A tour in Greece, 1880 . med to have suffered unspeakable thingsat the hands of officious officialism. At Argos, for instance,instead of having quarters privately secured l)y their drago-man, they listened to the siren voice of politeness, and con-sented to be lodged in the barracks. There they had cause toremember sundry of the plagues of Egypt, and afforded acheap gratification to the curiosity of the rank and file of thegarrison, while all the time feeling that these enjoyments werecausing no slight inconvenience to the gallant officers who hadturned out of their quarters on their
A tour in Greece, 1880 . med to have suffered unspeakable thingsat the hands of officious officialism. At Argos, for instance,instead of having quarters privately secured l)y their drago-man, they listened to the siren voice of politeness, and con-sented to be lodged in the barracks. There they had cause toremember sundry of the plagues of Egypt, and afforded acheap gratification to the curiosity of the rank and file of thegarrison, while all the time feeling that these enjoyments werecausing no slight inconvenience to the gallant officers who hadturned out of their quarters on their A single incident disturbed the even tenor of our life in this home of idleness. This was no less a matter than tliearrival of a ihglit of doves on their way northward fromAfrica. Every one promptly quitted his work to pursue sochoice a quarry. The sport perhaps is hardly great, tliemethod adopted being to stand in !niil)us]i behind an olive-treetill one of the iunocent birds perclies witliiu range of the PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 207 deadly flint-lock. Under these circumstances the olive-grovesrapidly grew too hot to hold us; and our artist, after beingdriven from one post of vantage to another, abandoned hispurpose, and ignominiously sought the shelter of make matters worse, the birds in spring are old and in badcondition, so that they offered no gastronomic consolations forthese perils. In autumn, during their southward passage, theyoung doves, then full-fed on ripe grapes, are esteemed, anddoubtless rightly, a great delicacy. But to the Greek mindall feathered fowls are fair game, irrespective of times andseasons, and it is not unusual to see creatures so beautiful ashoopoes and golden aureoles ruthlessly exposed for sale in themarket-place. At length the arrival was announced of a steamer for Corfu—of course, at some abnormal hour. The ill-humour resultingfrom broken slumbers was not improved by the aspect of thevessel. She was even filthier and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisheredinb, bookyear1882
