May 8, 1866. 1 



JOUKNAIi OF HOETICULTTJKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



345 



ceUence. It is also, like tbe May Duke, valuable for its earU- 

 ness, and is a good bearer in this country. 



I have picked 336 lbs., or 3 cwt., of ripe early Cherries from 

 December 11th to January .5th, 1866, inclusive, and exclusive 

 of the Morello, Kentish, and other late sorts, which are now 

 (January 8th) , ripening. They have realised me Is. per lb. from 

 first to last, and were grown on very young trees.— W. S. , ^ vvn- 

 side Botanic Garden. 



NOTES ON THE WAY TO THE HOLY 

 SEPULCHRE— No. 1. 

 It we take the map of the world, and cast our eyes on the 

 Mediterranean Sea, how insignificant it appears ; save for the 

 narrow inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar it might be taken for an 

 inland lake ; and yet when England was inhabited by " bar- 

 barians," and America was even more problematical than the 

 North-west Passage, the blue waves of the Mediterranean bore 

 on their bosom the wealth and civilisation of the entire known 

 world. Yea, and more than this— how much more many a 

 christian can tell. 



In those days of the "long ago," when the Roman empire 

 extended far away beyond the countries washed by the waves 

 of the " Great Sea," a poor prisoner was being sent in " a ship 

 of Alexandria " to answer for conscience sake at Rome — Rome 

 the central point of civilisation and of idolatry. Strong in the 

 power of a faith that made even bonds and afflictions unworthy 

 of comparison, the prisoner stood amidst his fellow passengers 

 always ready with words of encouragement and of needful help. 

 He was no common man ; learned, even amongst the most 

 learned, he possessed an inteUigence so keen and subtle, that at 

 times his great power of reasoning led those who listened to 

 him without the power of foOowing his argument, to accuse 

 him of madness, and yet so humble withal, that he counted all 

 his acquirements as "less than nothing, so only he might be 

 clothed with a stronger faith and a deeper love in Him for 

 whose sake he was a prisoner. He had gone through much-— 

 loss of friends, loss of power, loss of wealth ; he was on his 

 way to bonds and death : but these things had no power to 

 move the deep tranquillity of a soul at rest ; and as he stood on 

 the deck of the rude vessel making its slow progress against a 

 contrary wind, he watched tbe sun sinking, as it were, beneath 

 the waves, and as its last edge dipped below the horizon, he 

 saw it emit that instantaneous dazzling light of emerald green 

 that is never seen save in stormy weather, and then only for a 

 moment. Did the sun setting in the troubled waters speak to 

 him, as it speaks to us, of light unquenchable ?— hidden some- 

 times from our sight, but never less dim than when our stram- 

 ing eyes watch its momentary eclipse. 



We cannot enter into the deep loneliness of that poor 

 prisoner. Surrounded by men who did not recognise in hira 

 other than a common malefactor, they neither beheved his 

 word or Ustened to his voice. They knew not what they did, 

 nor what great message theur ship was bearing through the 

 sea ; the very elements themselves ministering to its pubhca- 

 tion and success. At Sidon, at Myra, and then in the Alexan- 

 drian vessel passing onwards to Crete, the good tidings were 

 heard— tidings which fell Uke good seed on a fruitful soil, and 

 have brought forth the most glorious harvest this earth ever 

 witnessed. 



We can follow the weather-beaten vessel on its perilous way 

 tUl it comes to its rocky anchorage within the protection of the 

 " Fair Havens." Through the able researches of others*, we 

 can almost see the very spot where the vessel anchored ; tbe 

 graceful sweep of the waters, as in their tideless beauty they 

 wash the sandy, rock-surrounded beach. The bold rocky islets 

 advancing into the sea, forming the main shelter of the 

 Havens. We can also notice how the Havens, by being ex- 

 posed to the east and south-east winds, would be unsafe, and 

 •' not commodious to winter in ; " and what is even more to the 

 purpose, we can land on the island and wander about amidst 

 the records of the past, amongst the most interesting of which, 

 perhaps, will be the ruins of the Uttle chapel on " the dark 

 slaty ridge rising immediately over the western bay," and still 

 dedicated to St. Paul, most probably marking the very spot 

 where the Apostle himself used to preach to the natives of 

 Crete in their " own tongue, the wonderful works of God." 



From this spot we can pass on over mountains bright with 

 Ranunculus, the Fritillaria tulipifoUa "white as a Snowdrop, 



* " Travels aod Researches in Crete," by Capt. T. A. B. Spratt, R.N. 



and as dehcate as a wax plant," and the Salvia cretica, " a fine 

 and beautiful shrub," bearing purple blossoms— or throngb 

 vallevs abounding in Vuies and Dates, in Oranges, Lemons, 

 and Pomegranates. We may rest beneath the dark evergreen 

 shade of the Ceratonia siliqua or Carob tree, or hsten to the 

 nightingale of our native woods pouring forth floods of har- 

 monv from groves of Olives ; we may pass through villages in- 

 habited onlv by lepers, where the watercourses are shaded by 

 Oleanders, giving forth their gracious beauty to the poor leper & 

 gaze as freelv as when thev dipped their trembling buds m the- 

 lake of Galilee, as the shadow of the Saviour passed by ; w© 

 may stay to look at an evergreen Plane tree, the existence 

 of which was mentioned by Pliny ; or we may examine Koman 

 remains, or those of classic Greece, aU speaking of ancient 

 prosperity, and of grandeur passed away. 



Thus wandering on, still bearing in our mmds the memory 

 of the ruined chapel over the western bay, and of the prisoner 

 brought by the ship of Alexandria, preaching glad tidings to 

 Ustening Cretan crowds, let us enter the village of tiafra on a 

 summer's afternoon in the year 1851, and we shaU hnd that 

 the echoes of the good news are still nngmg through the 

 island. „ ,, ,, 



" As I entered Khadra," writes Captain Spratt, there was a 

 bustUng activity going on with every male inhabitant present, 

 twenty or thirty of whom were carrying stones to a particular 

 building, whose walls were just rising a few feet above tie 

 ground. It was the rebuilding of one of the village churches 

 Old and voung, priest and layman, were for the moment aU 

 builders ind masons under the guidance of a hired master, and 

 were carr^-iu" large stones from some distant rum, or bringmg 

 the mortar to cement them in then- appropriate places. It was 

 an interesting sight ; for this half-hour's earnest individual 

 labour at the close of the day was thus devoted to religion. 

 Some were evidently past labouring for their own subsistence, 

 yet they too carried their load, although with distress under 

 the mere pebble they could bring; yet it was carried by some- 

 1 of threescore and ten or more, and was thrown into the 

 ■ general heap, as the widow cast her mite into the common 

 receptacle." ^ . . .,,„ 



1 So the gift of the Cretan tongue at Pentecost was no idle 

 gift and the detention of the " Prisoner of the Lord at the 

 Fair Havens no accident, but rather the interposition of Pro- 

 vidence for the salvation of souls. . 

 ' How bountiful Nature has been to many a favoured spot m 

 ^ this beautiful island is proved by ancient as well as modern 

 i writers It has been called the " garden of the whole universe, 



"the goodliest plot," "the diamond sparke, and the honney 

 i spot of aU Candv." One district-Melavisi, is famed for its 

 ' wine • another— Sfakian, is celebrated for its fresh cheese, 

 called " Sfakian masethra," which is described as being as 

 delicious as that of the island Samothraki ; another produces 

 "Wheat from which is made the most deUcious bread. We read 

 of Chestnut groves, of wild Vines, Uke gigantic creepers, en- 

 twining tall trees of Plane, and Elm, and Oak up to their very 

 tops • the pendent tendrils, together with leaves and bnght red 

 Grapes hanging from their branches in graceful festoons ; 

 while Myrtle and Yellow Broom, and numberless bulbous 

 plants, form a carpet at their feet. 



And it was from this goodlv land that the Alexandrian vessel, 

 contrary to the advice of the Prisoner on board, turned away 

 to continue her voyage, as was hoped, to Phcemce, another 

 haven of Crete. When the south wind blew softly, they thought 

 thev had chosen wiselv and weU, and how fooUsh they should 

 have shown themselves had they " hearkened " to the prisoner 

 and remained in the less commodious haven ; but the course 

 of the Alexandrian vessel was guided by a Master whom even 

 the " winds and sea obey"— she carried merchandise to which 

 gold and sUver are as dross. Rising up from the waters of the 

 Great Sea there was yet one other island destined to hear and 

 to lend a willing ear to the good news the prisoner had to tell. 

 Ere long a violent storm arose against the doomed ship. I'or 

 fourteen days the fasting shipmen strove against the tempest 

 till all hope seemed gone, and then the Prisoner stood forth 

 amongst his fellow men in liis true character as the messenger 

 of God, and in their hour of terror, and, as they feared, of ap- 

 proaching death, they recognised his mission and obeyed his 



''"we can all picture to ourselves the shipwreck that foUowed 

 the storm- the low white coast of the island of Mehta— the 

 "barbarou.s" yet kindly-hearted people hurrymg down to the 

 beach with words of welcome to the poor manners, "tt e can as 

 it were, see them Ughting the unwonted fire, " because of the 



