remained, with all their luggage, and several bales of merchandize around them, leaving only a small space vacant in the middle, where they might dress their food, sit, and sleep. The Greek sailors, therefore, who were very unskilful, were perplexed by these encumbrances, and could not go about to manage the vessel, without trampling upon the goods of the pas sengers, which produced endless disputes. What a contrast did William find between the noise, and confusion, and want of skill around him, and the regularity, discipline, and sea, manship, aboard a British ship! Twenty times in the course of an hour, whilst he walked the deck, was he tempted to take the helm in his own hand, and direct the ship's course; and frequently did he involuntarily cry out to them, when he saw their awkward manœuvres, forgetting that they could not understand a word of his nautical language, nor of the reproaches which their unskilfulness produced. On one occasion, when the wind was high, and the pilot persisted in keeping close to shore, though the jutting rocks, and banks of coral, exposed them to the imminent danger of being dashed to pieces, Captain Blisset and William did take the rudder out of his hand, and turned the vessel's head to the middle of the gulf, where there was deep water. It was, indeed, to this circumstance, that the whole party owed their safety, for, soon after, it blew a

storm, which must have driven them ashore, if they had not providentially taken sea-room.

In times of danger, how naturally does su perior talent command obedience, and respect, from those, who, perhaps on other occasions, would be most unwilling to acknowledge their own inferiority. At first, every one, crew and passengers were for taking to their boats, and rowing ashore, but Captain Blisset having convinced the former, through means of an old seaman, who had formerly served in an English ship, and understood the language, that their best hope of safety was in the vessel, soon prevented that measure, by cutting away the cords of the boats, and allowing them to drift away. It is true they drew their sabres, and threatened 10 cut him in pieces, but they soon saw, from the determined air of our travellers, backed as they were by the crew, that any violence would not be likely to pass unpunished. In a few minutes every thing was restored to order; Captain Blisset and his faithful William were Every where; the top masts struck; the sails close reefed; the lumber, which crowded the deck, and prevented the working of the ship, thrown overboard, the passengers placed out of ue way, in the nold; and, the ship laid so

ugly to the wind, that all apprehension vanished, and, though the loss of their property aused some to murmur, after the storm was over, their preservation, from shipwreck, was

too manifest not to silence every expression of discontent.

Suez, where the vessel arrived in two days after the storm, was formerly remarkable for being the center of the trade, which, before the discovery of the passage to India, by the Cape of Good Hope, was carried on between Europe and the East. It is still, however, a place of considerable consequence, from being the rendezvous of the numerous pilgrims who, from every part of the Turkish dominious, repair to Mecca. Though a maritime place, it is so situated, that vessels cannot approach nearer than two miles and a half from the town; lighters, however, and small Arab boats, called dows, pass freely from this anchoring place to the city. The surrounding country is one bed of rock, slightly covered with sand. Trees, gardens and meadows are, therefore, entirely unknown; and all provisions must be brought from Cairo, in Africa, which lies on the Nile, almost due west, about seventy miles from it. There is also an entire deficiency of water, unless of a noxious description; it is clear, ind ed to the eyes, but almost disgusting to the smell and taste, so that it produced, both in Captain Blisset and William, the most unpleasant effects. The city contains about five hundred houses, which are mostly built of stone; but many of them were dismantled as

the time the French troops invaded the country in 1800, and have not since been rebuilt.

It was with the deepest interest, that Captain Blisset found himself in the immediate neigh bourhood of places which are, by name at least, familiar to every reader of the Holy Bible. On the west of that narrow isthmus, which lies between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and divides Asia from Africa, lay the land of Egypt, where Jacob and his twelve sons had received permission to reside, from Pharoah, king of the country; within seventy-two miles lay the river Nile, on the banks of which Moses had been laid down by his mother, when the king's daughter had found him; and he had sailed up, that celebrated sea, whose waters divided to let the children of Israel pass, but overwhelmed the Egyptian forces that were pursuing them; one hundred and fifty miles to the south east lay Mount Sinai, that sacred spot, where the Almighty, from amidst thundering and light. ning, delivered to his servant Moses the ten commandments, which we learn amongst our earliest lessons, and where, also, the same Jehovah had spoken to Elijah; to the east lay the desert, through which the disobedient and murmuring Israelites had wandered for forty years conducted during the day, by a pillar of cloud, and, by night, by a pillar of fire to give

them light; and on the north stretched that land of promise which is consecrated to every Christian, as the scene of our blessed Redeemer's death and sufferings.

1

To visit this land of Promise was now the great desire of Captain Blisset, and we may suppose that he was not long in making the necessary arrangements for his journey. Hav ing made an excursion from thence westward to Grand Cairo, he obtained, through the English Consul there, an introduction to the Tur. kish Governor, and soon received from him permission to join the couriers whom he dis patches monthly from Egypt to Constantinople with dispatches for the Grand Signior. "You will be obliged," said he to him, "to use your own camels and horses, but my escort shall answer for your safety, and their heads shall not be long upon their shoulders if a hair of your head is plucked against your will."

With this object accomplished, Captain Blisset returned to Suez, and made such diligent exertion in having the necessary accommoda. tion for the journey, that he was completely ready for starting when the Turkish courier called on him. The intelligence also, that "the wealthy Englishman" was about to travel through the Holy Land, had spread so widely, that many persons according to the custom of that