A CRUSADE IN THE EAST 
CHAPTER XI. 
ATHENS. 
We left Messina on the afternoon of the 15th of October, 
and on the following morning were in sight of the Island of 
Malta. By noon we were at anchor in the harbor of Yaletta. 
It was really refreshing to see something like cleanliness and 
civilization once more. The houses of Yaletta, with their 
light cheerful coloring, their varieties of elevation, their pleas¬ 
ant verandas and balconies, are the neatest specimens imag¬ 
inable of toy-work on a large scale; and the streets are the 
very queerest streets conceivable, with their uprisings and 
downfallings, their steps of stairs, their crowds of darkly hood¬ 
ed women and noisy men, and the strange mixture of races 
and languages, Europeanism, Orientalism, and Barbarism, 
scents and sounds, and all the varieties of life that abound in 
them. But British ascendency is apparent at the first glance. 
All one need do, after casting an eye upon the endless rows 
of cannon peeping from the fortifications, is to look at the 
banded and gilded officers strutting about every where, the 
red-coated guards armed to the teeth, and stationed at every 
gateway and public building, the never-ending drill of com¬ 
panies in the public squares, the bristling armories, the thea¬ 
tres, porter-houses, billiard saloons, club-houses, and army- 
tailor shops; and above all, at the places of worship, where the 
teachings of the Grospel are expounded, and peace and good 
will enjoined toward all mankind—to he convinced that he 
is once more among a progressive and enlightened people. 
Doctor Mendoza and the Madam, who were on the same 
steamer from Messina, were charmed with the hotels of 
