NOTES BY SEA AND LAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12551, 3 January 1903, Page 9

NOTES BY SEA AND LAND.

Br Tbka Koe, , . '

No, L-FROM VENICE TO ATHENS.* • Thcro is one advantage to bo gained from travelling on an Italian General Navigation •Company's boat—it renders you more lenient to the short-eothiings of a certain steamship lino nearer honle. Otherwise, it leaves much to bo desired in many, directions,- but more especially in that of the boat's per eonnel, Our. stewards, for instance, evidently imagined themselves placed in that position, em the Bulgaria for. tho .sole purpose of. annoying .and actively thwarting every legitimate desire of the passengers on board. One fat, ill-featured Italian who waited at our table Tjegan. his operations early in.the morning at our .'so-called breakfast. He would tiring you the sour bread, rancid butter, weak tea, and diluted Swiss milk, and then post himself against a cupboard and watch attentively.. You began the meal. Presently a huge dirty hand ■would swoop down and removo butter, or sugar, or both. A few minutes later and .the milk-jug would disappear. "Sou' ciung tight to tho teapot, and perhaps. feebly demanded a little more bread. Tho fat. man would snort anil glare—pretend not to understand! Surely his cars must have misled him I You repeated tho order, and he would go out, swearing volubly in Italian under his breath. After a lapse of 'timo sufficient to allow of a certain " rise of angry passions" in tho hungry bosom, he would re-appcar, fling down tho required bread, and resume his watchful attitude against tho .cupboard. ' Of course you wanted more liquid nourishment by this time, but probably reflected: "Ah, well! It's not wortli troubling about, since wo have lunch again at 10!" Yes, positively,, you wcro expected to cat at 10 o'clock an oily, greasy, fishy repast of about sevep courses, and then fast until half-past 6inthccveuingWo stood it for ono day, fortunately, going ashore at Ancona and eking out a miserable existeneo by buying and devouring ..roast chestnuts. It being Sunday, .provision, shops were closed--there. After that experience, wo humbly petitioned the head steward for afternoon tea, and this he graciously granted; accompanied with an intimation, however, that his doing so was only owing to tho wish being general, and, furthermore, that our customary after-dinner cup -of tea must bo. discontinued in consequence. Which was done accordingly—and this on a boat where prices ranged as high as on an Austrian Lloyd! But there is no competition in steamers from Venice to Brindisi, which explains much. We used to sit round that tea-board gloating over the palpable impatience of our fat steward, who, as usual, stood on watch, waiting to snatch away tho remains of that sumptuous feast, and many a time and oft we*grj ove 6l that he could mot understand English. We christened him "The Automobile," from his speed in rushing ne through our meals. Scarcely had you swallowed a mouthful of soup, and laid down your spoon for a moment's speculation on its component parts, when a huge hand, clothed now in white glove, descended untimely on your doomed plate. And so on through every courso of that oily repast. Your only chance was to use a fork with one hand, and cling tight to your di.ih with the other. Afterwards wo coiild hear our 'tormentors down below laughing and amusing themselves over their own meal for hours. Once, ono of our party wanted a hath, and tho room was found after some difficulty. Then he no longer felt tho least desire for one. Quite tho contrary. It would have involved such an enormous, sacrifice of animal life. My last vision of that same fat steward might have been called " The Metamorphosis." He was obsequiously helping on a passenger with his great-coat, wreathed, meanwhile in oily smiles and smirking bows, and breathing out love and good wishes. For we had reached Patras, and the time for "tips" was at hand. One leaves Yenico with, the regret one feels at parting from a friend whose clays aro numbered. For .tfio 'hand of decay .which pressed lightly for so many centuries on her temples, palaces, end Walls, now begins to weigh with iron force. Ono Campanile has sunk to its final rest,'and others are out of tho perpendicular and tottering to their fall. Great masses of brick, exposed where stucco and lime have given way, disfigure her churches and public buildings, and uneven, sunken pavements are in all her streets and piazzas.. True,- ono sees scaffoldings around towers and walls, and workmen slowly, and laboriously endeavouring to stem the torrent of decay, but their efforts can at best only stave off for a time her inevitable doom. The Queen of the 'Adriatic grows very decrepit, and hqr architectural finery falls' to rags like apiece of her own ancient lace. But though temples decay, humanity progresses, and. tho light of modern science and speculation penetrates even tho dark crannies of Venetian .sanctuaries. ; We wero'shown ono day, in the treasure house, of San Rocco, some old rolics—a drop of blood'preserved since the .Crucifixion in a goldnti .vessel; the finger of St. Gregory, powerful to perform miracles; and so on and so. on. Then one of our party interrupted the austere, old custodian's narration by a sound indicative of hcritical incredulity. That old.man instantly'turned and laid a gentle finger on the stranger's arm, smiling a smile 1 Sympathetic comprehension, contemptuous pity, gentle mockery, were all expressed in that subtle smile. It was a look worth com- . ing from the antipodes to -behold, and one which, in the grand old days of the Council of Ten and the Inquisition, would have earned our friend : doubtless tho tprturo chamber and stake. But all that is behind us now—in Italy at least; and what has been lost in art-and beauty has. boeh regained in freedom and humanity,, which is a consolation for the ordinary tourist, if not for the archaeologist or artist. But I have drifted a long way from that 'delectable "Bulgaria," of which my last- vision was an assembled group of the ship's personnel ,on deck, with ono of our party forcing a reluctant Greek to translate to them this sentence: " This, is ' the' very .worst boat I ever sailed in." Wo arrived at Athens in a storm of rain such as I seldom remember experiencing, and found everyone in tjie very comfortable Grand Hotel congratulating themselves on tho break-up of a drought which had lasted over eight months. It was quite like dear old Dunedin again to hear "tho weather" the chief topic of conversation, and we all felt at home at once! Quito an astounding change for the bolter has taken placo here during the last 25 years. Athens could not havo advanced more if sho. had been ■ a colonial town. Fine private houses, built of Pentelic marble', 'handsome boulevards and good shops and theatres and lovely public buildings—all have sprung up in the new town. Whilst in the 1 old much excavating has gone on, and ail enormous amphitheatre, with marble scats, built on old .models, and nearly completed.-.and is destined for the celebration of tho far-famed Olympian games. Patriotic citizen? lovo to contributo out of their wealth to excavations and restorations, and the Academy, of Science—a private gift—is a building which any city would bo proud to possess., Out. sido their university stands.a marble monument of Gladstone—shirt, collar, and all — and another of Byron receiving a laui'ol wreath from grateful Hollas in tho public gardens. A street near tlie Acropolis is also named after Byron. For modorn Greeks do not forget our aid in their struggle for independence: witness their generous eonduct recently during tho Boer war, when' tobacco, fruit, wine—anything which the country produced—was freely bestowed on our soldiers. And it is pleasant to note how warm a feeling of friendship thoy chnrish for tho British nation. ■ lir Athens we go everywhere—to museums, ethnological collections, Acropolis, ruins upon ruins,—and pay not one paper drachma for entrance. Everything is free. But why should it be so? Every other town charges admittance for these things, and evon a small fee would relievo the archaeological societies and Greek Govemment'of a heavy burden. Ant'.,we all know that Greece is not exactly rolling in wealth. People who come from the uttermost parts of the earth to view her treasures would never grudge a few extra drachmas for admission to them. And whilst I am by way of telling Greece how to manaee her own affairs, I should like to suggest also her demanding restitution of those stolen Elgin marbles and the beautiful Caryatide, ruthlessly torn from the Erecktheum. There would be no harm in asking for one's own, and whether successful or unsuccessful, a righteous appeal would havo hocn.made. The soperal elcc■tions for' Parliament take place hero shortly —in December.'—and nevhaps oue of the candidates might-he induced to consider this proposition—if it wero only properly placed before him! The follower of Delyannis and Theotokis resnectively aro to de-. eide next month which party is to get placo and power. There aro no "platforms," no principles—only men. At least we aro assured that C-lroek representation amounts to no more than that. A rush for tho honororium-SriOO drachmas- (about:£6o), and tho chance of "pickings." Of couwc, coming from-New-.Zealand, we were proprrly "shocked at. such want of' public morality and patriotism.