Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/165

Rh , April 4, 1853.

Having been requested by Mr. Kerr, H.M.'s Consul at Eliodes, to act in his place during his absence in England, I left Blunt in charge of Mytilene, and came here by the Austrian steamer a few days ago. On arriving, I found Mr. Kerr as eager to leave Rhodes as I was to visit an island which promised so rich a field of archæological research. His impatience was not unnatural, for he has now vegetated at Cyprus and Rhodes for twelve long- years without ever asking for a furlough, and his mind, naturally an active one, is weary of the petty intrigues and cabals which constitute the very essence of Levantine society in small places, and which a Consul can hardly keep clear of without extreme discretion and forbearance.

After the rough life we have been leading at Mytilene, I was not sorry to instal myself in a house to which the residence of an English family has imparted an air of comfort, such as our bachelor ménage at Mytilene never attained to. Instead of being dependent on the tender mercies of my dragoman for daily food, I find myself waited on by three servants who have been taught to minister to British ways and wants under the careful training of Mrs. Kerr, and one of whom actually speaks broken English, and knows how to lay the cloth for dinner.