38 ISLAND OF PATMOS. 
CH I AR upon the open quay. They were forced to 
appoint a regular guard, day and night ; hourly 
dreading, as they told us, a visit from some of 
the numerous pirates which swarm around 
Patmos 1 : besides all this, the mutinous beha- 
viour of their own men made it impossible for 
them to rely even upon the sentinels set over 
the baggage, for they were constantly in a state 
of intoxication with the wine of the island. As 
Mr. Ril?y was going to Constantinople, we wrote 
to the British Ambassador, briefly explaining the 
event that had taken place : and our letter, as 
we were afterwards told, procured them another 
ship. In the mean time, it was necessary to 
take some immediate step for the security of 
their baggage. For this purpose we proposed 
making an application to the monks of the 
Monastery of the Apocalypse, which is situate 
two miles and a half from the quay, upon the 
top of a mountain in the highest part of all the 
island, close to the town of Patmos. Here it 
might be secure from pirates ; for the building is 
(1) Patmos has always been exposed to the attacks of pirates. 
Tournefort relates, that the town was formerly in the port of La Scala; 
but that the pirates compelled its inhabitants to abandon it, and to 
retire to tbe^ heights where it is now situate, close to the Monastery of 
St. John. 
