Letters to My Sister, Number IV [pp. 763-765]

Letters to my Sister.
geous to the island, can never be referred to by the inhabi tants with pleasure: for it is the only period in their history
in which it can be said they lived in servitude. The Ve netians exercised great tyranny over their Greek subjects.
Among other things, they brought here a Catholic colony,
and planted it in the richest part of the island, leaving to
the Greeks little more than the barren rocks. This, and
various vexatious and oppressive exactions, forced the
islanders to rebellion. They seized the fortress, expelled
the Venetian garrison, and delivered it to the Turks, who
were at that time making a great show of protecting the
Greek church against the encroachments of its Catholic
neighbors. A Turkish governor was received in the island,
and the inhabitants paid a slight tax for the protection
granted them; but this was nothing burdensome. Ii con sequence of their voluntary submission, they were al lowed the privilege of holding their own lands, and serving
no Turkish lords, as was the case in conquered provinces.
After yielding to the Turks, they enjoyed a long course of
prosperity.'Thleir commerce was very extensive with the
Italian states; and the island was long a depot or fair for
European goods, which were distributed at an advanced
price to the neighboring islands, andl created great wealth.
Their long continued intercourse with Venice and Italy,
introduced refinements and civilization. During the late
revolution, Tenos was not subjected to the horrors of war:
and the eye is not pained by the sight of ruins and ravages.
The island is under the highest state of cultivation, and
though quite small contains a population of twenty thou sand individuals, who still exhibit a refinement and a state
of civilization which surprise one when met in a Greek
island. This is partly owing to the old influences, and
partly to the circumstance that the crowded population are
forced to leave their homes annually, to the number of four
or five thousand, and go as servants or mechanics into all
the cities of the Levant, until they have made a little, when
they return: and in the mnost interior villages are persons
who speak several languages, and are surrounded by the
neatness and comforts of European life. In all the cities
in which I have been I have met Teniote women, who were
remarkable for their beauty and the mildness of their manners. When they go abroad as servants, they frequently
marry persons far albove them; and their beauty endows
them with fortune and high station.
One of the chief charms of Tenos lies in its beautiful
gardens, where you pass from terrace to terrace covered
with the richest luxuriance of fruits and vegetables; andh
where you may walk among the white columns of the vinecovered trellis, and gather the hanging grapes, and cool them
in the gurgling fountain; or play at hide and seek round the
low, leafy, fruitful fig-trees; or pluck those I)riglit roses over
which
In alluding to the schools of Tenos, I cannot fail to t e l l
you of its church; to which they owe their support, and
which liakes the island a p ecul iarly sacred place to all pious
Greels. A year after af the revolution b ro ke out, an old nun
from one of the convents in the interior, came to the city,
with a message to the people frot the Vi rgin, whi ch m es -
sage had be e n communicated to her in a dream or vision*
the night before. She informed the Tenilotes that they were
the special objects of the Divine favor, a nd in the hill just
above the town there was a picture of the Virgin buiried,
which if disinterred would woruk many wonderful miracles.
The vis i on was t hree times repeate d; and three ti mes the
poor old nltn cried alou d to the Teniotes, who were deaf t o
her entreaties, believing her to be deranged. At length a
monk from one of the neighboring monasteries came to the
city on the same mission; and his eloquence proved far
more effective. In a short time the crowd gathered in thou sanids upon the sacred hill, and began to dig with entihusias tic zeal. They turned up the earth far and deep, and
brought to light many remains of an ancient heathen temple.
Among the rubbish was at last discovered a tattered pic ture, which i,might once have represented the Virgin. The
enthusiastic devotion of the crowd was excited to the wild est excesses, and it was not long before the kneeling and
repentant multitude received proofs of the miraculous power
of their picture. The halt, the blind, the diseased of all
kinds approached, and, as tradition ulnidoul)tingly asserts,
were immediately made whole. Thie religious excitement
spread far and wide, and crowds flocked to the island to
worship, or be curled. The tattered picture was soon pro vided with a rich gold case, and a small church was built
on the spot where it was found, as a shrine. Here the
multitudes from distant places continued to crowd, bring ing their sick, and rich offerings, in jewels, money, shawls,
&c., and making valuable donations of houses, lands, and
magazines of goods in foreign cities. The famie of these
things survived the long stormy period of the revolution,
and seems to possess equal power at the present day as when
the picture was discovered. In the place of the small
church, now stands a fine large building! It is peculiarly
fanciful and picturesque: surrounded with marble terraces
and light marble columns, it stands on a hill in the midst of
rooms built for the pilgrims. There is not much of archi tecturdtl arrangement in the position and proportion of the
buildings, but there is a great display of a fanciful taste.
The situation commands a lovely prospect of gardens and
houses, and a wide sweep of sea and islands. Many mi raculous cures continue to be performed here; and after
visiting the place, I could easily credit them.
Sick persons are brought for the most part froin low
scenes of poverty, to this peculiarly delightful and healthful
climate, and are placed in large, airy rooms, commanding
new and beautiful prospects. With their strong fiaith in the
power and mercy of the Virgin, it must be an inveterate
disease that will not yield to such powerful outward and
;inward impressions.
In the church there is too great a lavish of display and
ornament to strike a refined taste (agreeably; but there are
lanlly curious specimens of Greek art, which excited my interest. The pulpit is made fromr a solid mass of pure white
marble, carved inl the most tasteful, beautiful style, by the
artizans of the island. There is a great variety in the marbules within, which are all found in the island.~ TIhere are
Such scenes realize my dreams of the East, and add beauty
to the bright clime of classic Greece.
To many natural beauties, I hope the Teniotes will soon
add the delights of intellectual society. They are making,
like the rest of Greece, rapid progress; and the people look
with enthusiastic interest upon their flourishing schools.
There is a large female school in this town, conducted by
a Greek lady from Smyrnia. The girls are so bright-eyed
and intelligent, it is a pleasure to look at themn; and the lady
seems fully animated by the noble idea that she is working t
for the advancement of her nation. There is a large Lancasterian boys' school, and a Hlellenic academy also, in this
town. In the latter, they have had an examination since
our arrival; and the iboys delivered original speeches. They
had as much of Homer, and the glory of the ancient Greeks
in their declamations, as is the fitshion with American college boys.
[NovF,MBF,R,
764
" The lilhtvvings of zep'iyr wax faint with perfunic."
*It is L-cnei-ally supliosell, by the unbelieving, that her
drcarn was inspired by the bishop of the island, an'ntriguin.,
man.
t This island abounds in marble quarries, and these affor(I the means of liviii., to many of the inhabitants. They
export table-slabs and efiim-i-iey-pieces ready polished to all
the cities of Greece and Turkey.