Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1857-07-23
of the Journal of Commerce
VISIT TO PATMOS.

VISIT TO PATMOS.
Orr CRETE. Kedaerranean,) 1857.
"Creta Jovis Magni medic jacet insula ponto,
! Mons daus ubi, ct GENTS cunabua nostr@
| Centum urbes habitant ml0nas, uberrima regina,
Mayimus unde Pater, 81 rite audit recordor.'
l have been looking upon the Island OF
Crete, 50 graphically described in the above
quotation from Virgil. II lies far out here
in the midst of the deep, and Mount "ld-
eus" still towers far up into the Heavens,
as when Eneas and his companions greet
ed it as their expected home. after their
long and weary exile on the sea. Its hun
dred cities have crumbled back to dust, its
"uderima regina" are a scene of widespread
desolation, and the cave on Mount Id;eus.
where Jupiter, the father ofgods and man,
was said by the ancients to have come in
to existence, has lost his sacred attractions
| and is now unknown. Here are the home
of Mines and Minotaur, and here the skill
Of Dedalus constructed the wonderful
"Labyrintl," with its thousands of cham
bers, and its lofty pillars of polished mar
ble But eyen the fabulous wisdom of the
laws, of Minos. and the opulencc and splen-
dor of the hundred cities can never redeem
the character of the people. History. and
poetry, and inspiration. all combine in de-
scrioing their ices as their chief charac-
teris,ic. Their falsehood. and piracies, and
unnatural lusts were notorious in ancient
times. and who can forget that after Chris
tianity had been introduced here by the
Apostle Paul. and numerous Churches es-
tablished, this earnest servant of the truth
reminded Titus, whom he had cleft in
Crete. to set in order the things that were
wanting" that "the Cretians were always
liars, evil beasts, slow bellies" This Ian
guage was, indeed, quoted from one of their
own writer's. But iaul indorscs it, adj
ding, ",his witness is true. Wherefore re-
buke them sharply, that they may be sound
In their ftlh." We shall not be able 10 visit
any Of the ports of Crete at present. and
must content ourselves with this distant
view and those few memories of the past
sat down, indeed, to tell you Of our visit
to Pa,mos, two days since How different
are the associations connected with ii! How
bright and beautiful is the face of the be
loved Disciple, which rises before every
one. when the place Of his exile and of his
wonderful visions is mentioned. Our Wis
it there was ;,s unexpected as il was delight
full. a few hours afer p; ssing through the
lcarian sea, described in my last, Ligli
wind came catering over tie deep. and as
we could make but lille Roadway against it,
il was determined to make the port of the
Island of Patmus, which had been some
time in view on our siarboard bow. As
we approached il. Tie chief town present
I ed quite picturesque appearance. on the
top of lofty hill. over looking a great parl
of the island and the boundless sea. The
Island itself seemed, at distance, like =
mass of barren rocks; and even when We
entered It's quiet little bay, we could dis.
cover only here and there any signs of veg.
etable LIE. On the sides of the hills, or
one side OF US. few men were digging W
small patches of earth. in the midst of in
Vulnerable and almost impossible rocks
while on the opposite side lay small fish
ing town of few hundredtinhabitants, it,
low white houses struggling along th'
beach, imparling almostany other idea thar
that of comfort or of welcome.
There was an air of extreme poverty al
around US, and though visit to the littl,
village on the summit might have changed
my opinion, yet ! left Patmos, feeling tha
/. its people had sunk perhaps as low in ig
norance and inefficiency. as any of tha
> portion of the Greeks. who are still subiec
to Moslem domination. Patmos belong,
to the Turks. though the sole Turk on th'
island is the Governor. who sent us hi
. compliments. and his regrets that the quar-
antine regulations OF the port prevented
r him from seeing us in person. A rapic
walk of half an hour brought us to The
. chapel of St. John. 1t is built OH the side
: OF precipitous hill, and consists Of an an
gular mass Of buildings, rising one above
{ the other. The principal entrance WAS in