Lissa

“I stood within the walls of Fort King George, and my fancy bridged the ninety years that lie between this and the days when George III was king - England a power in these seas - Lissa the Malta of the Adriatic. I thought how often English eyes had gazed as mine did on this scene, eyes weary of the sunny landscapes of the South, of Adria’s palms and vines; sick for the sight of English fields and hedgerows which maybe they would never see again! (p. 214).

It was but a few years ago that the island had only weekly communication with Triest; now four steamers call each week, and a driving-road, the first upon the island, is being made to Comisa, at present accessible only on mule-back or by water. […]. Wheeled vehicles there are none on Lissa. Mules and donkeys are much used for transport, cows are rarely seen, goats plentiful, though the law allows only one to a family on account of the harm they do to vegetation. Even in this far-off Adriatic isle “the old order chengeth, giving place to new”, and those of us who love the past witness it with somewhat selfish regret, for progress spells prosperity to the islanders. True, they know no poverty such as exists in great cities; their vineyards are productive, the wines of finest quality, the sea yields them a rich harvest, and they carry on that quiant industry peculiar to Dalmatia - the cultivation of wild chrysanthemums or marguerite daisies, which flourish exceedingly in this rocky soil, and are afterwards dried and converted into insect powder for export as well as home use (pp. 219-220)”.