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LETTER LIV.

DEPARTURE FROM THE MONASTERY OF ST. CATHERINE BRUTALITY OF THE JANISSARY to a poor BEDOUIN-CAMEL-DRIVERS-HURRICANEREMARKABLE ECHO-INDISPOSITION-THE RED SEA-Loss OF A CRUCIPIX- - PASSAGE ACROSS THE ARM OF THE SEA OPPOSITE TO SUEZMAHOMETAN PILGRIMS GOING TO MECCA — OPTICAL PHENOMENON CALLED MIRAGE-ARRIVAL AT CAIRO-DEPARTURE OF THE CARAVAN FOR MECCA-THE CAMEL.

Cairo, March 30, 1833.

I left the monastery of the Transfiguration very early in the morning of the 5th of March, and not without regret. Father John of Cephalonia, and Father Neophyte of Candia, from whom I had already received so many marks of kindness, insisted on doing me the honour to accompany me to the distance of a league from the convent.

No sooner had I loosed the rope by which I was let down, than I was surrounded by Bedouins begging alms. To get rid of the most importunate of them, Mahomet, my janissary, gave him a thump on the head. I warmly reproved him for it, and ordered him, by way of reparation, to carry himself a few pieces of money, in my name, to the person whom he had struck: he hesitated for a moment, but finally obeyed.

The same camel-drivers who had brought me were there, and eagerly offered their services to take me back. They had become attached to me during the former journey, and would have been much vexed if others who also applied to me had been chosen in their stead. I gave them the preference the more willingly, because, setting aside the annoyance occasioned at first by their

everlasting clack-a fault which, as I have told you, one finds in all the Arabs-I had every reason to be satisfied with their conduct. They persuaded me to take for the return another and a longer route, but, according to them, a better than that by which we had come to Mount Sinai. I soon began to think that I should not have so much cause to congratulate myself upon the change as they pretended: rocks, stones, sand, a few camels wandering about in quest of a scanty subsistence - this was all that we saw during the first days.

The 6th was a very harassing day. We proceeded ten leagues directly in the teeth of a most furious wind. I had the greatest difficulty to keep my seat on my dromedary, and my hat was torn to tatters. Mahomet, notwithstanding his skill, had like to have been dismounted, and for a time I thought that we should not be able to resist the violence of the hurricane. It was still worse in the evening, when I attempted to pitch my tent: ten times it was blown away, and carried to the distance of forty or fifty paces; nor did I succeed in fixing it at last till I retired under the shelter of a rock, at some distance from the place chosen by my people on account of the bushes. To increase our discomfort, it was impossible either for them or me to make a fire. It was not till the night was far advanced that the gale abated.

Next morning, on awaking, great was my surprise when, having called my Bedouins, I heard an echo-the very finest, perhaps, that ever struck my ear-repeat my words most distinctly. It gave me the greater pleasure, inasmuch as the effect was wholly unexpected, and,

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instead of calling my men a second time, I began to cry in the joyousness of my heart: "Jesus! Mary! Joseph !" And the echo, repeating the slightest inflexion of my voice, responded, "Jesus! Mary! Joseph!"

Transported with delight to hear a Mussulman rock keep chorus, and wishing to prolong so exquisite a pleasure, I commenced the Salve Regina at the top of my voice, and sang it from beginning to end; the echo singing along with me, and sending my words afar over the desert, with admirable fidelity. My Bedouins listened in silent astonishment; they seemed to share my ecstacy, and, that they might not interrupt it, instead of coming to me, they waited patiently until I rejoined them.

On the 9th, I felt much more fatigued than usual. I was afraid that I should not be able to proceed, but be obliged to halt before the accustomed hour. It was only with great exertion that I reached the place where we were to pass the night. My people lost no time in preparing my tent: I had a paroxysm of fever, with palpitation of the heart. Apprehensive lest I should be incapable of continuing my journey, my mind was filled with anxiety: I sorrowfully asked myself what would become of me, if I were to grow worse, if I were to be laid up, far from all assistance, left alone to the mercy of a few Arabs, amidst a desert. Then remembering me of our Father who is in heaven, I returned to better thoughts; I adored his holy will, I committed myself with confidence to his hands, and he granted me the grace to comprehend that, for a monk whom his vows have for ever separated from the world, there is not less happiness, and there may be more glory, in dying on pilgrimage upon the sand of a desert

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than in yielding up his soul upon straw and ashes, amidst the attentions and the prayers of his surrounding brethren. Night brought some rest: at dawn the fever had ceased; I found my strength recruited, and gave orders for our departure. In the afternoon, at a moment when, engrossed by the recollections of the preceding day, I was thinking of any thing but what was before me, I perceived the Red Sea, which I supposed to be yet at a great distance. To my heart this sight was like dew to the dry and parched soil: it refreshed, it soothed it; my pains were lightened, and the day's journey was performed with much less difficulty than I had expected.

Very early on the following morning, I took two of my Bedouins, and, armed to the teeth, I set out with them, impatient to reach the sea-shore that same day. I had directed Mahomet, who was to come after me with the camels, to wait for me at the Springs of Moses, where I intended to rejoin him, and to pass the night. The sand fatigued our beasts exceedingly; in some places they sank up to the middle of the leg: we nevertheless arrived betimes at the shore. I immediately alighted, and hastened to pick up the finest shells. At the moment of starting again, I missed the crucifix which I constantly carried about me. Had I left it behind, in the morning, when packing up my baggage?- had I dropped it by the way? had it been stolen ? I knew not what to think. I could not help feeling this loss very severely: it affected me to such a degree as to make me forget every thing else. For many years it was at the foot of this crucifix that I poured forth all my troubles; it was my support in illness, my dearest companion in travel, my

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comfort, my happiness. always recovered it; and the last time, having left it at the Holy Sepulchre, it had been sent after me to Jaffa. On the present occasion, I had the less hope of seeing it again, as I might have dropped it in the sands, and it might, perhaps, have already fallen into the hands of some Arab. I lost no time in rejoining the Bedouins of my caravan. I called them together around me, and informed them of the loss that I had sustained; adding, that my crucifix was not of gold, as some might have imagined; that, not supposing any of them capable of stealing it, I should send in search of it, but that, if it were not found, I should know what measure I had to take. After this address, I despatched the one in whom I had most confidence, with orders to follow the track which we had taken, to go back to the spot where my tent had been pitched, and thence to proceed to Suez, where I would wait for him. He immediately set out, taking with him water and provisions for two days.

I had frequently lost, but

:

Scarcely was he gone before a young negro who travelled with us came and earnestly solicited permission to accompany him, and to assist him in the search. This application appeared extraordinary less than that would have sufficed to awaken my suspicions. I might, in my turn, have asked his permission to examine his pockets; but I deemed it more Christian-like to give him his share of the provisions, and to let him go: from that moment, however, I had no doubt that I should recover my crucifix.

We passed the night at the Springs of Moses, where we found, as on our former visit, a great number of