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Article NOTES OE A YACHT'S CETJISE TO BALAKLA.VA... ← Page 3 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes Oe A Yacht's Cetjise To Balakla.Va...
tobacco , and garlic , ad libitum , the exhalations from the waters of the p < 5 rt , sheltered from the wind , and consequently stagnant , are something extra-unpleasant in the scale of overpowering smells . What must have been the perfume is beyond the mind of man to conceive , when , in 1812 , the waters suddenly forsook the port , leaving the vessels stranded on a dark , slimy , fetid bottom , to the
consternation of the inhabitants , which became greater still when in about half an hour the waves returned with a furious roaring , dashed against the quays as if about to ingulf the town , and then subsided to their usual limits . There seems to be some good architecture in the public buildings , and I wished for time to examine the Jesuit ' s Observatory , which is admirably situated . The cathedral is , they say , the oldest in France ,
but has little else to distinguish it . It seemed to me , in the cursory glance I was able to take of this great seaport , that the inhabitants are less suave , more harsh-looking and abrupt in manner , than those of other French towns , which , considering its southern situation and mild climate , is surprising . Perhaps the " Mistral , " a bitter north-east wind , which is the scourge of Marseilles , and acts with painful effect on the skin and nerves , may have an indurating influence on the minds and manners of its
people . 20 th . —Went down to the mole to see the little ^ vessel which is to be our home for the next couple of months . She is certainly , even to an inexperienced landsman ' s eye , a beautiful object . I do not wonder at Sir Arthur ' s infatuation . The Imp is a schooner of some 160 tons burden—a good sized yacht—yet she looked a mere nutshell by some huge men-of-war lying near , which were being laden with human cargoes , fresh food
for the insatiable maw of Sebastopol . Bands were playing lively marches , but both here and in Paris you hear far less of " Partant pour la Syrie" than in London . We have a crew of tw enty , under the command of a skipper who seems to my taste the beau ideal of a sailor—short and thick , with huge shoulders , and generally broad in the beam , a round kindly face , with a thick fringe of red whiskers , and eyebrows and forehead all wrinkled up , as if from perpetually
keeping a sharp look-out in the teeth of all sorts of north and south westers , a few instalments of which seemed to have effected a settlement in his throat , and produced the strangest and harshest grumbling kind of voice imaginable . Nevertheless , Captain Kidd—as Miss Kate P chose to call him—w as an immense favourite with both the ladies .
The accommodations are quite luxurious : such marvellous contrivances in the shape of patent stoves and cooking-apparatus ; Lucullus himself need not have dreaded a yacht voyage , if—ah , hateful intimation—he could have been insured against sea-sickness . The saloon is most comfortable , but neat and simple in its decorations ; and a small well-chosen stock of new books forms one of its principal attractions . Lady 0 ' tells me , both Miss 1 ? - ¦ and herself are
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes Oe A Yacht's Cetjise To Balakla.Va...
tobacco , and garlic , ad libitum , the exhalations from the waters of the p < 5 rt , sheltered from the wind , and consequently stagnant , are something extra-unpleasant in the scale of overpowering smells . What must have been the perfume is beyond the mind of man to conceive , when , in 1812 , the waters suddenly forsook the port , leaving the vessels stranded on a dark , slimy , fetid bottom , to the
consternation of the inhabitants , which became greater still when in about half an hour the waves returned with a furious roaring , dashed against the quays as if about to ingulf the town , and then subsided to their usual limits . There seems to be some good architecture in the public buildings , and I wished for time to examine the Jesuit ' s Observatory , which is admirably situated . The cathedral is , they say , the oldest in France ,
but has little else to distinguish it . It seemed to me , in the cursory glance I was able to take of this great seaport , that the inhabitants are less suave , more harsh-looking and abrupt in manner , than those of other French towns , which , considering its southern situation and mild climate , is surprising . Perhaps the " Mistral , " a bitter north-east wind , which is the scourge of Marseilles , and acts with painful effect on the skin and nerves , may have an indurating influence on the minds and manners of its
people . 20 th . —Went down to the mole to see the little ^ vessel which is to be our home for the next couple of months . She is certainly , even to an inexperienced landsman ' s eye , a beautiful object . I do not wonder at Sir Arthur ' s infatuation . The Imp is a schooner of some 160 tons burden—a good sized yacht—yet she looked a mere nutshell by some huge men-of-war lying near , which were being laden with human cargoes , fresh food
for the insatiable maw of Sebastopol . Bands were playing lively marches , but both here and in Paris you hear far less of " Partant pour la Syrie" than in London . We have a crew of tw enty , under the command of a skipper who seems to my taste the beau ideal of a sailor—short and thick , with huge shoulders , and generally broad in the beam , a round kindly face , with a thick fringe of red whiskers , and eyebrows and forehead all wrinkled up , as if from perpetually
keeping a sharp look-out in the teeth of all sorts of north and south westers , a few instalments of which seemed to have effected a settlement in his throat , and produced the strangest and harshest grumbling kind of voice imaginable . Nevertheless , Captain Kidd—as Miss Kate P chose to call him—w as an immense favourite with both the ladies .
The accommodations are quite luxurious : such marvellous contrivances in the shape of patent stoves and cooking-apparatus ; Lucullus himself need not have dreaded a yacht voyage , if—ah , hateful intimation—he could have been insured against sea-sickness . The saloon is most comfortable , but neat and simple in its decorations ; and a small well-chosen stock of new books forms one of its principal attractions . Lady 0 ' tells me , both Miss 1 ? - ¦ and herself are