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8
Oct 22 1/2 after 11 A.M. in continuation
I have no objection to this storm; we shall see an Isle the more
for it & if we don't go bump ashore, we shall soon be at our
ease. As God's mercy will have it we have got for our infans portus
not only our friend the Venetian but a little Caichi which is before
him. Spring and I have the Cabbin to ourselves; there is better to do
upon Deck. I have just been up to take a peep: the land on
all sides I imagine would be beautiful if this storm would but
give us leave to steer it. Our foretop sail has just been blown
to rags; but who cares? We have just given the go by to a
dangerous rock that sticks itself up right in the middle of
a very narrow part of the entrance; and are now out of all
danger. This harbour is an enormous long one; running up
the country like Portsmouth but infinitely narrower: upon an
average perhaps about the width of the Thames at Westminster
Bridge; but the Lord knows; for I am now in the Cabbin &
I am but a bad judge of distances: We are in the want of
company: Capt. B. has already pointed out to us a French
man and a Russian. What makes the loss of a sail dangerous
at some conjunctures is that if you have no sail by
which you can give a motion to the ship in a different
direction to that of the wind you draw before it like a log
and must go bang against the shore or any object
that lies in the way without the possibility of helping yourself.
We had plenty of thunder & lightening last night, some
of the flashes fell very near the ship. I was wakened by the
crash. At one time there was such a rattling upon deck I
thought it had been from hail-stones as big at least as
marbles. I was afraid I should have heard of mischief done
to the crew & upon enquiry it turned out to be more rain
without a single hail stone: the rattling was owing to the size
of the drops and the volume of the wind.
Oct. 23 A.M. Sunday
A Mr Clerk to the a French
house at Smyrna has just been breakfasting with us and
from him I have picked up the following particulars. His abode
is on board the French ship now in the harbour: he left
lain here Smyrna 22 days ago, has been here ever since, and thinks to be back again some time
this week. His business is to collect Oil, the only merchantable
produce of the Island. His house sends it to Marseilles there to be
manufactured into Soap. Though the best in the Archipelago it
is not used for eating, though it might be were it not the Leghorn
oil as much better as it is nearer land. This Greek must come be brought here
very cheap to make it worth while to send for it from such a
distance into an oil country. His dealings are with the Aga
who commands the Island. He farms the Revenue from the Grand
Signor for 600 purses a year. The principal branch of it is
the Tithe of the Oil which he takes up in kind. If Tithes in
England are a grievance, in Mitelin, as may be imagined they
are a much greater. In England the Farmer chooses for the
Parson: here the Parson chooses for himself. By dealing with
his great Improprietor, the Frenchman therefore if this German
clerk of his is to be believed ; skims the cream of the
best oil that is made in Greece. To the burthen of the English
Farmer, these poor Greeks add that of the French Peasant: after
the choicest of their produce has thus been taken from them, they
have the amusement of carrying it themselves where to on board the
ship which carries it off. They It comes in sheep skins with
the wool in the inside: I saw a skin which I suppose was
one of them hanging up in a distended state in the Isle
of Scio. By this then there must be a considerable loss: but
the loss ensues not to the Aga nor to the Merchant, but
the Farmer, for the Merchant pays for no more than the quantity
emptied from the skin into his own barrels. Whether
the service is part of the duty legally annexed to the tax or
whether
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9
whether it is an exaction, wrongfully imposed by the present
Aga I have not learnt. As to the Aga himself all he has
to do with the Oil as may be imagined is to strike the bargain
for it and receive the money: but he has two Brothers
who condescend to take a more personal concern in it
These gentlemen execute the office of searchers tasters, garblers, and
whippers in: the Greeks stile them the pair of Devils. If
such they are, they are according to this German, who
speaks upon 7 or 8 years experience the proper work of
gentry to deal with these descendants of the pretended virtuous
Greeks: for they are well matched he says by the
Turks and nobody else would deal with them. If this be
true it is no more that what is to be expected: such
as the Government is such, making allowance for the
time which moral causes take to operate, must be the
people.
Did I tell you (no I believe I did not) that we shall
find the plague in Smyrna? We heard this unwelcome news
on Thursday last (the 20th) from an English vessel that had
left that port the Monday before, the William, Capt.
Lock. It did not break out however till after he had got
his bills of health: it came as he heard from Constantinople;
another crum of comfort for us. The wind
being at that time contrary our Captain and Mr
Griffiths took a cruise in the boat, and fell in with this
vessel which at their setting out, the Captain said he did
not know to be our countryman. To sweeten this bitter
intelligence they brought off a present of fruit for us,
consisting of figs, pomegranates, and a few fresh grapes
The pomegranates are here what I think they must be
every where, vile insipid trash.
Not only the sail I mentioned but all the other sails
of the poor Venetian went to pot in the storm of yesterday:
it would cost him to replace them with new ones, our Mate
says, not less than £40 or 50. If they were such as a
use, it must be a great deal more; for the Capt. estimates
the one sail he has lost at between 30 & 40£.
As the disaster might perhaps be owing in some degree
to the Venetian's good faith and complaisance in waiting
for us to shew us the way into a harbour which
to him was familiar and to us new, Capt. B. thought he
could do no less than to lend him a suit to carry him
to Smyrna. He accordingly sent them off with half a dozen
men to put them on this morning, and consequently
during the time that operation took up, which might
be a couple of hours, we had to wait. We have been
under way for some time for Smyrna with a fair wind,
and are now out of the harbour. This unexpected expedition
put an end to a scheme which had been concluded settled
last night for an expedition over land to Mitilene the
capital. We were to have gone Mr Griffiths, Mr Schadder
and myself with Mr Henderson's French-Italian servant
whom he brought from Nice, and the Venetian
Captain. Mr Griffiths speaks good French and a little
Italian — the Venetian speaks Greek fluently. It is about
1 1/2 hours journey, the Venetian was to have procured us
horses from a Village which he shewed us. This fair
wind a North one came unexpectedly and for us loungers
very spitefully. The Captain had made up his mind to
the being obliged to stay several days for the weather to
settle; and with all his anxiety not to lose time
have started this morning had not he seen the it.
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Identifier: | JB/539/456/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 539.
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1783-10-22 |
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539 |
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456 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Samuel Bentham |
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