THE ELBA AGROUND xcvii 



is very cool, and the little ones hold [our electric] batteries 

 capitally. A handsome young Bashibazouk guards it, and a 

 still handsomer mountaineer is the servant ; so I draw them 

 and the monastery and the hill, till I'm black in the face 

 with heat and come on board to hear the Canea cable is still 

 bad. 



May 23. 



c We arrived in the morning at the east end of Candia, and 

 had a glorious scramble over the mountains which seem built of 

 adamant. Time has worn away the softer portions of the rock, 

 only leaving sharp jagged edges of steel. Sea eagles soaring 

 above our heads ; old tanks, ruins and desolation at our feet. 

 The ancient Arsinoe stood here ; a few blocks of marble with 

 the cross attest the presence of Venetian Christians ; but now 

 the desolation of desolations. Mr. Liddell and I separated from 

 the rest, and when, we had found a sure bay for the cable, had 

 a tremendous lively scramble back to the boat. These are the 

 bits of our life which I enjoy, which have some poetry, some 

 grandeur in them. 



'May 29 (?). 



' Yesterday we ran round to the new harbour [of Alexandria], 

 landed the shore end of the cable close to Cleopatra's bath, and 

 made a very satisfactory start about one in the afternoon. We 

 had scarcely gone 200 yards when I noticed that the cable 

 ceased to run out, and I wondered why the ship had stopped. 

 People ran aft to tell me not to put such a strain on the cable ; 

 I answered indignantly that there was no strain ; and suddenly 

 it broke on every one in the ship at once that we were aground. 

 Here was a nice mess. A violent scirocco blew from the land ; 

 making one's skin feel as if it belonged to some one else 

 and didn't fit, making the horizon dim and yellow with fine 

 sand, oppressing every sense and raising the thermometer 20 

 degrees in an hour, but making calm water round us which 

 enabled the ship to lie for the time in safety. The wind might 

 change at any moment, since the scirocco was only accidental ; 

 and at the first wave from seaward bump would go the poor 

 ship, and there would [might] be an end of our voyage. The 



