I set out, with one servant, to visit Palestine, Syria, and the Red Sea. We crossed the Desert, from Alexandria to Damietta, along the seaside ; and in five days we performed the journey. An old Greek priest, with a venerable white beard descending to his breast, who was returning to his convent in Tripoly, of which he was the superior, joined us the first day. He was glad to have the protection of an Englishman in the Turkish costume, to save him from insult and imposition; he was a most excellent old man, and was so grateful for what little attention I showed him, that I could not prevent him from performing all the offices of a servant during our journey. At Rosetta, he took me to the Greek convent, where we were hospitably entertained for two days; and, in return, I franked him for the remainder of the journey.

In all the route, I know of nothing interesting but the ruins of Canopus, on the beach, about ten miles from Alexandria, and the scene of the memorable battle in which Abercrombie fell. Near the shore, where the sea had undermined the soil, I perceived a stratum of human bones, which

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proved to be those of the soldiers who fell on that day. On one skeleton I found the remains of a red coat, and some regimental buttons, which were all that remained, after thirty years, to tell that the poor victim of glory-was an English soldier.

In two hours more, we passed the Bay of Aboukir; it was smooth and tranquil; a spectator could hardly have imagined that the sound of war had ever disturbed its stillness; or, that the wreck of many a stately ship was covered by its waters, and that the remains of many a gallant fellow were strewed upon its sand. I picked up a cannon shot, near the shore, which soon convinced me, if I doubted for a moment, that the deadly silence of Aboukir had once been broken by the fury of Christian armies.

Nothing can be more bleak and desolate than the remainder of the route to Rosetta, and from that town to Damietta, where I arrived a few days ago. I have taken up my quarters in the house of the British Vice-consul, Signore Surur, a gentleman whose hospitality, and whose acquaintance with Arab literature, are well known to all travellers.

I purpose proceeding from Damietta, across the Desert, to Suez; and, after having visited the shores of the Red Sea, to pursue the course of the Israelites to the " Pisgah tops" and Palestine."

I am, my dear Sir,

Yours very truly,

R. R. M.

LETTER XXX.

TO DR. JAMES JOHNSON.

MY DEAR SIR,

Damietta, May 16, 1827.

I CAME to Damietta, with the purpose of remaining two or three days, and here have I been for three months. The Vice-consul, in whose house I reside, is a native of Syria, the head of his nation, a man of considerable erudition, and better versed in Arabic literature than, perhaps, any one in the country.

The society of such a person, you may conceive, was one great inducement to remain so long as I have done; but, perhaps, the principal cause of my detention, was my great reputation as a hakkim, amongst the Levantine merchants, who form, in Damietta, a very numerous and respectable body. The fame of an amputation of the shoulder, which I performed in Alexandria, had

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spread to Damietta, so that, on my arrival, I was hailed as a little demigod in physic. In no place was I ever treated with so much respect; and, indeed, in no part of the East did I ever receive so many marks of gratitude. One lady presented me with a splendid silk dress of her own embroidering; another with a Cachemire shawl; another with several beautiful handkerchiefs of her own working; an old merchant with a bale of tobacco, and another with a number of Syrian dresses and several pieces of Damascus silk.

You may see I was in high favour with these good people; and you may conceive to what a state surgical science is reduced in Damietta, when I inform you that the simple operation of tapping had not, in modern times, been performed there before I did it.

The Levantines keep their women immured like the Turks, and suffer them not to go abroad unveiled. I was, however, a privileged person; and had access to every harem. There are no women in Egypt to be compared with the Levantines for beauty; and, if the affections of a youthful hakkim were not wholly fixed on "the

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