xcvi MEMOIR 



the second in spending, no, in making A spend, threepence 



on coffee for three. 



* May 16. 



c On coming on deck, I found we were at anchor in Canea 

 bay, and saw one of the most lovely sights man could witness. 

 Far on either hand stretch bold mountain capes, Spada and 

 Maleka, tender in colour, bold in outline ; rich sunny levels 

 lie beneath them, framed by the azure sea. Right in front, a 

 dark brown fortress girdles white mosques and minarets. Rich 

 and green, our mountain capes here join to form a setting for 

 the town, in whose dark walls still darker open a dozen high- 

 arched caves in which the huge Venetian galleys used to lie in 

 wait. High above all, higher and higher yet, up into the firma- 

 ment, range after range of blue and snow-capped mountains. 

 I was bewildered and amazed, having heard nothing of this 

 great beauty. The town when entered is quite eastern. The 

 streets are formed of open stalls under the first story, in which 

 squat tailors, cooks, sherbet vendors and the like, busy at their 

 work or smoking narghilehs. Cloths stretched from house to 

 house keep out the sun. Mules rattle through the crowd ; curs 

 yelp between your legs ; negroes are as hideous and bright 

 clothed as usual ; grave Turks with long chibouques continue to 

 march solemnly without breaking them ; a little Arab in one 

 dirty rag pokes fun at two splendid little Turks with brilliant 

 fezzes ; wiry mountaineers in dirty, full, white kilts, shouldering 

 long guns and one hand on their pistols, stalk untamed past a 

 dozen Turkish soldiers, who look sheepish and brutal in worn 

 cloth jacket and cotton trousers. A headless, wingless lion of 

 St. Mark still stands upon a gate, and has left the mark of his 

 strong clutch. Of ancient times when Crete was Crete, not a 

 trace remains ; save perhaps in the full, well-cut nostril and firm 

 tread of that mountaineer, and I suspect that even his sires were 

 Albanians, mere outer barbarians. 



May 17. 



c I spent the day at the little station where the cable was 

 landed, which has apparently been first a Venetian monastery 

 and then a Turkish mosque. At any rate the big dome 



