DEMETRIUS THE DIVER.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 83, 21 August 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

DEMETRIUS THE DIVER.

(There ore no Dygones wiai,. nave greater need to be bygones than those of wickedness, violence; and cruelty. The blood and dust that besmear some passages of history might' glue the fcaves together for ever. Yefc from time to time necessities will concur that will leave us no choice but to open the old graye — to turn to the old dark register—to unlock the old dark, grim skeleton close 1 ) — to turn the retrospective glass towards the bold bad days .that are gone. There are men alive whom we may meet and converse with in our daily walks, who can remember the horrible massacre of Scio, in the year of salvation eighteen hundred and twenty-two. ' We had just begun to understand that •there was something between the Greeks and the Turks in the Morea, <the Peloponnesus, and the Archipela<*o and that the former were not, on ■■■; the whole, quite rightly used. We were just going to see about forming an opinion on these and other matters : when the news of the massacre of Scio burst 'upon us like a thunder clap. ■ -Gloomily and succinctly the frightful ■ news was told «s how the terrible Kara Ali — or the Black — Pasiia had appeared with a fleet and an army in the harbor of S<:io, thea one of the fairest, peacefulest, most prosperous, most densely populated islands in the Orjeco-Turkis 1 !) Archipelago, and that ; -ill peaceful rayahs, gold and purple harvest, •uuiver-Bvty, commerce, wealth - had in three days disappeared. The story of the massacre of Scio has never been fully told in England ; and only lin so far as it affects my story am I called on to advert to it here. For < three days Scio was drowned in blood ; that the dwellings of the European cen- : suls were no asylum ; that the swords of the infuriated Osmaniis murdered .alike the white headed patriarch, the priest of the family, tbe nursing mother, the bride of yesterday, the brid« of that to-morrow which was never to '■' -come to her, the tender suckling, ■ and the child that was unborn. Up- : war/Js of eighteen thousand persons | were massacred in cold blood ; and the blackened ruins of Scio became a habi tation for bats and dragons, howling ; -dogs, and wheeling birds of prey. . Some few miserable souls escaped the r vengeance of Karali Pasha. When he i had left the wretched island to itself, half famished wretches crawled out of I holes and thickets, and ditches, where :j they had hidden themselves. They ■■] -saw the charred and smouldering reml nants oF what had been Scio ; but they I abode not by them. In an agony of i fear lest the murderers should return, 5 they made the best of their way across | the seas to other islands — to inacces--1 sible haunts on the mainland. Those I who had means took refuge on the If French and Italian shores of the Mediil3 teranean — especially at Marseilles. j Among these was one Demetri '? Omeros. None knew much about him, 1 save that he was a Sciote, and had ;' escaped after the massacre ; that lie ; was quite alone, and very poor. Pie was f | fortunate enough to possess a somewhat 4- rare accomplishment, which made his i earnings, although precarious, consider- " ably more remunerative than those of i his fellow-countrymen occupying the ' station to which he appeared to belong. . Demetri Omeros was a most expert i swimmer and diver. He thus managed I to lead a sufficiently easy, lounging, ■ idle life ; splashing, swimming, and * diving sometimes for sheer amusement ; i at others basking in the genial sun ! with such profound indolence that you j would take him for a genuine lazzarone : of the Quai Santa Lucia. Demetri was j some thirty years old, tall, magnifi- ! cently proportioned, with a bronzed ; countenance, very black hair, and sparkling black eyes. His attire was exceedingly simple, being ordinarily limited to a shirt, red and white I striped trousers secured round the ! waist by a silken sash, and a small I Greek tarbouch on his head, orua- ; mented with a tarnished gold tassel. ! Shoes and stockings he drspised as ! effeminate luxuries. He was perfectly I contented with his modest fare of i grapes, melons, brown bread, garlic, and sour wine. House rent cost him nothing, as one of the Greek merchants settled at Marseilles allowed him to sleep in his warehouse, like a species of watch-dog. When the weather was fine, he swam and dived and dried himsrlf in ?he sun ; when it was foul, he coiled him&elf into a ball, and went to i sleep. \y- In the year 1824 it occurred to the : Turkish Government considerably to | strengthen their navy. There was an | arsenal and a dockyard at Constanti- \,. nople then as there is now ; but the I Ottomans did not know much about ship-building; and in the absence of | any material guarantee for the safety of 'V their heads, . European artisans were | rather chary of enlisting in the service lof the Padishah. So, as the ship- | Wrights wouldn't go to Sultan Mah- ■' moud, Sultan Mahmoud condescended j to go to the shipwrights ; that is to \ say, he sent an Effendi attached to the , department of Marine, to Marseilles, 4 Sith full powers to have constructed '„ four frigates by the shipbuilders of that * port. As the French government had w tot begun to interest itself one way or i l He other in the Eastern question, and «, 1 the shipbuilders of Marseilles did fi Vitcare one copper centime whether n 4e Turks beat the Greeks or the '■ c <Wks the Turks, and, more than all l}l \as the Effendi from Stamboul had ' r ' "He blanche in the money depart*«it. and paid for each frigate in 'J they set about building the s* fcir frigates with a hearty good will, ■f the spring of 1825 two of them " \ ready for launching. Was observed by the French work- * Demetrius the Diver appeared Nke very great interest in the pro-

cess of ship-building. Day after day he would come into the, slip where the frigates were being constructed, and, sitting upon a. pile of planks, would remain there for hours. Other Greeks would come occasionally, and launch forth into fierce invectives against the Turks, and against the French too, for lending their hands to the construction of ships which were to be employed by infidels against Christians. In these tirades Demetrius the IHver seldom, if ever, joined. He was a man of few words, and he sat upon the planks and looked at the workmen, their tools, and their work. Nobody took much notice of him, except to throw him a few sous occasionally, or to say what a lazy, skulking fellow he was. At length the day arrived which was fixed for the launch of the first frigate, the Snltani Babri. Half Marseilles was present. Everything had been looked to, thought of, provided for, the triumphal launch of the Sultani Bahri. The only obstacles between her and the waters were certain pieces of wood technically called in England (I knownot what the French name may be) dogshores, and these were being knocked away by the master shipwright. Just as the first stroke of the hammer became ! audible, Demetrius the Diver, who had hitherto been concealed among the crowd, plunged into the water, and swam right across the track that the frigate would probably take on its release from the slip. A cry of horror burst from the crowd as he swam directly towards the ships stem ; for the vessel had begun to move, and every one expected the rash diver to be crushed or drowned. But, when he was within a few feet of the frigate, Demetrius the Diver threw up his arms, held them aloft for a moment in a menacing manner, then quietly subsided o« to his back, and floated away with the tide. The Sultani Bahri slid down her ways to a considerable extent, she was even partially in the water, but she walked it by no means like a thing of life, for her stern began to settle down, and, if the truth must be told, the new frigate of his Imperial Highness the Sultan — stuck in the mud. They tried to screw her off, to weight "her off, to float har off, but in vain. When a ship sticks in launching, there is frequently no resource but to pull her to pieces where she sticks, and this seemed to be the most probable fate in store for the Sultani Bahri. The Effendi was in a fury. The shipbuilder was desolated; but the Frenchman only ascribed the misadventure to the clumsiness of his shipwright, whereas the Moslem, superstitious like the majority of his co-religionists, vowed that, the failure was solely owing to the evil eye of the Giaour diver, Demetrius Omeros. Had the Elfendi been in his own land, a very short and summary process would have preserved all future ship-launches from the troublesome presence of Dentc tri Omcros and his evil eye ; but at Marseilles, in the department of the Bouches dv Rhone, the decapitation, bow-stringing, or drowning, of even a rnyah, was not to be thought of. So, the Effendi was obliged to be satisfied with sriving the strictest orders for Demetri's exclusion from the shipbuilder's yard in future ; and after a delay of some months, the second frigate (the first was rotting in the mud) was ready for launching. Anxiety was depicted on theEffendi's face as he broke a bottle of sherbet over the bows of the frigate, and named her the Acbmedie. Immediately afterwards a cry burst from the crowd of " Demetri ! Demetri the Diver !" and, rushing along the platform which ran round the vessel, the Effendi could descry the accursed diver holding up his arms as before, and, doubtless, blighting the onward progress of the Achmedie with his evil eye. Evil or not, a precisely similar disaster overtook the second frigate, and the launch was a lamentable failure. The shipbuilder was in despair. The Effendi went home to his hotel cursing, and was about administering the bastinado to his whole household as a relief to his feelings, when his interpreter, a shrewd Greek, one Yanni, ventured to pour the balm of advice into the ear of indignation. " Effendi,'' he said, "this rayah that dives is doubtless a cunning man, a magician, and by his spells and incantations has arrested the ships of my lord the Padishah, whom Allah preserve, in their progress ! But he is a rayah and a Greek, and a rogue of course. Let my lord the Effendi bribe him, and he will remove his spells. '' " You are all dogs and sons of dogs/ answered the Effendi, graciously, " but out of your mouth devoted to the slipper, O Yanni, comes much wisdom. Send for this issue of a mangy pig, this diver with the evil eye." Demetri was sent for, and in due time made his appearance, not so much as salaaming to the Effendi, or even removing his hat. The envoy of the Sultan was sorely tempted to begin the interview by addressing himself through the intermediation of a bamboo to the soles of the diver's feet; but, f>.ar of the sub-prefect and his gendarmes, and, indeed, of the magical powers of the diver himself, prevented him. "Dog and slave." he said politely, " dog, that would eat garbage out of the shop of a Jew butcher, wherefore hast thou bewitched the ships of our lord and Caliph the Sultan Mahmoud ?" "I am not come here to swallow dirt," answered the diver, coolly, " and if your words are for dogs, open the window and throw them out. If you want anything with a man who, in Frangistan, is as good as an Effendi, state your wishes." «• The ships, slave, the ships !" ''The first two stuck in the mud/ said the Greek, "and the third, with the blessing of Heaven and St. George

n of Cappadocia, will no more float than a cannon-ball/ " You lie, dog, you lie !" said the Effendi. " 'Tis you who lie, Effendi,'' answered Demetrius .the Diver ; " and, moreover, if you give me the lie again, by St. Luke I will break your unbelieving jaw I" As the Effendi happened to be alone with Demetrius (for he had dismissed his interpreter), and as there was somewhat exceedingly menacing in the stalwart frame and clenched teeth of the Greek, his interlocutor judged it expedient to lower his tone. " Can you remove the spells you have laid«on the ships ?" " Those that are launched are past praying for." "Will the next float?" " If I choose.'' j " And the next V j «•' lf I choose." i ''Name your own reward then," said the Effendi, immensely relieved. " How many piastres do you require ? Will ten thousand do ?" " I want much more than that, 1 ' answered Demetrius the Diver, with a grim smile. " More ! What rogues you Greeks are ! How much more ? ' I " I want," pursued the Diver, " ray wife Katinka back from Stamboul. She was torn away from Scio, and is in the harem of the capitan-pacha. I want my three children, my boy Andon, my boy Yorghi, and my girl Eudocia. When I have all these here at Massaliaii (Marseilles.,) and twenty thousand piastres to boot, your frigates shall be launched in safety/ " Allwell and good," said the EfFjndi; "I will Write to Stamboul to-night, and you shall liave your brood and the piastres as well, within two months. But what security have I th t you will perform your part of the contract ? The word of a Greek is not worth a para.' 1 " You shall have a bond for double the amount you hand over to me, from I two merchants of Marseilles. cannot give me all I should like,' 1 concluded the Diver, with a vengeful frown. " You cannot give me back mj aged father's life, ray sister's, my youngest child's ; you cannot give me the heart's blood of the Albanian wolf, who slew them." Within a quarter of a year, Demetrius the Diver was restored to his family. He insisted upon receiving the stipulated reward iv advance, probably holding as poor an opinion of the word of a Turk as the Eflentli did of , the word of a Greek. The momentous day arrived when the third frigate was to be launched ; a larger crowd than ever was collected ; everybody was on the tiptoe of expectation. Demetrius the Diver, -who, during the past three months had had free access to the shipbuilders' yard, was on board. The dogshores were knocked away, the frigate slid down her ways, and took the I water in splendid style. The launch J w;is completely successful. The Effendi was in raptures, and believed more firmly in the power of the evil eye than I ever. A few days afterwards the fourth frigate was launched with equal success. "Marvellous man!" cried the envoy of the Sublime Porte ; " by what potent spells wert thou enabled to bewitch the first two frigates ?" " Simply by these," answered Demetrius the Diver, in the presence of a large company assembled at a banquet held in honor of the two successful launches. "Five years ago my father was one of the most extensive shipbuilders at Scio, and I was bred to the ( business from my youth. We were rich, we were prosperous, until we were i ruined by the Turkish atrocities at Scio. ! I arrived at Marseilles alone, beggared, |my father murdered, my wife and children in captivity. How I lived, you all know. While the two first j frigates were being built, I watched j every stage of their construction. I detected several points of detail which I was certain would prevent their being ! successfully launched. When, h w- ■ ever, I had entced into my contract with this noble Effendi, I conferred with the shipwrights; I pointed out to them what was wrong : I convinced them, by argument and illustration, what was necessary to be done. They did it. They altered, they improved. Behold, the ships are launched, and the evil eye had no more to do with the matter than the amber mouthpiece of his excellency the Efftndi's chiboque ! I have done.'' The Effendi, it is said, looked rather foolish at the conclusion of this explanation, and waddled away, muttering that all Greeks were thieves. Demetrius, however, kept his piastres, gave up diving for a livelihood, and, commencing business on his own account as a boat-builder, prospered exceedingly with Katinka his wife, and Andon, i Yorghi, and Eudocia, his children. As j to the two frigates, they were equipped J for sea in good time, and were, I bei lieve, knocked to pieces by the allied fleets at the battle of Navarino. At a. recent meeting of the Geographical Societj', it was announced that M. l)u Chaillu was about to undertake another excursion into the land of the gorillas. The traveller himself, who was present at the meeting, said he intended to make a settlement at the mouth of one of the rivers, to leave one or two white men there, and then go into the interior and explore. He hoped he should be able to reach 1000 miles inland, and study the country. There is no doubt that recruiting is carried on extensively in the south for the Fedei-al army. A correspondent in the Cork Examiner shows ihat several American gentlemen of military aspect had been going about that country offering young men a passage to America for 3d., with the certainty of continuous aud remunerative employment from the moment of their landing. It is affirmed that .several hundred young men have accepted these terms, . and gone to the United States.