CHAPTER XXIX.
FAREWELL TO THE ORIENT — MALTA.
Embarcation — Farewell to the Orient — Leaving Constantinople — A Wreck — The Dardanelles — Homeric Scenery — Smyrna Revisited — The Grecian Isles — Voyage to Malta — Detention — La Valetta — The Maltese — The Climate — A Boat for Sicily.
"Farewell, ye mountains,
By glory crowned;
Ye sacred fountains
Of Gods renowned;
Ye woods and highlands,
Where heroes dwell;
Ye seas and islands,
Farewell! Farewell!"
At last, behold me fairly embarked for Christian Europe, to which I bade adieu in October last, eager for the unknown wonders of the Orient. Since then, nearly ten months have passed away, and those wonders are now familiar as every-day experiences. I set out, determined to be satisfied with no slight taste of Eastern life, but to drain to the bottom its beaker of mingled sunshine and sleep. All this has been accomplished; and if I have not wandered so far, nor enriched myself with such varied knowledge of the relics of ancient history, as I might have purposed or wished, I have at least learned to know the Turk and the Arab, been soothed by the patience inspired by their fatalism, and warmed by the gorgeous gleams of fancy that animate their poetry and religion.
