JOTTINGS FROM A TRAVELLER’S JOURNAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 956, 30 May 1883, Page 2

JOTTINGS FROM A TRAVELLER’S JOURNAL.

[written specially for the “ashburtok GUARDIAN.”] XVII.

Leaving Nice —Advice to Travellers Yillafranoa —A Question of Taste— Beaulieu—A Grim Castle—Eza — Underground Travelling—Monaco The Prince’s Revenue—Monte Carlo —The Casino at Monte Carlo—The Best Band in Europe—The Gaming Saloon—The Gamblers—A Demoralising Passion.

Two days participation in the fun and frolic of the Carnival at Nice were quite sufficient to satisfy my curiosity. And many visitors were like - minded, for on reaching the station when about to resume my journey, I found quite a crowd upon the platform. The hustle and confusion wore almost bewildering to those who could hear, but not understand the incessant jabber. Here, let me say, for the guidance of those who may travel in Italy, that as little luggage as possible should be taken. Nothing is carried free except hand-bags or other light packages that may be taken into the carriage. Fellow passengers complain if they are incommoded by the size or number of the articles attempted to be introduced. The system, however, is tolerably well organised, and by taking the precaution of seeing that your packages are carefully weighed and marked—tor the officials are not immaculate, and when they make mistakes they are never in the traveller’s favor—and obtaining a ticket you are freed from further trouble. On arriving at your destination, all you have to do is to give your luggage ticket to the porter of the hotel at which you design to stop, and who is generally in attendance, and he will do the rest.

Owing to the crowd I had some little difficulty in obtaining a seat. I traversed the length of the train more than once, peeping into every carriage, before I discovered a vacant seat. The employees seem to think it no part of their business to help the travellers in such straits. The most efficient aid is generally rendered by the porter who carries your valise, or whatever you may have in hand, from the the waiting-room. He is anxious to obtain his fee ; and if a place is to be found, will find it. It was by the intervention of one of those necessary, but otherwise importunate and troublesome hangers-on, that I at last got squeezed into a carriage that I had considered already full. However, as the distance to Monte Carlo, where 1 intended to stop, was not great, the temporary inconvenience was of no great consequence. We passed through a tunnel soon after leaving the station, crossed the Paglione, ran along the valley of the stream, and through another long tunnel to Villafranca. This is a charming village, surrounded by olive clad heights* and beauti-

fled by many handsome villa residences. One was pointed out to me by an enthusiastic native, travelling in the same carriage, as pre-eminently grand. It would have been uncivil to question his taste, and therefore I held my peace. But a more preposterous example of grandeur I never beheld. It was painted a glaring red color, and though pretentious in its proportions, and somewhat novel in the Oriental character of its style, I considered it a vulgar edifice, an offence against good taste and architectural beauty. There we e other less prominent erections that struck me as far more picturesque and pleasing. We passed Beaulieu, another village embowered amidst olive groves ; some of the trees •were very large and evidently of great The peninsula of St. Jean forms the boundary on one side of the village, and on the extreme point are the crumbling ruins of a castle dating back to the times of the Saracens. Had those timeworn stones a vo.'ce, what revelations of rapine and revelry could they disclose. This stronghold was dismantled in 1706, during the reign of Louis XIV, There stand the ruins, so suggestive in their silent grimness, looking down on the shelving verdant slope that stretches toward the sea, with the distant sky line scarcely to be distinguished from deep blue waters. Here one might spend many pleasant hours, musing and mapping out, in imagination, the scenes of byegone days. Eza was the next settlement that came into view. It is perched on a rocky eminence, and in those days of yore, was a favorite resort of freebooters and robbers who mainly subsisted by levying black mail upon the peaceful inhabitants of the surrounding district. After leaving Eza a provoking succession of tunnels shut out the country from view. Had I but known beforehand that I was to be so frequently in the dark, whirled along underground, obliged to close the windows to prevent the carriage from being filled with vapor from the engine, I would have left the train at Eza, and taken a vehicle to Monaco. I would strongly advise those who may hereafter travel this route to act upon this suggestion. By so doing they will enjoy some of the finest scenery in the Riviera.

But in due time we ran through the disagreeable portion of the journey, and emerged into the brightness and beauty of the precincts'of Monaco, This township gives the name to a petty principality not above five or six miles square, cut out, as it were, of the kingdom of France. The reigning Prince Charles exercises sovereign jurisdiction, and derives a large, if not the largest portion of the revenue from the gaming tables of the casino at Monte Carlo. These tables are now in the hands of a company, who pay the Prince a large annual subsidy ; and besides this contribution they defray all the expenses of his househould. The net profits of the roulette and rouge et n»ir tables that are constantly going at the casino must be enormous to make it worth while for thd company to pay so high a price for the privilege. So long as these arrangements last there is but little prospect of the pernicious practice being suppressed. If Prince Charles is a thoughtful man, I should imagine he must at times feel degraded when contrasting his own position and source of revenue with the character maintained by his ancestors, the former sovereigns of the principality, who were renowned for their public spirit and naval exploits. But the love of money is a degrading passion, and princes are not better than other men when they yield to its influence. The scenery about Monaco is mountainous and very picturesque. Monte Carlo can scarcely be described as a separate settlement. Ic is but a mile and a half from the capital, which gives the entire principality its designation; and is almost connected with it by straggling villa residences. I took up my quarters at the Hotel des Anglais, within a few moments walk of the Casino, and close to the Public Gardens.

Monte Carlo is a lovely spot; perhaps unrivalled for natural beauty and artistic ' embellishment in the whole of Riviera. The company owning the Casino spare no expense in devising and maintaining local attractions. Beautiful gardens, adorned with statues, are laid out with exquisite taste, and extend over a considerable area. The interior of the Casino is gorgeously decorated. The concert-room or theatre, f >r it answers both purposes, in particular is indescribably grand a»d ornate. The chandelier that hangs in the centre from the lofty ceiling is the most superb thing of the kind I ever saw. An orchestra of nearly a hundred performers —all of them masters of their respective instruments entertain visitors every morning and evening. No charge is made for admission to hear the compositions of Mozart, Auber, Handel, Donizetti, Gounod and other great masters of harmony, rendered by a band that is said to be the best in Europe. No wonder that fashionable idlers and lovers if pleasure and play flock to Monte Carlo. The proprietors of the gaming tables have done their utmost to add to the natural beauties of the place such artistic attractions as are calculated to allure and bring victims within the circle of the fascinating but too often ruinous influences that surround the tapis vert. As I had never seen a public gambling c stablishment, I determined one morning to visit the Casino. I encountered no obstacles in entering the spacious vestibule, at one end of which is a comfortable reading room, supplied with English and Continental papers and periodicals—a cloak room, billiard room, lavatory, and other conveniences. But on approaching the entrance to the gaming saloon at the opposite end my further progress was barred by a liveried doorkeeper. I was a stranger ; and no one is admitted for the first time without a permit from the bureau. But the entree was easily obtained. 1 had but to produce my card and name the hotel at which 1 was staying, and a pass, purporting to be for that day only, but which I understood would serve for any future time when once my personality was known, was immediately granted. The doorkeepers seem to be specially apt in recognising faces, for when once a person has presented a pass, he may enter day after day if he chooses without question. The apartment, or rather the succession of saloons in which play is carried on, for they lead from one to another without door or partition, are large and lofty, and lavishly adorned. At night they are brilliantly lighted. There are six roulette tables and several rouge et noir to which the deeper players resort. It was a sad but impressive sight. The seats surrounding the tables were all occupied, and a throng of people were standing round outside. Some few of them, like myself, were merely spectators drawn thither by curiosity , but the majority were playing as eagerly as those who were seated. It was saddening to watch the faces of the gamblers : their hungry, eager, anxious looks after they had staked their money, while the apparatus in the centre of the table was revolving—the selfish exultation with which they clutched their winnings if fortune favored them ; the careworn expression of those countenances when the croupier called out a number into which the marble had rolled taht placed them in the position of losers. The evident disappointment—in some cases a look that almost indicated a feeling of despair—of the unlucky ones as they saw their money raked into the bank ' by the impassive and u n sympathising crou- 1 piers, furnished matter for distressing 1 thought. How many of these players 1 were on the verge of ruin, risking the 1 remnants of their money in the vain hope i of recouping former losses. It is a terribly |

demoralising infatuation. If a player wins at the outset, as is often the case When a novice, lured by example, is induced to venture a five-franc piece, he is encouraged to proceed. But ere long he finds himself minus not only of his gains, but of some of the coin that was previously safe in his purse ; and then under the influence of the .fatal passion he too often continues, hoping that his luck will return and his perseverance be rewarded. Thus step by step many are lured, and become bankrupt both in money and in morals. On the day I visited the Casino, the gamestsrs were not all of the male sex ; indeed, a large proportion of those engaged in play were women —some of them probably respectable visitors tempted to hazard a few francs. But many of them, I am sorry to say, were evidently habitvSs of the table, and of doubtful character. While I stood wa’u’.ing the proceedings, a female—l wi'l, not say lady—began to play with a pile of tenfranc gold- pieces before her, at least sixty or seventy in number. With groat eagerness she staked four or five each turn on different numbers, and in less than ten minutes they were all gone. She rose from the table and walked away with an expression of countenance I shall never forget. A young man staying at the same hotel where I had taken up my quarters lost L 2,500 in two days, and was beggared.