Part 5

A passage to Malta from Alexandria may be procured in the "Peninsular and Oriental Company's" boats for £12 10s. The French steamers charge £10, but this does not include the table, wines, &c., which are paid for separately to the _restaurateur_ on board. The trip in the English steamer occupies _four_ days. The French vessel goes first to Syra, to meet the Constantinople boat, and this occupies _seven_ days. Arrived at Malta, intimation is given by the captain of the number of persons who meditate remaining there, and accommodation is accordingly provided for them in the lazaretto. Their stay will depend upon the nature of the bill of health carried by the vessel; it is not, however, at any time, less than twelve days, and may extend to twenty.

The regulations to be observed in the lazaretto are given on the following page.

GENERAL REGULATIONS.

_To be observed by all Persons performing Quarantine in the Lazaretto of Malta._

I.

All passengers, on landing, are to give their names to the captain of the lazaretto, which are to be entered in the registry of the office.

II.

The captain of the lazaretto will assign apartments for passengers, and each passenger will be provided with two chairs, a table, and a wooden bedstead, for which no charges are made; but any damage done by the passengers to the apartments or furniture is to be made good by them before _pratique_.

III.

Passengers are not to be permitted to enter other apartments; nor can they be allowed to receive visitors, except at the _parlatorio_ of the lazaretto, and that only during office-hours; nor are they to trespass the limits assigned to them by the captain of the lazaretto.

IV.

Passengers must pay a strict attention to all the instructions they may receive from the captain of the lazaretto and from the health guardians, and particularly in every point that regards their baggage, clothes, &c., being properly aired and handled during the period of their quarantine; and their quarantine will only commence to reckon from the day on which all their baggage, clothes, &c., have been duly opened and handled.

V.

All letters and parcels, or other effects brought by passengers, must be given up, in order that they may be fumigated or depurated separately from them, as the occasion may require.

VI.

All cases of sickness must be reported immediately to the captain of the lazaretto, and all persons sick are to be visited immediately by the physician to the lazaretto, after which official visit, passengers are at liberty to avail themselves of any medical attendance they think proper.

VII.

Passengers are to pay the Government fee for the guardians employed to attend them, for the number of days of their quarantine, at the following rates, viz.:--at 1s. 3d. per day for the guardian who attends one passenger, and at 2s. 6d. per day for each guardian who attends more than one passenger. They are to victual the guardian or guardians during their quarantine, or to pay to each guardian an allowance of 7d. per day in lieu thereof. It is to be clearly understood that the guardians are employed solely for quarantine purposes, and they are strictly prohibited to interfere in any other service whilst they attend passengers.

VIII.

The office hours at the lazaretto are from 8 A.M. to 12, and from 2 P.M. to 5 daily; and all letters sent to the fumigating-room before 9 A.M. daily, will be delivered in Valetta at 10, and those sent before 3 will be delivered in Valetta at 4 P.M. by the letter messenger, who is entitled to receive from the passengers a penny for each note, parcel, or letter, as a remuneration for his trouble and boat-hire.

IX.

A daily report of all circumstances is to be made by the captain of the lazaretto to the superintendent of quarantine and marine police.

N.B. A _trattoria_ has been established at the lazaretto for the convenience of passengers who wish to avail themselves of it, from whence they can be supplied with dinners, wines, &c., &c., in their own apartments.

Beds complete and other articles of furniture, if required, can also be hired from a person appointed to provide them.

A note of charges for the _trattoria_, and for the hire of furniture, will be furnished to the passengers, on their applying for it.

Of the manner in which the time may be passed in a lazaretto, the following graphic sketch by Mr. Stocqueler, which appeared some time since in the "_Asiatic Journal_," will convey no imperfect idea:--

"Upwards of 140 passengers left Alexandria in the _Oriental_, at the end of May, for some fifty had joined it from Bombay; amongst the latter were several heroes of Meanee and Hyderabad--fine young soldiers, who were covered with honourable scars received in the desperate engagements between Sir C. Napier and the Belochees. Never, perhaps, was a vessel freighted with so many who had distinguished themselves in conflict with the enemies of their country. Not less than twenty-six officers, who had seen service in Afghanistan, China and Scinde, paced the deck every day, and described the scenes which their own prowess and that of their comrades had, for the previous three or four years, rendered memorable in the history of British India. But of this large number of homeward-bound passengers, only three (one having two ladies in his family), quitted the _Oriental_ at Malta. Those who _wished_ to prosecute the rest of their journey by land had either failed to make the necessary provision,[11] or shuddered at the prospect of twenty days' imprisonment in the lazaretto. Moreover, they flattered themselves with the belief, that they would be enabled to make the tour of the Continent when they had exhausted the various pleasures of glorious England. And so they steamed away to Southampton, leaving the few above alluded to--the writer of this among them--in the lazaretto, under suspicion of the crime of being afflicted with the plague.

[Footnote 11: Eighty pounds will carry a man through Italy, Switzerland, and France, with comfort, allowing for several days' stay at each place of interest.]

"Meanwhile, let me assure the traveller from India, that even a three weeks' incarceration in the Malta lazaretto is not intolerable, if, which is generally the case with the imprisoned, he is lucky enough to have one or two pleasant and intelligent companions. I have before me, at this moment, a memorandum, written after twelve days' of captivity, and, as it may serve to re-assure future prisoners, by conveying some idea of the scenes, impressions, and occupations which diversify existence in the durance they are compelled to support, I here transcribe it:--

"'Let me survey my prison, and its _agrémens_. I am lodged in two commodious apartments, overlooking the quarantine bay. I look out of the southern window of my verandah, and have the waters of the Mediterranean forty feet only below me. Opposite, at the distance of about 300 yards, and divided from me by these waters and the quarantine harbour, are the ramparts of the fortifications, surmounted by windmills, flag-staves, and a small Roman Catholic chapel. To the right is the termination of the bay, where a dozen of Greek, Austrian, and English brigs and barques lie in quarantine, sufficiently near to allow me to observe the operations on board. Behind all these, a little more to the south-eastward, is part of the suburbs of La Valetta, the evening promenade, gardens, hills, &c. To my left, is the entrance to the bay, overlooked on one side by part of the city of La Valetta, and on the other side by Fort Manvel, now used as a part of the lazaretto. This view greets me whenever I stand in the verandah, a recreation to which one is often tempted by the clearness, coolness, and crispness of the air, the beauty of the sky, and the rich blue of the water. Well, this of itself is something. Then, for moving sights, we have occasionally the arrival or departure of a steamer from Alexandria, or Greece, or the coast of Spain; of vessels from Tripoli, and Smyrna, and Syra; of speronaros from Sicily or the Italian coast; or we see a vessel released from quarantine, working her way out of the harbour. Early in the morning, four times in the week, the bell of the little chapel, on the summit of a rock opposite the lazaretto, tolls to prayers. The chapel is not more than twenty feet in breadth, and the same in depth. The altar occupies the back or southern side, and exactly faces us. The bell ceases, the priest dons his canonicals, and the matin mass commences, the responses being audibly chanted or muttered by the crews of Maltese and Italian vessels, who are either quartered in apartments beneath us, or employed on board the vessels. The door of the chapel closes, and the work or pastime of the day commences.

"'Ha! there's a splash!--a sailor in quarantine has stripped himself, and plunged into the water beneath his prison-door. Another and another follow him! How admirably they swim! the ease of the water-fowl, and the rapidity of the fish. See! one of them dives! How long he remains under water! Will he drown?--will he not be suffocated? not a bit of it; he rises to the surface, bearing in his hands some of the black, starry, thorny members of the crustaceous tribe. He has a knife in his right hand, which I did not observe before, and which he evidently took with him to dislodge the fish from their location in the rocky depths. Splash! and the strong swimmer is again twenty feet below the surface. Again, he rises--and again descends--and behold! he has accumulated a perfect breakfast of shell-fish! Meanwhile, the others breast the waves, diving, floating, playing, and rejoicing in all the muscular strength which the noble, healthful, and refreshing science calls into action. Well, a walk will do no harm--the verandah is sixty paces long, and forty or fifty turns will give one an appetite for breakfast. A. and B. have abundance of conversation for the promenade, and when we have exhausted the pleasures of memory, we can turn to the pleasures of hope, and debate the possibility of an abatement of the quarantine or, at any rate, discuss the respective advantages and pleasures of going to Syra, to Naples, or Marseilles. We are tired now, and it is time to dress. Breakfast is ready--can anything be more satisfactory, or anything more tempting and wholesome? There are coffee and tea, and three times as many rolls as we can eat! The eggs are as large as the finest production of the English barn-door hen, and boiled to the _exact_ point--half a minute less, and the albumen would not have coagulated; half a minute more, and they would have been as hard as a stone. And _there's_ a delicious dish of strawberries, brought only yesterday from the coast of Sicily, and plucked but an hour before their embarkation! And flowers too:--

'The captive soothers of a captive's hours.

"'Carlo, best of servitors, knows my _penchant_, and decks the table with the rose, the pink, the carnation, and the fragrant thyme.

"'Breakfast over, Mr. Cassolani is announced. He is the captain of the lazaretto; a courteous, intelligent old gentleman, of very correct notions and kind disposition. He is come to give us a list of the passengers who have just arrived at Marseilles, and to ask us to subscribe a trifle for a poor widow, whose husband, a guardiano of the lazaretto, died of apoplexy the day of our arrival. We have dropped our mites for the widow's benefit, and Cassolani condescends to pick them up, though he will not receive them from our hands. This painfully reminds us that we are prisoners on the suspicion of the crime of plague--_gens suspects_. People 'in _pratique_,' as freedom from the lazaretto is called, will 'walk with us, talk with us, buy with us, sell with us--but they will not eat with us, drink with us,' nor pollute themselves by touching our persons or our clothes. Cassolani carries a stick, to keep us at a respectful distance, and there is a soldier of the 42nd Highlanders on the opposite ramparts, prepared to send a bullet through us, if we attempt to go abroad until we are fairly cleansed of the foul imputation.

"'Cassolani departs, and S. and I go to chess. From chess we fly to books. It is three o'clock, and dinner is announced. For economy and society's sake, we have made a _table d'hôte_, and the whole party dine together. It is true that B. looks suspiciously at one dish, and C. distrusts another; but, nevertheless, the whole style of the thing is good and clean, comprising the English and French _modes de cuisine_ as well as could be desired. There is, for example, soup _à la Julienne_, and a dish of mackerel; roast beef _à l'Anglais_ (the beef comes to Malta from Tunis, and, after serving quarantine, is fattened for the table); a _fricandeau_ of sweetbread in a well-flavoured sauce; a stewed breast of mutton, mashed potatoes, a maccaroni, peas or French beans, or artichokes, an apricot tart, cheese, and a salad. Oranges, cherries, and strawberries compose our dessert, and we drink a pint of Marsala. What more would a man have?

"'The sun declines, and the Maltese world emerges from its confinement. The telescopes now come into play, and we direct our views to the part of the town where the sempstresses congregate, and gaze out of the balcony windows, to catch the evening breeze, or anything else that may be passing. The fall of night brings with it tea and candles, and then books, draughts, chess, and--to bed!'

"Of the other _agrémens_ of the lazaretto there remains nothing to notice, if I except the numerous boats which are continually coming and going across the harbour, often laden with females, who, in their black mantillas, with sparkling black eyes, and hair _à la Madonna_, resemble Spanish women.

"The expense of living in the Malta lazaretto is about eleven shillings _per diem_, as thus:--

s. d. Breakfast 1 8 Dinner 3 0 A bottle of Marsala 1 3 Hire of Furniture 0 8 Servants' Wages (including diet) 2 3 The Guardian (ditto) 1 10 -------- 10 8

"This can be increased, if necessary, by a more abundant dinner, tea, or coffee in the evening, spirituous liquors, and a greater quantity of furniture; but it cannot be diminished. Washing costs about one shilling per dozen pieces, and sevenpence _per diem_ for the diet of the _blanchisseuse_, who must come into the lazaretto to perform her functions. A capital circulating library keeps the incarcerated well supplied with books (at one penny per volume per day), and _Galignani's Messenger_, and the Maltese papers can also be had on application to Mr. Mure's establishment."

Emerging from the lazaretto, the traveller is recommended to pass a few days in inspecting the town and the surrounding country (_vide_ page 11), and then to repack his luggage, dispatching such as he may not require on his homeward trip direct from Malta, consigned to the care of his agent in London, with instructions as to the disposal of the same.

Those travellers who prefer visiting France _viâ_ Marseilles, will find the lazaretto there, comparatively speaking, a sort of purgatory. We subjoin the regulations as published by the French authorities:--

WITH UNCLEAN BILL OF HEALTH.

ART. 1. French Post-office Packets.--19 days after debarking effects and passengers.

Passengers by these boats and their baggage.--17 days after landing at the lazaret; 14 days only when the baggage shall have been _plombé_ at the consulate of France at the port of embarking, and that this operation be legally certified.

ART. 2. French or foreign men-of-war.--17 days after the landing of passengers and their baggage.

Passengers on board these vessels.--17 days without _spoglio_, 14 days with _spoglio_.

ART. 3. Vessels with pilgrims.--25 days.

Pilgrims.--25 days after landing.

ART. 4. Every other description of sailing-vessel or steam-boat.--21 days after landing suspected articles.

Passengers by these vessels.--17 days without _spoglio_, 14 days with _spoglio_. Merchandise.--21 days after landing at the lazaret.

WITH DOUBTFUL BILLS OF HEALTH.

ART. 1. French post-office packets.--15 days after debarking effects and passengers.

Passengers by these boats and their baggage.--14 days after landing; 12 days only when the baggage shall have been _plombé_ at the consulate of France at the point of embarking, and that this operation be legally certified.

ART. 2.--French or foreign men-of-war.--14 days after the landing of passengers and their baggage. Without passengers, 12 days.

Passengers on board these vessels.--14 days after landing without _spoglio_, and 12 days with _spoglio_.

ART. 3. Vessels with pilgrims.--20 days.

Pilgrims.--20 days after landing at the lazaret.

ART. 4. Every other description of sailing vessel or steam-boat.--15 days after landing suspected articles.

Passengers by these vessels.--14 days without _spoglio_, after landing at the lazaret; 12 days with _spoglio_.

Suspected goods.--15 days after landing at the lazaret.

WITH CLEAN BILLS OF HEALTH.

ART. 1. French post-office packets.--12 days after debarking effects at the lazaret.

Passengers by these boats and their baggage.--9 days after landing, and their baggage exposed to the air.

ART. 2. French or foreign men-of-war.--9 days, with or without passengers.

Passengers on board these vessels.--9 days after landing, and their baggage exposed to the air.

ART. 3. Every other description of vessel or steam-boat.--12 days after landing suspected goods.

Passengers by these vessels.--9 days.

Suspected merchandise.--12 days after landing at the lazaret.

Of the Syra (Athens) quarantine, it is enough to say that it is more commodious and agreeable than the same establishment at Marseilles, and not so convenient as the one at Malta.

The Syra lazaretto is, according to the report of the latest visitors, exceedingly commodious and clean, and facing, as it does, the sea, where there are continual breezes, it is infinitely cooler than the city of Athens. The charges of the Trattoria are not greater than those at Malta (about eleven shillings per diem), and the detention in quarantine never exceeds seventeen days, and when a clean bill of health is brought by the French steamer from Alexandria, the duration of the imprisonment is very much less.

THE VOYAGE TO SOUTHAMPTON.

Quarantine, on arrival in England, being done away with (unless some special cause arise on the voyage home to render precaution necessary), the direct route is greatly to be preferred; and the ease and comfort which it offers as contrasted with the annoyances of continental travelling needs no comment.

On reaching Southampton, the steamer goes into dock; the whole of the luggage is forthwith conveyed to the dock warehouse, and the examination commences with that of the first person on the list.

Passengers are not required to attend in person when their luggage is examined. Those who desire to leave Southampton _by train immediately upon arrival_, or who do not wish to subject themselves to the annoyance of being kept in the docks waiting their turn, are recommended to deposit their keys (including name and address) with Mr. Hill's clerk,[12] giving him, at the same time, a list of the packages, distinguishing such as contain articles subject to duty. For want of proper arrangement on the part of the passenger, we have known three hours pass in the examination of one gentleman's baggage, with upwards of eighty of his fellow-travellers anxiously waiting for their turn. This arises, in the first place, from the large quantity of luggage which many bring; and, in the second, from the want of system in packing, distinguishing that which is immediately requisite from that which is unnecessary.

[Footnote 12: Mr. Hill is the Southampton Custom-house agent of the "Peninsular and Oriental Company."]

As passengers will be required to keep pace with the mails in either route, unless they arrange for a fortnight's stay in Egypt, the system of having a larger quantity of luggage than is actually necessary cannot be too much deprecated.

The traveller is also apt to mix "duty goods" with personal luggage, in anticipation of their escaping notice. This is a "forlorn hope," and leads invariably to the most rigid scrutiny of every package, thereby causing great delay. If the goods be such as trinkets, Bombay work-boxes, Dacca or Cuttack silver, China or India filligree packed in cotton, a still greater commotion arises at the custom-house, and we are not quite sure whether the circumstance does not render the articles liable to seizure and confiscation, under the quarantine laws.

The better plan by far, whether the traveller attend the examination of his luggage or not, is to separate all goods liable to duty, and put them in a case or trunk, with an inventory of its contents, and the value of each article separately stated,[13] and then leave them in charge of Mr. Hill, with instructions to forward them without delay. They can, of course, be examined at once; but we think it unfair to subject others to the inconvenience and loss of time that must consequently ensue. If the plan here recommended be followed, we venture to submit that it would be satisfactory to all parties.

[Footnote 13: Government have the option of accepting your valuation. If they disapprove the estimate of the proprietor, they are empowered to seize the goods, but, in that case, must pay ten per cent. advance on your valuation.]

A general tariff of East India fabrics will be found in the Appendix but it is not generally known that all British manufactures that have been exported, and purchased out of Great Britain, are subject to a duty if re-imported. Being private property, however, they are generally released on petition to the Board of Customs, the petition being accompanied by a solemn declaration made by the owner before a magistrate, that the claim set forth in the petition is true. The reason assigned for this law is, that it protects and promotes English manufacture, by preventing a return of goods to the country that have once been exported for sale.

Parties who, from necessity or choice, bring servants from India, have too frequently so indefinite an agreement, that disputes and unpleasantnesses in settling with them frequently arise. We, therefore, earnestly recommend passengers to endeavour to do without personal servants, if possible; but if it be impracticable to dispense with them, we would suggest that the engagement should specify whether services cease on arrival,--if the servants are to be returned to India at the expense of the employer and--whether it shall be _viâ_ the Cape or Overland. The agreement should likewise state the allowance that will be made for board-wages. Sixteen shillings per week is the sum charged at the lodging-houses for this class.

Persons arriving from India, particularly families, incur great expense by proceeding, on their arrival, direct to hotels or to furnished lodgings. In most cases they would do better by resorting to a boarding-house. There are many suitable establishments of this nature throughout England, where comfortable accommodation is afforded at a moderate charge. A letter of inquiry, written on the passage from Alexandria to Malta, and dispatched _viâ_ Marseilles, would be answered, and wait the writer's arrival at Southampton.

EXPENSE.