally coarse, are the only produce in this line of the industry of the Rhodians. These people, whose colonies of old founded Naples and Agrigentum, now occupy no more than a corner of their own desert island. An aga, with about a hundred degenerate janissaries, are sufficient to overawe a herd of slaves. It is a wonder that the order of Malta never attempted to recover its ancient domain; nothing would have been more easy than to regain possession of the island of Rhodes; the knights might without much trouble, have repaired the fortifications, which are yet very good; they would not have been a second time expelled; for the Turks, who were the first people in Europe, that opened trenches before a place, are now the very last of all in the art of sieges. At four in the afternoon of the 25th, I parted from M. Magallon, after leaving with him some letters, which he promised to forward, by way of Caramania, to Constantinople. I hired a galley boat, and followed our ship, which was already under sail, having taken on board her coasting pilot, a German, who had been settled at Rhodes for many years. We steered with a view to make the cape at the point of Caramania, formerly the promontory of Chimæra in Lycia. Astern of us, Rhodes exhibited in the distance a bluish range of coast under a golden sky. In this range we diɛtinguished two square mountains which seemed to have been cut out expressly for the erection of castles, and nearly resembled in their form the acropolis of Corinth, Athens, and Pergamus. The 26th was an unlucky day. We lay becalmed off the continent of Asia, nearly abreast of Cape Chelidonia, which forms the point of the gulf of Satalia. I saw on our left the lofty peaks of rhe Cragus, and called to mind the verses of the poets on the frigid Lycia. I knew not that I should one day execrate the summits of this Taurus which I now contemplated with pleasure, and fondly reckoned among the celebrated mountains whose tops I had beheld. The currents were strong, and carried us out to sea, as we found the following day. The ship, which was in ballast, laboured exceedingly: we shivered our main-top-mast and the fore-top-sail yard; which, to sailors so inexperienced as we, was a very serious misfortune. It is really surprising to see how the Greeks navigate their ships. The pilot sits cross legged, with his pipe in his mouth, holding the tiller, which to be on a level with the hand that guides it, must graze the deck. Before this pilot, who is half reclined, and consequently can exert no force, stands a compass, which he knows nothing about, and which he never looks at. On the least appearance of danger, French or Italian charts are spread out upon the deck; the whole crew, with the captain at their head, lie down upon their bellies; they examine the chart; they follow the lines delineated upon it with their fingers; they endeavour to find out where they are; each gives his opinion: they conclude at last that it is impossible to make head or tail of these conjuring books of the Franks, fold up the map again, lower the sails, or bring the wind astern they then have recourse again to their pipes and their chaplets, recommend themselves to Providence and await the event. In this way many a ship gets two or three hundred leagues out of her course, and finds herself off the coast of Africa instead of making that of Syria; but all this cannot prevent the crew from joining in a dance on the first gleam of sun-shine. The ancient Greeks were, in many respects but amiable and credulous children, who passed with all the levity of infancy from grief to joy, and the modern Greeks have retained something of this character: happy at least to find in this versatility of disposition some relief from their woes! About eight in the evening, the wind got round again to the north; and the hopes of soon being at the end of their voyage, once more cheered the spirits of the pilgrims. Our German pilot |