Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/166

138 Judging from first impressions, I should imagine Rhodes to be a much more agreeable residence for an Englishman than Mytilene. Here there is a real Frank quarter, where you hear as much French and Italian spoken in the streets as Greek; there is too in the manners of the people generally a tinge of European civilization which I have seen nowhere else in the Archipelago.

From the circumstance that the trade of Rhodes is principally in the hands of Frank merchants, and that this beautiful island has always been a favourite place of residence for French, Italians, Maltese, and other emigrants from Europe, Latin Christianity has an ascendancy here which would not be allowed in islands like Mytilene, where the Greeks discourage as much as possible all foreign settlers, especially those of the Romish faith.

At this season Rhodes is arrayed in all the freshness of luxuriant spring. The scenery round the town has a peculiar beauty. The land is formed in a succession of natural terraces down to the sea; in every view the palm-tree is seen against the horizon, reminding the Englishman in what latitude he is, which otherwise might be forgotten, from the extraordinary mildness of the temperature. In every direction I find long and silent lanes, stretching away for miles through the suburbs between high garden-walls, from the top of which ivy and other shrubs hang over in rich profusion. The air is scented with orange-flowers, the earth is covered with abundant crops. The houses are all built of squared stone, with flat roofs. Many of them have