passengers had retreated to the shelter of their cabins, and we two were left on the deck alone. Our solitude

was very sweet.

We had, moreover, a never-failing fund of information and amusement in watching the features and characteristics of the various passengers. Perhaps there is no study which is at once so fascinating, and yet so instructive, as the study of character. I am sure we found it so here. Truly the society on board was of a heterogeneous description. First and foremost, there were a number of young cadets fresh from Addiscombe and Haileybury-just raised to the privileges and society of men-and very conspicuous, indeed, as may be supposed, in more ways than one. Then there were merchants of all sortscoffee planters, indigo planters, opium planters-some going out to investigate the affairs of houses ruined by the late crash in the mercantile world, some to build up a third fortune, after having made and lost two of all ages, ranks, and descriptions, sorts and sizes. There was a major-general, who paid particular attention to the curries, and the sherry; and his wife, who had a protegé under her wing, and who patronized the military cadets. There was a Calcutta milliner, who had been to London for the fashions, and was returning to retail them among the Indian ladies. She would probably charge, in her "small accounts," for the fatigues and sea-sickness of her long journey. I observed, moreover, that the fine ladies rather kept aloof from her. She would, no doubt, charge extra for that as well. There was one very pleasing young man, whom I met the last evening before we made the African shore, and with whom I had some interesting conversation. We never met before, and may never meet again; but we talked long enough to find that we had common hopes and common joys; and we shall be able, if we are permitted to meet, to give each other joyful recognition in another land beyond the dark river, on happier and sunnier shores.

Lastly, there were travellers like

ourselves, "who were only leaving Europe, as men leave a crowded room, to breathe awhile freely in the open East." Our bourne was the Holy Sepulchre.

To a meditative mind there is much that interests in the simple contemplation of ocean. Nowhere is the infinity of Deity more sensibly felt than in the boundless expanse of sea and sky. As far as the human intellect can grasp the infinite, it grasps it here.

And then what thoughts of old classic, aye, and sacred days roll over the memory, as we stand at the vessel's side, and look over musingly into the blue waters. All the history of the past is centred in the shores of the "Mare Internum." Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Carthage, the remote shores of Gaul, and the pillars of Hercules, are all washed by the Mediterranean Sea. As Plato observes in his Phædo: "We who inhabit the region extending from Phasis to the Pillars of Hercules, occupy only a small portion of the earth, where we have settled ourselves round the inner sea like ants or frogs round a swamp." Civilization, commerce, learning, poetry, history, and philosophy, painting and sculpture, political science, and military warfare, were at first elaborated here, and here brought to their highest glory. The world has never seen the like of Phidias, nor has father ever had a mightier son in matters of worldly fame than Philip of Macedon. Who can burn with the fire of Demosthenic eloquence, or worthily succeed Plato in the groves of the Academe? What writers now are like the Greeks? Pope is but a poor substitute for Aristophanes, and Hume ill supplies the place of Thucydides. What empire now extends as did the Roman ? Only England can outvie Tyre-only Paris has the exquisite and polished refinement which graced every gentleman of ancient Athens.

And then-most blessed thought of all-in that quiet mountain land, in the extreme west of that famous sea, where there dwelt a tribe of men different in race, manners, and language from all the world beside, was

the worship of the true God to be found. It was there, when the fulness of the time was come, that the Mosaic dispensation was developed into the Christian covenant, by the personal ministry of the Son of God. From the quiet villages of Galilee went forth that mighty doctrine which was to take such deep root in men's hearts and intellects, that soon, like a grain of mustard seed, it grew and overshadowed the land. From Joppa, from Cæsarea, from Antioch, and from Tyre, went forth the apostolic messengers to spread abroad in distant lands the glad tidings of a new and free salvation.

Many men and many ships have crossed and ploughed its surface since the Argonautic expedition took Jason and his crew through the "blue symplegades" into the inhospitable waters of the Euxine. What names, and heroes crowd across the mind! Homer and the siege of Troy-Hiram and Solomon-Xerxes and Salamis -Alexander the Great and the temple of Jupiter Ammon-Hannibal and his fierce Carthaginians - Regulus Regulus going back to die, the most intrepid patriot the world ever saw the Scipios-Marius and Sylla-Cæsar and Pompey. Last, and not least, St. Paul, who was tossed about on its capricious and stormy waters, and suffered shipwreck off the Bank of Malta.

All these classical associations serve very pleasantly to relieve the tedium of monotonous hours, and call back the memory to the day when we learnt with such reluctance, and threw aside with such glee, the beautiful mixture of fable and truth, which Herodotus and Livy call history: fable and truth which enrich and cultivate the mind, and which continually come forth from the treasure-house of memory to illustrate modern observation, and enlighten recorded modern ignorance. History is the Experience of the Past.

Our passage lasted five days. For the two or three first days we had rough, heavy weather, and most of the passengers kept down in their berths; but, for the last two days, an Eastern sun broke out with heat and brilliancy, and we could hardly believe

that, on the 5th of November, when in England we sit alone by our firesides, and look out on the raw, dismal gloom of the day outside, we were basking, aye, and scorching, in the glare of a burning sun.

Men began to brighten up at the thoughts of land once more. Incessant and exact enquiries were made by almost every passenger that could articulate, of every officer of the ship, from the reserved and quiet Captain S, to the cook's boy who washed the dishes. "How far are we from Alexandria?" asked one; unfortunately there were no milestones, and the observations were only made once a day at noon. "When shall we be there?" asked another; unhappily it was not in the power of the most sagacious seaman to presage what might happen to delay our passage, whether in the way of contrary winds, heavy seas, or deranged machinery. But they bore our cross-questioning with remarkable good temper, and illustrated a kitchen proverb which says something about eels.

The last morning on board broke gloriously. Every appearance of weather had gone: the sun was bright, the sky blue, and the water wonderfully smooth, sparkling and quivering with what Eschylus calls the countless smile of billows, and which Keble beautifully renders "the many twinkling smile of ocean;" and we shot away through the quiet sea at ten knots an hour. The Mediterranean seemed anxious to give us a parting that might leave on our minds a favourable impression of her proverbial calmness. But I am sorry that my prose does not tally with the old poetry of Greece. We sailed through the whole breadth and length of the sea from Genoa to Alexandria, and from Beyrout to Gibraltar, and had abundant experience of the old truth, that beauty and caprice often go hand in hand: and that the countenance, which at one moment is beaming with serene and tranquil beauty, may, the next, be angry and ruffled with the convulsions of stormy passion.

When we steamed through the

much-calumniated Bay of Biscay, on our homeward voyage, the sea was like a mill-pond, but we were hardly ever twenty-four hours together, in the Mediterranean, without experiencing the sudden squalls, and the chopping seas, for which the experience of more sober moderns now make it famous. On the morning of the 14th, all the world was on deck : parasols were unfurled: the awning was put up to protect the gentlemen also from uncomfortable baking: the band played vigorously, (for soon after they were going to bring their list round for voluntary donations): and a pleasing excitement prevailed everywhere. The captain was soon observed to look for his glass, and go to the bow of the vessel to take what sailors call a sight. Soon he came back with a gratified expression of countenance, and in his quiet way, as if he were only remarking_that it was very hot, observed to Lord M- who was standing close by, "We shall be in by three-Pompey's Pillar is in sight." The excitement of course was tremendous-every one rushed to the bows-a great many were quite sure that they saw it very distinctly, though the minute before it was only just discernible by the aid of a powerful glass; and the servants of the ship began to increase the bustle by bringing up all the multitudinous luggage of the Indian passengers on deck, ready for immediate transference to the backs of unfortunate camels. One small boy, immediately after he heard the captain's intelligence, shot headlong down the cabin stairs, and, in a few minutes, emerged again, washed, brushed, and smiling, with his carpet-bag in one hand, and umbrella in the other, ready for immediate disembarkation. He had only four hours to wait, poor lad.

Another passenger-an old constitutional grumbler-murmured out his hope that the Company would not be so shabby as to send us on shore without giving us dinner. How different are the wants and associations which the same circumstances suggest to different minds. But soon Alex

andria was in sight. The land of

Egypt is so low, that the buildings are visible before the shore; and the thin needle of the Pillar was very long discernible before we could at all make out the low faint outline of the coast. But as we were rapidly nearing, and as every object came into closer view, the horn sounded, and down we went to eat. Of course this was necessary. It was the first thing we had done on embarking, and the last before disembarking. The custom is truly British.

own

It was a sort of scrap luncheon; all the odd bits that were left being put on the table, that we might take our last farewell of English cookery. It was very long before we tasted beef again, not, I think, until we reached Jerusalem, and then at Mr. Veitch's table. There was then no beef in Egypt, owing to a murrain, which a few years ago almost made the breed of oxen extinct. A parting toast was given to the captain and officers. Major-General W- proposed the toast, (the hero of Mooltan and the Punjaub,) and we, who were down in the lower saloon, and who had not the remotest conception of what was being said above, had our speechifying, toasting, and returning thanks, by ourselves. Now and then the boisterous cheering of our young cadets came a little mal-a-propos, and interfered with the eloquence of the Upper House; but it did not signify much. When we came on deck again, we were rapidly nearing Alexandria. On the extreme left was the Pasha's army of windmills, and on the shore we observed a string of scraggy-necked camels. Even they were welcome then. The Pasha's harem, the old and new harbours, the fortifications, and the buildings of the various European consular establishments (discernible by the flag which floated languidly from the summit of each,) were now close at hand. Soon our engines stopped. The entrance into the harbour is full of dangerous shoals, and it was advisable to wait for a pilot. By and by we observed a little sailing boat coming rapidly towards us, dancing lightly on the waves. It contained the pilots. They jumped actively on

board, and took their places on the captain's gallery. How we feasted our eyes with their oriental customs. We felt at last that we were in the land of turbans and scimiters-of flowing robes and scarlet slippers. They each brought their pipe with them as necessary to an oriental, as an umbrella to us in our rainy climate here; and by vivid gesticulations-a few broken words of English

a little Arabic-and a considerable degree of intelligence on the part of the ship's officers, did their work of piloting remarkably well. We did not go straight into harbour, but were taken circuitously by a deeper channel than was to be found in the straighter course. As we entered the mouth of the harbour, we were astonished to find ourselves surrounded by a magnificent fleet of men-of-war, of all shapes and sizes. I believe they are better to look at than to sail in; and a very shrewd American afterwards told me, that some were rotted into touchwood. However this may be, their appearance at least was imposing. The blood-red banner of the crescent and the cross floated proudly from every mast-head, and the admiral's ship, as the same American major informed me, was a model of naval architecture outwardly, however unserviceable she might be for active warfare. There are several modern warehouses round the sides of the harbour, a custom house, and, if my memory is correct, some barracks. Anyhow, there is sufficient to make a good show, and to give the traveller, on first entering Egypt, a favourable impression of the Pasha's power. Poor old man, he is now degraded into imbecility, and some of these proud vessels, with which he dared to beard his old

master at Constantinople, his son Abbas has been compelled to send, within the last few months, for the service of the Porte. Egypt is now but in name, an independent dependency. The vessel anchored about three o'clock, and then the melée began. We had carefully collected our baggage by itself-(it would have been awkward if all our travelling stores, which we had provided for the Nile, had gone on to Calcutta with the major-general,)—and Lord M.'s servant very kindly offered to take charge of it, with his master's numerous boxes. Everything was in admirable confusion on board just as we left. Caliban himself could not have contrived it better. On one side the admiralty agent was superintending the up-hauling of the mails from the hold, for immediate transmission to Suez. Some were in wooden, others in iron boxes carefully soldered up, and their place of destination, such as Bombay, Aden, Galle, Hong Kong, legibly painted on them. On the other side, frightened children were crying for their nurses-ladies were looking for their maids and reticules gentlemen anxiously eyeing the baggage-and the stewards busy in emptying the decanters, and clearing off the provision that was left. In the midst of this hubbub we left the Indus, not a little thankful to the fatherly Providence which had protected us from so many dangers known and unknown, and had brought us safe from our quiet English home to the shores of the distant East; and embarking in a little boat, which came alongside, soon shot to land. The indescribable scene that met us here must be reserved for the pages of a future chapter.