“An immense number of families from Attica, from Psara, and from other
Islands, had taken refuge in Ægina, and there was the most concentrated
suffering. I established a main depot there, and commenced a systematic
distribution of the provisions and clothing. As the Greeks were all
idle, I concluded it was not best to give alms except to the feeble;
but I commenced a public work on which men, women, and children could
be occupied. The harbor of Ægina was not a natural one, but the work of
the old Greeks. The long walls projecting into the sea for breakwaters
were in pretty good condition, but the land side of the harbor was
nearly ruined from being filled up with débris and washings from the
town.
“I got some men who had a little ‘gumption’ and built a coffer-dam
across the inner side of the harbor. Then we bailed out the water,
and, digging down to get a foundation, laid a solid wall, which made
a beautiful and substantial quay, which stands to this day, and is
called the American Molos or Mole. In this work as many as five hundred
people, men, women, and children, ordinarily worked; on some days as
many as seven hundred, I think.”...
Encouraged by the success of his mole, Dr. Howe determined upon a more
ambitious venture.--“I applied to the government, and obtained a large
tract of land upon the Isthmus of Corinth, where I founded a colony
of exiles. We put up cottages, procured seed, cattle, and tools, and
the foundations of a flourishing village were laid. Capo d’Istria had
encouraged me in the plan of the colony, and made some promises of
help. The government granted ten thousand ‘stremmata’ of land to be
free from taxes for five years; but they could not give much practical
help. I was obliged to do everything, and had only the supplies sent
out by the American committees to aid me. The colonists, however,
coöperated, and everything went on finely. We got cattle and tools,
ploughed and prepared the earth, got up a school-house and a church.
“Everything went on finely, and we extended our domain over to the
neighboring port of Cenchraea, where we had cultivated ground and a
harbor. This was perhaps the happiest part of my life. I was alone
among my colonists, who were all Greeks. They knew I wanted to help
them, and they let me have my own way. I had one civilized companion
for awhile, David Urquhart, the eccentric Englishman, afterward M. P.
and pamphleteer. I had to journey much to and from Corinth, Napoli,
etc., always on horseback, or in boat, and often by night. It was
a time and place where law was not; and sometimes we had to defend
ourselves against armed and desperate stragglers from the bands of
soldiers now breaking up. We had many ‘scrimmages,’ and I had several
narrow escapes with life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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