A VISIT TO CAIRO. AFTER many rambles in the Isles of Greece and the neighbouring coasts, regions full of mingled classical and sacred interest, having heard, when at Canea, in Crete, in the spring of 1838, that an Austrian steam-vessel would touch at that port, on her way from Trieste to Alexandria, I resolved to take the opportunity thus afforded me to indulge my curiosity by a glimpse at the wonders of Egypt. 66 The few days during which I awaited, in Canea, the arrival of the steam-vessel, the Principe Metternich," passed amid cordial hospitalities shown to me by Mr. Ongley, the British consul, and by the Reverend Mr. Benton, Missionary of the American Episcopal Church. From other residents at the port of Canea, chiefly French merchants I met, likewise, that kindness of reception, which is so cheering to the wanderer on foreign land. Of all the islands girt by the blue waves and golden sky of the Levant, there is none more beautiful than Crete. Its green wellwatered valleys and plains, and its wild B mountain scenery, offer, within a small compass, the charms of many and various climates in one. The ground is fertile to profusion in grain, and fruit, and flowers. The vine and the olive produce their richest crops, and the orange blossom fills the air with the fragrance of a southern clime; while banks covered with wild flowers, and fences of briar-rose, recall Devonshire or Kent in pride of spring. The large heads of the Spikenard, and the brilliant blossoms of the Flos Adonis, grow intermingled with the plants most common in our meadows; the daisies, gold-cups, and violets, of old England. As no spot has been more favoured by Heaven with the bounties of nature than this lovely island, so, on the other hand, none has suffered more from the ravages of man and the furies of intestine warfare. Nowhere has the battle between Greeks and Turks been waged more obstinately than in Crete; the contending parties having been here more equally matched in strength than in most other scenes of their conflict. The Greeks were, indeed, three times more numerous than their antagonists; but the Turks, to balance their disadvantage in that respect, had possession of the fortified places, and a better supply of arms. The number of Greeks now on the whole island is estimated at about 81,000, and the Mahometan population at 27,000. The Pasha of Egypt, the present lord of Crete, has trodden down, beneath his iron heel, the flames of civil contest, but the embers still await only an opportunity to burst forth again into sudden blaze. Even now, in many parts of the country, the traveller may seem to be passing through a land "desolate and without inhabitant." I am assured that, in this year, scarcely one-fifth of the average olive-crop will be collected in the island, from want of hands to gather them in. Frequently, during a long day's ride, weary and needing refreshment, a hope has arisen to cheer me, at sight of villages appearing on the right and on the left; which, however, on approach, I invariably found to be tenantless ruins, roofless and crumbling walls, amid which I listened in vain for a sound of human life. On one occasion, I discovered, within a narrow enclosure, a magnificent orange-tree, which had escaped the notice of the spoiler, when all around was demolished. Its boughs bent to the ground, laden with golden fruit, which no hand had touched, and which surpassed in beauty and flavour even the egg-orange of Malta. Never have I beheld marks of more cruel devastation than in Crete; if I except the blackened ruins of Scio, stamped with still deeper vestiges of human barbarity. There is this striking difference, however, between the cases of the two islands; that in Scio the work of massacre and destruction was inflicted on an unresisting peaceful population. The business of extermination, begun by the Turkish troops, was taken up by still renewed bands which poured in from the lowest Mussulman rabble of Smyrna, who, scenting the prey, thronged like wolves to a feast of blood. It is hard, though not infrequent, that the calamities of the wretched should be imputed to their crimes. In some published letters from the East occurs, in relation to the massacre of Scio, a passage which has received considerable currency from being copied into a nautical directory. The writer of the passage states that the inhabitants of Scio, who, stimulated by the example set before them in other isles of Greece, had risen to shake off the Turkish yoke, after capturing the fort of the city, stained their cause by an act of cruelty, in putting the garrison to the sword. But, in fact, the Turkish fort never surrendered. Its garrison, having seized, at the commencement of the insurrection, some of the principal Sciote citizens, under threat of putting them to death, compelled their friends to supply provisions to the fort. The Samian adventurers, who had been the chief movers in the insurrection, fled to their own island, on the appearance before Scio of the Turkish fleet, which brought a large body of soldiers, burning with rage at the defeats which they |