Part 3

The writer of these Letters, finding his health, which had improved from his last winter’s trip to Cuba, again suffering in a northern climate, left the cold weather behind him, and proceeded south, via Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and thence to Charleston. He made the outside passage to Savannah by steamer, and thence proceeded by steamboats to Brunswick, in Georgia, passing through the Florida wilds to Tallahassee, at imminent risk from the Seminole Indians. From Tallahassee he proceeded to St. Joseph, and embarked for Mobile and New Orleans, which cities he had left the spring before. He revisited the island of Cuba during the winter, and returned in the spring to the Crescent City. He took steamer bound up the Red river to Natchitoches and Alexandria; returned and visited Natchez, Mississippi, a few days after the great tornado, which destroyed a large portion of the city under the hill, and did immense damage in the city on the bluff. Many lives were lost, and a fleet of flat-boats and steamers sunk. He then proceeded up the Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri; from the latter place he embarked for Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati. His next route was via Wheeling, Virginia, over the beautiful Cumberland pass of the Alleghany mountains to Hagerstown and Frederick, Maryland; thence to Baltimore; up to Philadelphia, and so home.

To avoid repetition, and inasmuch as the cities and countries of our Union are so generally known, and, not to tax the reader, he has avoided the recounting of the thousand incidents of travel which would require too much space in this limited work. Suffice it to say, he returned in improved health, with a superficial knowledge, at least, of the products and resources of our country.

1840.

VII.

A TRIP TO EUROPE.

_Dec. 7, 1840._

I left by the British Queen, in bad health, on Tuesday, upon two days’ notice, as I had intended to go to Santa Cruz. The weather was cool but pleasant, until Friday, which was stormy; it continued blowing a gale until Sunday, which was very rough and boisterous. I was very sea-sick, and was afraid of raising blood. We had a cold, disagreeable passage, and were on the ocean three Sundays; we reached Southampton on the twenty-first of December. The ship arrived at London on the twenty-third. Our coal was exhausted, and we burned up all the spare wood we could find to carry us to Southampton.

I was rejoiced to get ashore in a comfortable English hotel, with kind and attentive servants. I left for London the following day, and was struck with the style of the English farm-houses and cottages--stacks of grain--thatched roofs--hedge fences--the straight furrows in ploughing--draining of lands--the old style of brick buildings with pot chimneys, and the dense smoke from the bituminous coal.

Our captain had promised us to land at Plymouth, if could not work up to Cowes; the ship was out of trim, and short of water. A little tug-boat came alongside for passengers and luggage; a heavy sea was on, and it was difficult to get transferred. I took cold, and was fearful I could not proceed south, but soon improved.

On approaching London, it appeared as if a cloud of smoke enveloped it as from a great conflagration. I remained in London ten days, visiting all the great works of art and public buildings; St. Paul’s Church--four hundred steps to the cupola--occupying one square--forty years in building, and said to have cost seventy million dollars, our money--remarkable echo in dome, the closing of a door producing a report like the discharge of cannon. The statues of Lord Nelson and scores of others are contained therein. The tunnel under the Thames is one thousand one hundred and forty feet through; thirty-eight feet wide, for two carriage ways. Looked in at Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Haymarket Theatre. Visited St. James’s Park, Waterloo Barracks, Regent’s Park, Houses of Lords and Commons, and Westminster Abbey. Made an excursion to Windsor Castle, Virginia Water, and drove through the extensive Park ground. Visited the West India Docks, with basins of immense extent, and massive stone wharfs, solid as rocks. Returned from Southwark by railway, three and one-half miles, upon arches over the tops of houses. Visited the armory rooms in the old Tower, and saw the crown jewels, of great value. The spot was pointed out where Lady Jane Grey and Anne Boleyn were beheaded. Was in the cell where Walter Raleigh was confined and wrote his history.

Newgate Prison and St. Giles’s were not neglected--the latter dirty and filthy to a degree--low buildings, black as night--streets ten to twelve feet wide--carts blocking up the way--no living animal inside except pigs--shavings for fuel--men cutting up old wood in little bundles to sell to the poor wretches. Decent-looking men hurried rapidly through. I was almost afraid some wretch would sally out upon me--signs in the windows “Shaving half-penny--hair-cutting one penny”--“Travellers’ lodgings, and rooms for single persons”--rooms like so many hog-sties--looked in at Goldsmiths’ Hall, and saw statues of Gog and Magog. The sights of London would demand a volume itself for description.

I left London for Dover by the mail coach, which is comfortable and fast when railways are not spoken of. Rode alone to Gravesend, twenty miles; it is much resorted to by the Londoners in summer. Passed through Stroud, Rochester, and Chatham; the three towns almost join; the latter has dockyards on the river Mersey. Passed Canterbury, and many other towns, and came in sight of the chalk hills of Dover. At every change the coachman presents himself, “I leave you here, sir,” which means a fee. The servants in hotels, if not taxed in the bill, array themselves in line at the door, “Remember the chambermaid, sir.” “Boots, sir, if you please.” “I am the waiter, sir, if you will be so kind.” The guineas vanish rapidly in England. A little iron mail steamer carried us over the British Channel in three hours to Calais in France. Sea so rough, we could not land for some hours. Passengers very sick. When the tide rose we run in harbor. At next day’s low tide I saw brigs, schooners, and steamers floundering in the mud all aground; good substantial docks. Walled city; population, ten thousand inside, seven or eight thousand outside; garrisoned by a regiment of soldiery; luggage taken to custom-house, and examined closely. Visited Notre Dame Church; no pews; chairs all around upon the paved floor, with tops to lean upon; payment is exacted for use of them. The streets are narrow; the women wear caps, few bonnets, and perform all the menial service of men. Coming from America and England it strikes one’s attention. Left with the diligence in the coupé or front part, with glass windows, and a good look-out; pleasant ride to Boulogne. We were overtaken by the phenomena of a violent storm, thunder and lightning, hail and snow. We passed through Montreuil and Abbeville, prominent towns. The roads were in bad order, and it took thirty-three hours for the one hundred and sixty miles to Paris. To cross some of the hills we were obliged to put on nine horses, and look like a caravan. As soon as I got settled in the French capital I found constant occupation in sight-seeing, all being new to me. The remains of Napoleon, brought back from the island of St. Helena, by order of Louis Philippe, have just been deposited with extraordinary pomp at the Hotel des Invalides. I am not prepared to describe the sights of Paris in detail on this occasion. My health had suffered from cold, and I found it necessary to push off south. My passport being prepared at the Prefecture de Police, and all the necessary visés of ministers from the different countries which I may visit, obtained, I took the lumbering diligence en route for Marseilles, a distance of some five hundred miles. We reached Chalon on the Saône, where I had hoped to get a steamer, but the freshet prevented our passing the bridges. Proceeded to Lyons, the great manufacturing city of France, and rejoiced to get in quarters with a good fire and comfortable bed. The ravages of the flood and inundation of the country were distressing to behold. Left Lyons, in a little steamer, for Avignon upon the Rhone, not much wider than a canal boat, but very long in proportion, say one hundred and fifty feet. It was cold and blustering, blowing a hard gale. We descended rapidly. The steamer had no wheel, but four men at the rudder; it was hard to keep her straight. Passed the bridges and stone arches over the river with lightning speed, the inundation and current being tremendous. Struck an arch, and came near being dashed to pieces; all hands frightened; the engineer said that he had been on the river for years, but never had seen such a blow. Dust flew so, we could scarcely see the shore; clouds of it covered rigging and deck. Passed Vienne, Valence, Tournon, and arrived at St. Esprit. Great doubt expressed if we could pass through the arches of the stone bridge, but it was done safely and splendidly. There being no sleeping accommodation, we went ashore to get the best lodgings we could. We found an old castle of a hotel; arched entrance, stone steps worn by time, and replaced in part with wood; heavy, massive doors and windows; large chimney and fire-places; grape-vines and green wood for fuel; violent wind, and cold. In the morning looked around the ancient town, around the fort, and crossed the narrow stone bridge, with solid, heavy abutments, the work of the monks in the middle ages. The steamer started at two P.M., much to our relief, for our wants were better supplied in her than ashore. The gale was over, and we arrived at Avignon, and thence proceeded to Aix and Marseilles, where I was obliged to rest myself for a few days. A funeral service next door attracted my attention. First came the Catholic clergy, in full robes; next sisters of charity and little girls; then charity boys; the bearers, all sturdy, clod-hoofed fellows, covered with coarse cloth, and sacks over their heads, with holes only for the eyes; candles and torches burning in their hands.

Passing through the south of France, I was struck with the immense resources of the country in the vine. Millions of acres are cultivated with it as the products of the cereals are in our own country. The refuse and dried branches are sold for fuel and lighting fires. The beauty of the Rhone, with its old towers and castles, high peaks and mountain scenery, amphitheatred walls, and hanging gardens, covered with the vine, is remarkable. The limestone country approaching Marseilles produces the olive and fig in great abundance. The houses in southern France generally have tile or porcelain floors, and are very cold at this season. At Marseilles, I saw the column of Napoleon; it is at the head of the promenade, with a fine view of the harbor.

A great variety of character and costume is found in this seaport, and all the different dialects are spoken; Arabs, Italians, Greeks, Germans, and Swiss abound; and it is quite amusing, to stroll upon the quays.

I looked about the city, and saw all there was of interest. I stopped at the Hotel d’Orient, recently opened, and was glad to get where comfort was to be found. The floors are all of hexagonal tile, glazed or polished, and slippery; the stairs of the same, except the projecting part of wood. Good table-d’hôte; a dozen dishes of meat and vegetables come on in succession, all hot. The cuisine in the south of France will not compare with that of Paris. Dessert of native fruits, prunes, olives, pears, apples, raisins, figs. Visited the theatre; large house, but poorly supported; no style in fitting up; the outside presents a fine front, but miserable inside. Opera-glasses in general use. On entering, you see women with stands for coats, hats, sticks, etc., and a table filled with opera-glasses for hire, all of which gives a small emolument to these honest people. The civility and politeness of the French are proverbial: a glove or a handkerchief left on your seat is sure to be respected, and your right of place maintained. In comedy the French excel. With two American gentlemen, with whom I crossed the Atlantic, and whom I now met here, I dined at the house of our Consul, Mr. Fitch, who entertained us handsomely.

The steamer Maria Antoinette takes me to Genoa.

1841.

VIII.

NAPLES, _February 22, 1841_.

After landing at Marseilles I proceeded by steamer to Genoa. On approaching the city from the sea it shows to great advantage. Its numerous and stately edifices resemble the seats of a vast amphitheatre placed on the declivity of the Apennines. It is termed the City of Palaces, and deservedly so, as its palaces are very numerous, and composed of beautiful marble, splendidly adorned with noble entrances and elegant staircases, with floors of marble. Among the most prominent sights of the city are the palaces and churches. The cathedral of St. Lorenzo is an ancient Gothic structure, built of marble, and paved with the same material. The sacristy contains an emerald vase, found at Cesarea when the Genoese captured that town, and they chose it in preference to any other tribute offered. (A.D. 1101.) This vase is said to have been presented by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, and deposited by him in the temple at Jerusalem. Napoleon carried it to Paris when he conquered the Genoese, but it was afterwards returned. I was shown the mortal remains of St. John the Baptist, brought from Lycia and placed in the cathedral, inclosed in a silver sarcophagus. The plate of beautiful agate and gold which held the head of the saint, when presented to Herod, is also exhibited. The cross of gold worn by Constantine was also shown. It is two feet long, one foot wide, and weighs almost ten pounds, and is filled with precious stones, and contains a small fragment of the _true cross_. I visited the palace of the king of Sardinia, which is a large and magnificent edifice, and contains a large collection of paintings, among the most remarkable of which is one representing Mary Magdalen at the feet of our Saviour in the house of the Pharisee, by Paul Veronese; also one of Titian’s, representing Christ bearing his cross. I visited several other palaces where are to be seen beautiful collections of paintings. The rooms are gorgeous. One saloon in the palazzo Serra is lined with the most costly materials, white marble, large mirrors, etc., with ornaments of precious stones and the richest gilding; in short, it combines taste with splendor in its gorgeous decorations, and is considered equal to any single saloon in Europe.

From Genoa I, with two travelling companions, took private carriage to Pisa, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, passing through several interesting towns, visiting the marble mines of Carrara, where are eighty-five workshops, preparing statuary and various kinds of work for foreign markets.

The scenery on this route is enchanting. Genoa is left in the distance as you wind along the coast of the Mediterranean, at the base of the Apennines. Villages are continually presenting themselves; the walled hills and mountains are filled with olives and the vine, and cultivated to their tops. The valleys, beautified with gardens, produce an abundance of the orange, lemon, &c. On arriving at Pisa, which is situated on the banks of the Arno, fourteen miles from Leghorn, I visited all the objects worthy of notice. One of the most remarkable is the Leaning Tower. It is of a circular form, one hundred and ninety feet high, and declines thirteen feet from perpendicular. This beautiful structure was commenced in the year 1174, and consists of eight stories, adorned with two hundred and seven columns of granite and marble, many of which have evidently been taken from other buildings. The stairs leading up are easy of ascent, and the view extensive.

The Campo Santo, or ancient burial ground, a beautiful edifice, is a vast rectangle, surrounded by sixty-two light and elegant Gothic arcades of the Greco-Arabic school, built of white marble, and paved with the same. It is founded on a part of the earth brought from Mount Calvary, by two warriors from the Holy Land, and was commenced in the year 1200. The interior walls are decorated with ancient fresco-paintings, statues, and monuments of the best artists, bearing testimony of the most distinguished characters.

From Pisa I went to Leghorn, a fine commercial city, with a population of sixty thousand, and took steamer for this city.

On entering the harbor of Naples, the city presents itself beautifully to view, rising in the form of an amphitheatre, and crowned by the castle of St. Elmo; with its noble bay, thirty miles in diameter; and the island of Capri, rising in the centre. The towns of Sorento, Portici, Castellamare, Pozzuoli, and others, stretching along the promontory right and left, with Mount Vesuvius “eternally smoking in the distance,” at the base of which lie the ill fated cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, all of which I shall visit in a few days, and describe in my next. Naples is nine miles in circumference, and contains a population of three hundred and fifty thousand, but with the towns in the suburbs is said to contain five hundred thousand. On the summit of the hill, which is difficult of ascent, and adjoining the castle of St. Elmo, is a convent, and the church of San Martino, which is more magnificent than any other sacred edifice in Naples, being rich in gilding, paintings, precious marbles and jewels. The view from this spot is enchanting. The flat-roofed city, whose streets appear like narrow footpaths; the buzz of the inhabitants who seem like pigmies; carriages appearing no larger than children’s toys, and with difficulty distinguished; on one side the rich Neapolitan country, on another the majestic Apennines, with Vesuvius in front, and on the other side the bay covered with boats, and its shores lined with villages--the whole produces a rich and beautiful sight.

IX.

MESSINA (Sicily), _March, 10, 1841_.

In my last, from Naples, I promised, after having visited Mount Vesuvius and the entombed cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, to describe them. On arriving at Resina, about five miles distant from Naples, our party took mules and donkeys and ascended to the hermitage by a good mule path, occupying about two hours time. Here we were compelled to leave our animals, and ascend slowly and cautiously through masses of lava for about an hour--an exceedingly fatiguing task. At times we were almost suffocated with the sulphurous smoke which seemed to burst forth in different directions. The most difficult task was in returning from the mouth of the crater after having descended about twelve hundred feet. It is rare that persons descend to the verge or the mouth of the crater, and our guide was quite unwilling to attempt it, but our party persisted, and it was accomplished with great labor. The top of the crater is computed at two and a half miles in circumference, and at the bottom the opening is about thirty feet in diameter, and ejects forth sulphurous smoke, with a loud rumbling noise, resembling the escape of steam of a Mississippi steamer.

The distance from Naples to Pompeii is about twelve miles. The city of Pompeii was buried under ashes and pumice stones, and deluged with showers of boiling water, in the year 79 of the Christian era, and accidentally discovered in 1775 by a peasant while planting a vineyard.

On arriving at the gate we were conducted by a guide through part of the town, already excavated. The streets are straight and well paved with lava, which prove an eruption previous to the destruction of the city. Traces of carriage wheels still remain in the pave. The houses were generally two stories high, and had flat roofs. The walls of most of the rooms were stuccoed, painted and polished; many of the paintings and frescoes are in a good state of preservation. The apartments were paved with mosaic, some very magnificently executed. On many houses are seen the name and occupation of the owner, written in deep red; on the walls of some public buildings advertisements of gladiatorial shows, festivals, &c.

Here are seen remnants of public baths, theatres, amphitheatres, the Basilica, the houses of Sallust, Diomede, the temples of Isis, Hercules, and other gods.

We also visited Herculaneum, which lies about five miles from Naples. Some portions of the city were buried six feet deep, others one hundred feet. The towers of Resina and Portici are built over the city, which prevents much excavation. We descended by torchlight a narrow and winding staircase a considerable depth below the surface, where part of the theatre is exhibited. It is said that it was capable of containing ten thousand persons. After having visited most of the objects of antiquity in the city, I made an excursion along the coast, visiting the tomb of Virgil, and passing through the grotto of Posilippo, which is two thousand three hundred and sixty feet long, twenty-three feet broad, and eighty-nine feet high, to the small town of Pozzuoli, where St. Paul landed and remained seven days before commencing his journey to Rome. I also visited the ruins of the ancient city of Baiæ, near which are the ruins of Nero’s villa, and the hot vapor baths, which will boil an egg in two minutes. One of my most interesting excursions was to the ruins of Pæstum, about forty miles from Naples. The disease called malaria, which exists to an alarming extent in the vicinity of this ruined city, prevents travellers from visiting it at all seasons of the year. Persons should not sleep there, nor approach until an hour after sunrise. We took our supplies with us, as nothing can be obtained in this land of solitude and silence. Our sympathies were excited and charity exercised by seeing many squalid and wretched objects of malaria lying in huts upon the bare ground. This city was supposed to have been built seven hundred and twenty years before Christ, and to have been destroyed in the tenth century by the Saracens. Here are some of the finest ruins of temples in Europe. One, called the temple of Neptune, is very majestic. Its shape is quadrilateral, length one hundred and ninety-four feet, and breadth seventy-eight feet; and it has two fronts, with six minute fluted columns of the Grecian Doric order. The exterior columns, thirty-six in number, are twenty-seven feet high, and there is a Doric frieze and cornice all round the building. The situation of the high altar, and those on which victims were sacrificed and offerings made, is still visible. Fragments of sea-green and dark blue mosaic are still found on the spot. The temple of Ceres and the Basilica are still quite perfect and very beautiful. On our return through this gloomy tract of country and pestilent swamps we saw herds of buffalo, which are the only animals that inhabit it. I next visited the towns of Salerno and Amalfi, situated along the shores of the Mediterranean. The latter is bounded by lofty mountains on three sides, with beautiful cascades running through the town. The front opens on the sea. On the summit of a lofty wall is the Capuchin convent, which we visited, and then crossed the mountain of St. Angelo, over a height of four or five thousand feet. The route was difficult, but we were compensated for the fatigue by the many picturesque scenes constantly presented. At times the ascent was so rough among the craggy rocks I was compelled to dismount my donkey; at other times he would wind his course along the brink of a frightful precipice, where one mis-step would launch me into eternity. He proved as sure-footed as the herds of goats we frequently passed, jumping from one crag to another on the verge of a precipice.