To the Gold Coast for Gold | Page 5

sky-line, with a knob of
limestone shaped like a Turkish pommel and sheltering its monastery,
Panaghia of Skopo, alias Our Lady of the Look-out. Below it appears
another and a similar outcrop near a white patch which has suggested
marble-quarrying; and the northern flank is dotted with farmhouses and
villas. The dwarf breakwater, so easily prolonged over the shallows,
has not been improved; but at its base rises a brand-new opera-house,
big enough for a first-rate city. Similarly at Barletta they raised a loan
to build a mole and they built a theatre. Unlike Patras, Zante long had
the advantage of Italian and then of English rule; and the citizens care
for music more than for transformation-scenes. The Palikar element
also is notably absent; and the soldiers are in uniform, not in
half-uniform and half-brigand attire. I missed the British flag once so

conspicuous upon the southern round tower of the castle, where in days,
or rather nights, of old I had spent not a few jolly hours; but I heard
with pleasure that it is proposed to make a haute-ville of the now
deserted and crumbling triangle, a Sommerfrisch where the parboiled
citizens of Athens will find a splendid prospect and a cooling
sea-breeze.
Mr. E. Barff kindly accompanied us in the usual drive 'round the
Wrekin,' for which we may here read the 'wreck.' We set out along the
sea-flank of the Castle hill. This formation, once a regular hog's-back,
has been split by weather about the middle; and its southern end has
been shaken down by earthquakes, and carved by wind and rain into
precipices and pinnacles of crumbling sandstone, which form the 'Grey
Cliffs.' Having heard at Patras the worst accounts of Zante since it
passed under Greek rule, I was not a little surprised by the excellent
condition of the roads and the general look of prosperity.
Turning to the right we entered Mr. Barff's garden-house, where the
grounds were bright and beautiful with balsam and mignonette, dahlias
and cyclamens, chrysanthemums and oleanders, jasmine and
double-violets, orange-blossoms, and a perfect Gulistan of roses, roses
of York and Lancaster, white, pink, and purple, yellow and green--a
perfumed spring in dreary December. Laden with bouquets we again
threaded the olive-grounds, whose huge trunks are truly patriarchal, and
saw basking in the sun old Eumæus, the Swine-King, waiting upon his
black and bristly herd. The glimpse led to a characteristic tale. A
wealthy Greek merchant in London had made the most liberal offers to
his brother, a shepherd in the hills of Cephalonia; the latter returned his
very best thanks, but declared himself perfectly happy and unwilling to
tempt fortune by change of condition to England. Greece, it is evident,
has not ceased to breed 'wise men.'
We returned, viâ the landward flank of the hog's-back, along the fine
plain ('O Kampos') bounded west by the range called after Mount
Meriy, the apex, rising 3,274 feet. Anglo-Zantiots fondly compare its
outline with the Jura's. The look of the rich lowlands, 'the vale,' as our
charts call it, suggested a river-valley, but river there is none. Every

nook and corner was under cultivation, and each country-house had its
chapel and its drying-ground for 'fruit,' level yards now hidden under
large-leaved daisies and wild flowers. We passed through the Graetani
village, whose tenants bear a bad name, and saw none of the pretty
faces for which Zante is famed. The sex was dressed in dark jackets
and petticoats à l'italienne; and the elders were apparently employed in
gathering 'bitter herbs,' dandelion and the wild endive. Verily this is a
frugal race.
The drive ended with passing up the Strada Larga, the inner High Street,
running parallel with the Marina. After Turkish fashion, trades flock
together, shoemakers to the south and vegetable-vendors to the north.
There are two good specimens of Venetian palazzetti, one fantastic, the
other classical; and there is a rough pavement, which is still wanting in
Patras. A visit to the silk-shop of Garafuglia Papaiouanou was
obligatory: here the golden-hued threads reminded me of the Indian
Tussur-moth. Also de rigueur was the purchase of nougat and raki, the
local mandorlato and mastaché, almond-cake and grape-spirit.
Zante appears to me an excellent home for a large family with a small
income. A single man lives at the best hotel (Nazionale) for forty-five
francs per week. A country-house with nine bedrooms, cellarage,
stabling, dog-house, orangery, and large garden, is to be had for 25l. a
year. Fowls cost less than a franc; turkeys, if you do not buy them from
a shipchandler, two francs and a half. The strong and sherry-flavoured
white wine of Zante rarely exceeds three shillings the gallon, sixpence
a bottle. And other necessaries in the same proportion.
But, oh that St. Dionysius, patron saint of Zante, would teach