386 
ODESSA. 
CI ^. AP - figures than any of the inhabitants of the 
1 J Archipelago. 
Our anxiety for the return of Captain Ber- 
gamini's messenger from Nicholaef may be easily 
imagined. We had nearly terminated our 
career in Russia ; yet prisoners, under confine- 
ment in a dungeon, never prayed more earnestly 
for a jail delivery, than we did to escape from 
that country. So surrounded with danger was 
every Englishman at this time, from the Baltic 
to the Black Sea, and so little certain of being 
able to put any plan in execution, that we 
considered it more than an even chance in 
favour of our being again detained, and perhaps 
sent back the whole way to Petersburg. During 
this interval of suspense and apprehension, a 
number of little Turkish boats were daily sailing 
in or out of the port of Odessa. Although they 
were so small that few would venture in such 
craft, even upon the Thames in rough weather, 
yet we sometimes fancied they might facilitate 
our escape, if our scheme of sailing in the 
Venetian vessel should fail of success. They 
were laden with merchandize to the water’s 
edge, and carried such enormous sails, that 
they seemed likely to upset in every gust of 
wind ; yet we were told, their owners ventured 
in these vessels, not only to Constantinople, but 
