NOTES.

THE LAZZERETTO OF ALEXANDRIA.

[For the following account of the Lazzeretto, I am indebted to my friend the Rev. Vere Monro, who, though he does not choose to dwell seriously on his own personal sufferings, experienced much ill-treatment and neglect during his confinement, and very narrowly escaped with his life.]

October 13. 1832.

AFTER a passage of six days from Syra, with light and varying winds, we made the low sandy shore of Egypt; but as the brig stood for the old port, a boat put off to demand the papers, containing the harbour master's myrmidons, together with an agent of the house to which she belonged. The language of these people was a mixture of broken Italian and Arabic, scarcely any part of which could be interpreted by the aid of pure Italian alone. Having touched at Constantinople, where the plague was thinning the population to a fearful extent, the brig was ordered to the new port for quarantine. This is on the east side of the town, and being very much exposed to the eastward, and containing little deep water, affords very insecure anchorage even for vessels of small burthen. Our ship was daily visited by some one of her owners, who gave different accounts of the probable term of our durance; some assigning twenty, others forty, days; but nothing certain could be known until after the weekly meeting of the commissioners; for the Pasha had intrusted the enactment of all quarantine regulations to the hands of

five European Consuls, viz. the British, Russian, French, Austrian, and Neapolitan, with full powers to act according to prejudice or discretion: and in the case of the French brig Cléopâtre, in which I unfortunately arrived, they seem to have followed the dictates of the former; for, in consequence of an Austrian merchantmen from Constantinople having begun to unload his freight without first declaring himself foul with plague, the gentlemen of the commission were said to have determined that all vessels which might afterwards arrive from the same port should find no mercy. Of the Austrian's crew, the captain alone survived, the sailors having all at last fallen a sacrifice to the pestilence. Upon finding that our ship could not land the wool with which she was freighted, because there was no place yet built to receive it, I petitioned to be removed to the Lazzeretto, that my term of quarantine might commence immediately. To this request the British Consul replied, that there was at present no accommodation, and he hoped the demand would not be urged further. On the fifth or sixth day after our arrival, I became unwell; and, finding fever and weakness daily growing upon me, renewed my request to the Consul. On the ninth day, the ship having begun to unload her cargo, I was laid upon the woolsacks in the launch, and carried to the Lazzeretto, which was situated at a distance of three miles from where the ship lay; and being unable to stand, the sailors deposited me on the sand, in a chamber or shed that had just risen into existence, constructed of boards, but not so closely united as to hinder the inmate from enjoying a prospect of all that passed without, or the wind from fanning him either mildly or mercilessly, according to its temper, which at this season varied extremely, for at times it was furious, bringing with it showers of sand or showers of rain; and the roof of the building, being of wood, was so considerately formed for the free entrée of the latter, that my mattress and bedding

were twice soaked through in the night, during my residence in quarantine. A shower in Egypt has a short reign, but a merry one. I had, at first, no bed, and, therefore, lodged upon the sand, which, perhaps, of all soils, is the best adapted for this purpose; being easily shaken up, and not lumpy. As evening came on, my senses wandered, and, during the darkness, I rolled about unconscious whither: but when daylight and reason returned, it was obvious how the night had been passed, from the sand which had accumulated upon my hair, face, and clothing. To my application for a bed, the Superintendant could only answer that such luxuries were not provided for the détenus, neither did it appear materially to concern him whether I had one or not. Having, moreover, no money in my possession but Turkish coin, which had been proscribed by the Pasha, and had thereby become neither current nor changeable, and my Hammersley's bills being subject to the same quarantine as myself, I was left entirely to nature and cold water, upon which last I drew freely. With this enlivening prospect before me, the disorder gaining strength, whilst my frame became weaker, it seemed probable that I might lay my bones with Pompey's, and, like him, find only an Arab to perform my obsequies,—an indignity which seems to have given great offence to his poor widow :

"Manus hoc Ægyptia forsan

Obtulit officium grave manibus O!"

Some Arab haply

Put his bod

-y under the sod,

Tribute unwelcome to his shade.❤

On the second day after that of my landing, however,

* If the above translation does injustice to the original, I humbly beg pardon of the author's memory; but I take it for granted that no one ever read the Pharsalia without laughing, so very problematical does it appear whether it was written in irony or earnest.

Mr. Bell, of Alexandria, to whom I had brought a letter of introduction, having heard of my removal from the ship, without further inquiries sent me a bed and its appurtenances, together with a supply of coffee, rice, chocolate, and other things which it was likely I should most need; and to his humanity and ready assistance, under Providence, I shall ever consider myself indebted for the continuance of my life. On the third day I received a visit from the surgeon of the Lazzeretto, an Italian residing in the town, three miles distant. He is said to be a man of talent, but could not, as might be expected, divine the nature of my complaint, neither could I give him any clue to its discovery, but begged he would give me polvere Inglese (James's powder), a medicine only resorted to by Italians in the last extremity. A dose of this taken every hour with some tea, at the end of two days left little doubt as to the disorder. The surgeon repeated his visit, and standing at a distance, and turning back the paploma or counterpane that covered me with a long stick, he desired me to show my wrists, and at once exclaimed, "Ecco'l vajuolo Arabico e per Dio pestifero." Having implicit faith in vaccination as an antidote to small-pox, I stoutly maintained that this was impossible; but as the eruption increased, and soon encased me from head to foot, it was clear that he was not mistaken. The impossibility of sleeping during the night was no small addition to the désagrémens of this Lazzeretto residence. In the shed adjoining mine, on one side, were lodged a party of various nations, to the number of fourteen, consisting of Turks, Tartars of the Crimea, Germans, Georgians, Greeks, and one corpulent Venetian, all of whom had arrived in a vessel from Constantinople, and were now kept close prisoners in a space of much smaller dimensions than the Marine Hotel, from which they had been lately released. It being the habit of this party to sleep during the day, the night was devoted to festivity; and this was adjusted