- All next day
(Monday) we lay off Siphano, amusing ourselves on shore with
fowling pieces and navy revolvers. I need not say we killed
nothing; and luckily we did not wound any of ourselves. A
guardiano accompanied us, his functions being limited to preventing
actual contact with the natives, for they might come as near and
talk as much as they pleased. These isles of Greece are sad,
interesting places. They are not really barren all over, but they
are quite destitute of verdure; and tufts of thyme, wild mastic or
mint, though they sound well, are not nearly so pretty as grass.
Many little churches, glittering white, dot the islands; most of
them, I believe, abandoned during the whole year with the exception
of one day sacred to their patron saint. The villages are mean,
but the inhabitants do not look wretched and the men are good
sailors. There is something in this Greek race yet; they will
become a powerful Levantine nation in the course of time. - What a
lovely moonlight evening that was! the barren island cutting the
clear sky with fantastic outline, marble cliffs on either hand
fairly gleaming over the calm sea.
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