Stray Leaves.

Otago Witness, Issue 1488, 22 May 1880, Page 26

Stray Leaves.

FROM A TRAVELLER'S NOTE

BOOK.

(Written for the Otago Witness.)

I once resided in the land of the Seven Churches, and almost in the shadow of the time-honoured walls of some of "Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which tho very ruins are tremendous," and whioh, in their gigantic grandeur, eyl< dence the Herculean nature of the task incurred by St. Paul, for instance, when ho undertook to grapple with the mighty power of the great "Diana of the Ephesians," encountering thereby, not only the popular wrath, but the particular enmity of Demetrius the silversmith and his adherents, whose interests in the silver trade were, of course, seriously attacked by the bold apostle. Walking over the lately discovered floor of ; the great temple, whose solid and beautifully sculptured marble columns— nearly one hundred and fifty in number — were each the gift of a reigning sovereign ; and then strolling away a few yards to sit down and eat our picnic lunch on the mortar-and-pestle sculptured tomb of St. Luke, what a multitude of thoughts crowded into my mind as we thus sat, as it were, on ono of the earliest roots of the tree of Christianity, and took a mental glance at the great denominational ramifications with whioh it has branched all over the world ! I thought, indeed, if the sanctified doctor beneath us could only raise his bones, and have a look at the tree he did bo much to nourioh in its youth, he would be in a sad state of bewilderment at the strange blossoms he would see. Would he and his brother apostles, indeed, reoogniee their own tree again 1 for who would not be j ashamed to tell them of the rivers of blood with which its roots have, from time to time, ' been drenched by human bigotry, superstition, and priestly scheming ? And what | would they not think if they were to go in a body, each in the humble vestments of his calling, and witness the proud paraphernalia and ostentatious display of clerical I wealth reoognised by modern Christianity, so different from their own self-denying notions of Christian humility and piety? What a soathing Barcasm would their presence not ba amid the pomp and glare and luxury of the Episcopal palaoea of modern times 1

From the tomb aforementioned, all that la to be Been of the once renowned city can be viewed at a glance. Those heapa of broken columns, extending a mile or two ia every direction, tell a tale of burled antiquity It is not within the scope of my note book to enlarge upon. There they lay in what is now a malarious swamp, the individual stones indeed interesting to us as marvels of architectural skill : for the bricks of the ancients were wide enough for two horse oarriages to pass each other on. How they managed to " hump those hods " to the top of eighty feet walls no one knows. After a twelve miles' horseback ride from this place, we find ourselves at the port of New Ephesus (Soala Nuova in the maps), where, hiring a o&ique or Greek sail boat, we steer away out into the Greoian Archipelago, past the southern end of the Island of Samoa, towards a beautiful little " iale of the sea," about forty miles from the port. As we approach nearer, we oan discern the battlemeuted walls and towers of an extensive Greek monastery, built on the highest and only peak of the island, about eight hundred feet above tbe sea level ; and clustering close to the walls, as if for protection from the corsairs who at one time ravaged these islands, are the whitewashed houses of the Greek population, the latter about one thousand strong. The island is a naked rook, for nothing growß on it but wild thyme. It is so small that you could nearly walk round ib in an hour ; but as you stand on the walls of the monastery, the little bays and sharp inlets that fringe the island at your feet, like a coraj necklace, give it suoh a lively appearance that one almost takes for legs the sharp rocky points that form the bays, aud a feeling of insecurity, loat the whole thing Bhould get up and orawl away like a big lobster, is quite a natural sensation. It was to this rock that the Etnperor Domitian exiled St. John — for it ia Patmos— aod here, in a cave, the only natural formation on the island affording protection from the weather, was the reputed home of the exile, where he moat probably witnessed the visions of the Apocalypse. A small chapel, built over it by the Greek Church, givea an air of sanctity to the cave, whioh is about twelve feet long and eight in height. Two long parallel grooves, cut in the rocky floor to carry away a trickle of water that once oozod from an Inner recces, testify to it 3 having been inhabited at a period bo remote that it might well have been the abode of the apostle.

The monastery — endowed by the Emperor | Alexius Gomnenus, whos original charter is still shown— more like a baronial residence of the middle ages than a religious house for the education ot the priesthood, is in good preservation. Here we found the celebrated German theologian Ti&chendorff studying the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, of which there is such a valuabk collection in the library, and for whioh fabulous sums have been offered and refused. Well might tho patient monks use strong and thick parchment : for had the sacred MSS been of modern material, they would have been thumbed and dog oared to Bhreds long »ge3 ago. Sixteen huudred y«aw, 'tis said, have gone by aiace one of those old books was written ; and from corroborative evidence, wo believe in iti authenticity more sincerely th»n we do in the identity of the skull of St. Thomas, carefully preserved in the monastic chapel. We could understand the value of thick parchments, bat such a thick skull as this is went beyond omr phreno. logical notions of a saint. Making allowance for the absenc9 of the concomitant parts, it suggests the impression of a very low forehead and aa unusually powerful fabric of bones underneath, ib i« said to have a wonderful influent in frightening away cloudtj of locuafis, whioh iaio.(c me mainland now aud then. , Kvsn the Turks believe in ita efficacy in that respuot ; bub we had an irreverent fancy that the wtiano o£ priests who carry 'ohe skull into the fieids on suoh occasions, having an immense follow*

ing of all sorts of people, including the riffraff of the country, had a good deal to do with the frequently successful issua of the miracle.

The excellent arrangements for a quiet studious life in this establishment, and tho courteous manners and gentlemanly bearing of its inmates, present a singular contrast to the almost contiguous nunnery, which we also visited.

We there expected a still more sanctified refinement and prepared to be exceedingly meek before the angelic eyes of the nuns who might cast furtive glances at the strangers, but alas ! for disappointed humanity; our mind's eyes was rudely thrust back to the witch scene in Macbeth ; and as for cleanliness — that virtue next to godliness.— Well, we were thankful we had well-scented pocket handkerchiefs with us, and were not surprised to find a demand for snuff on the premises judging from the number of the said angelic females who asked us for some,

Our exit was not of that solemn character we assumed on our entrance.

Little more need be said here about Patmos further than that the small population consists chiefly of women and children. The men all become sailors, and only visit their homes at distant intervals.

The only industry is a small pea rl fishery hard by.

We were almost forgetting that the women are noted for a remarkable durable quality of socks and lace, the raw cotton for which they procure from the mainland ; and a good many jars of wild thyme honey are annually d. 0.

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(To be Continued.)