fore necessary to refer its chief cause to the direction of the current, which is well known to be from N.E. to S.W. The low temperature observed at Algoa Bay, and some distance E. and W. of it, may, with equal propriety, be referred to the eastward deflection of a colder current from the southward; which deflection, as has been already observed, may satisfactorily account for the direction of the sand spits on the W. side of the bays. There seem to be some exceedingly anomalous windings in the currents at the Cape of Good Hope, as laid down in hydrographical works, which perplexed Sir James Clark Ross when he rounded that promontory in his Antarctic voyage, and he would have been glad to have examined them more fully, had his important mission farther S. permitted of the necessary delay. His remarks, in offering the observations made at that time, are highly encouraging to all engaged in the same field of physical research: they are not, however, the only encouragement, for your late President observed in the Anniversary Address for this year, at which I had the pleasure and the privilege of being present, "that it would prove worthy of this maritime nation to perform a survey of the currents of the ocean." When this work is undertaken, the temperature of the water, and its minute, in many instances, microscopic inhabitants, will occupy a share of attention scarcely second to any of the chief points under consideration. With such a plea, I need not apologise farther for troubling you with the observations I now have the pleasure to inclose to you. Some of the Fellows of the Society, interested in the researches alluded to, may indulge me with a glance at them, and I remain very faithfully

Dr. Norton Shaw.

Your much obliged servant,

P. C. SUTHERLAND.

XX.-Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Jerusalem, viâ Mount Sinai. By the late Dr. GEO. A. WALLIN, Professor of Arabic at the University of Helsingfors.

Translated and communicated by Dr. SHAW.

Read, July 12, 1854.

I HAVE now spent several days in Jerusalem, but having received a most disagreeable impression of the Holy City, caused by the rain, cold, and snow, as well as by the inhospitality of its morose inhabitants, I will postpone giving any decided judgment until sunshine and fine weather will allow me to walk about and survey the disorder of the present Zion. You must therefore in the meanwhile be satisfied with some account of occurrences in the Desert and on Mount Sinai. During my eight months' stay in Cairo, after my first

excursion to the Desert, low-spirited and longing for news from home, I had become so disgusted with that city, that I resolved to exchange it for any other place in the world. Your letter to Bakty, which was anything but consoling, hastened my departure, and I left the house I occupied and returned to my friendly Sheikh, who always receives me with open arms. Here I settled my affairs, and made the necessary purchases for my wallet, consisting of flour, rice, and butter, besides coffee and other articles. After which I addressed two Towara Beduins in the street, and informed them of my intention of proceeding to their native country and to the Convent of Sinai; pointed out to them the house of my Sheikh, and begged them to meet me there the following day to settle the contract for the journey if they were inclined to undertake to be my guides. They insisted on settling the conditions at once, and endeavoured to force me to do so by repeating the fatihe, which to my surprise they were able to recite pretty correctly. But I knew my men too well to appear anxious to enter into any hurried agreement, and left them with the assurance that I would not settle anything before the next day, and that I would not read the fatihe with them. They then wanted to persuade me to give them a piaster beforehand, but I was immoveable. The next morning they met at the Sheikh's and took tea with me: later in the day I had a luncheon, consisting of bread, butter, and molasses, served up to them; and after they had swallowed everything that was placed before them with true Beduiu greediness and presumption, we entered upon the settling of the conditions for the journey, &c. All such bargains are here carried on very slowly and with much higgling, and many words and thousands of oaths by the Prophet and his beard, &c. I made them abate one-third of the usual price, and after several more hours' talk, when both parties were agreed, and the departure was fixed for the 7th of December, we all repeated the fatihe, and I suffered myself to be persuaded, but not without much swearing by my beard and kissing of the same, to pay beforehand the whole amount for the hire of the camels. The next morning my guide, the Beduin, came again, accompanied by a stranger. Having enjoyed another meal of bread, molasses, and butter, we loaded the camel they had brought with my light baggage, and I put on my much-loved light Beduin costume and set off. By the bribe of a piaster I escaped the visitation at the gate, of which I was somewhat afraid, on account of the quantity of coffee I carried with me. We stopped once more at a stable in one of the suburbs of Cairo to purchase provender for the camel during the journey, the Desert being, as I was assured, so dried up, that not even the camel would be able to find his scanty food. Here my Beduin left me, having, as is usual with the people here, many little errands to perform at the last moment, and placing the halter in the hand of a Beduin lad of about ten years of age, with the order to lead me and the camel to his party, which encamped in the Desert, about one hour's march from the city. On my way I was tempted, by the newly ripened oranges, to stop and increase my scanty provisions for the journey with sixteen of this delicious fruit, all for one piaster. While I made this purchase the Feduin lad proceeded on his way (as usual), and when I lifted up my eyes from the fruit-basket, the beast and its leader had disappeared; they had diverged into a by-way, and I continuing my way straightforward, placed a greater distance between us. This vexed me a

little, for it took me several hours to find the Beduin party in their encampment in the Desert; but I consoled myself with the thought, that if the commencement of the journey was encumbered with difficulties, the continuation and the end might be so much the happier. When I had found the Beduins I sat down, in the heat of the afternoon, at a blazing fire and

* i. e. the first Chapter of the Koran.

prepared my coffee. During the preparation of this refreshing beverage I reproached my travelling companions, and especially my guide, for having caused me this long and fatiguing walk. But I was in the Desert, and there, nolens volens, one must learn to be patient. We had hardly finished our coffee before we began to load and started. My camel had got a double load of wheat, which my Beduin took home for his wife and child, besides its own provender for the journey; our caravan consisting of fifteen loaded camels. Although the whole route is perfectly secure, travellers generally go in large parties to assist each other to watch in the night; for here, as everywhere in the neighbourhood of cities, one fears thieves, who during the night will steal the luggage.

The road to Suez is now a lively highway, almost as much frequented by passengers as the streets of Cairo. At every fourth or fifth hour we came to an inn or stage for changing horses, and still oftener to a station belonging to the Pacha's telegraph line to Suez. We incessantly met caravans coming or returning, loaded with the most various articles, foot-passengers, or people riding on horses or donkeys. I do not like this country, for it is neither desert nor cultivated, as you scarcely see any of the scanty herbs of the Desert, and hardly find fuel for your coffee. I employed my time in practising my feet, which by my long sojourn at Cairo were unaccustomed to the sand and stones of the Desert. At first I was only able to walk one or two hours barefooted, but I soon hardened the soles of my feet, and after ten days was able to walk almost the whole day without shoes. We proceeded slowly, lay down to rest before sunset, and loaded long after sunrise; came several times in contact with Fellahs, the natural enemies of the Beduin, and who now, with their stronger and better conditioned camels, begin to compete with the Beduins as guides on this road. I had no object for my journey but to live in the fresh Desert and among its children, and as I found my present company satisfactory, I had no reason to accelerate our march.

There is a continual hatred and warfare between the Fellah and the Beduin; the latter is chivalrous, the former mean: both have their good and bad qualities, yet one finds more noble traits in the character of the Beduin than in that of the Fellah. The Beduin will rob you in the Desert, which he, according to his views, has a right to do, and will let you proceed on your way almost naked, with a little bread and water; the Fellah will steal a penny from your purse or a morsel from your wallet, and call you his master, and is your humble servant, and swear by Allah and his Prophet that he is an honest man.

We did not reach Suez before Friday, December 11, about noon. Here I was told that no one who came from Cairo was admitted to the Convent of Sinai without bringing a letter of introduction from the Prior of the Greek Convent of this city. I had taken no notice of this custom on my departure from Cairo, although I was well aware of it, and had only a note in Arabic from our Consular office, as I wished to avoid meeting with the Greek monks and their inquiries about my religion. Here in Suez, however, I was advised to take a letter from the correspondent of the Convent for the sake of security. I found out this man, a Masetic Christian, acquainted him with my business, and showed him my passport from our Vice-consul in Cairo. On learning from this that I was a Russian subject, he, and five or six other Copts who were present, began to inquire about Russia and its condition; whether there were cities as great as Cairo, and soldiers as well disciplined as those belonging to the Pacha? I answered, that in Russia there were no cities so poor and dilapidated as Cairo, that the Emperor's stable was far more splendid than the palace of the Pacha, and his simplest soldier superior to an Egyptian general. They subsequently mentioned how powerful Russian protection is in the East, and how the Turks and their Sultan fear their powerful neigh

bour. Meanwhile I had been offered a cup of coffee and a pipe, and after the man had dictated to a bystanding clerk a letter in my behalf addressed to the directors of the Convent of Sinai, he began to put to me all sorts of questions about Islam, to which he took me to belong. Not having found me the sullen, proud, Turkish Mussulman, he thought he might allow himself some of these subtle remarks which the Copts occasionally make to the more liberal adherents of severe and gloomy Islam, as to their faith, for instance; that to make a perfect prayer it is requisite to enjoy good health, and to be in possession of all one's limbs; that a man who has lost an arm or a leg cannot make an impressive prayer. He then quoted several verses from the Koran in support of his assertion. I could hardly refrain from laughing at his sophistical remarks, and was glad to hear the bystanders begin to ask me about the Russian words of command for the military exercise. I told them what I knew of this; the rest I supplied with the first words that came to mind of my mother tongue. This examination had lasted for more than half an hour, when I thanked them and took my leave with many wishes for a successful journey. My Beduin had meanwhile made several purchases, and now came to accelerate our departure. I went with him to the only marketplace to be found here, and after having bought some meat for our supper and a few dates for a refreshment in the Desert, we repaired to our baggage and companions, whom we had left to the care of some Beduins encamped outside the city. The numerous party with which we had come hither, and which now had unloaded their large packages, were to return the following day to Cairo with a cargo of coffee. Only one young Beduin lad, with two camels almost overloaded with heavy sacks of wheat for his family, was to follow us. My Beduin possessed two camels, that on which I rode, and a young camel of two years, which we had loaded but slightly. Our beasts were thus four, all nearly laden beyond their strength, and besides so severely tried by hunger, that hardly anything was to be seen of their humps. We set out a few hours before sunset, and having passed round the extremity of the Bay of Suez, encamped in a snug valley in the Desert, where we found abundant fuel for our coffee and meat. Meat is here generally the food the most relished, and whenever it is eaten, it is considered a feast; so it was to my Beduin, who assured me that he had not tasted meat for two months, although he had been in Cairo during the slaughter month (Zu 'l Hijjeh). He was inexhaustible in praise of my liberality while he, after having finished the meat, sat gnawing the bones, which he and our third companion cleared so perfectly, that I doubt much whether a dog would have found anything on them.

The following day, the 12th of December, the journey through the Desert began in reality. Hitherto we had had a sufficient supply of our baked bread from Cairo, and the road had resembled a street more than a desert. We had even till now had a store of the delicious water of the Nile; but before us were only the Wells of Moses with the bitter salt water of the Desert. Yet in this season one does not suffer much from thirst, and I hardly remember during the whole journey having to open my water bag except for the purpose of making coffee and dinner, for which reason I was called “sabbār,” i, e. the patient, and reckoned one of them.

Early the next morning we rose and began to prepare our coffee and our breakfast. As it is everywhere in the Desert a repetition of the same actions, with very little variation, I will for once invite you to a breakfast and a supper in a small Beduin party. But as it is to take place here, I will, as in the East, begin the day by sunset, and not by sunrise.

Imagine yourself wandering about the whole day in the Desert, sometimes riding on a jolting camel, sometimes walking under a burning sun, such as we have in our hottest summer months in Finland, without any other refresh

ment than now and then a pinch of snuff and a lively chat with your Beduin party; before your eyes a landscape dried up by the sun, with a few withered herbs or perhaps the blue line of the Red Sea in the distance; tired as you are, you wait with impatience for the setting of the sun, and the lower he sinks the more frequently you will repeat the question to your Beduin party, "Are we not soon to take up our night quarters?" The Beduin, who is easily satisfied when his camel does not suffer from hunger and thirst, rarely refuses to conform to your wishes, and will stop in any valley where he can find, if ever so sparingly, fodder for his beloved animal, and wood for cooking his own supper. The place is now chosen, and the Beduin takes hold of the halter of his beast, which the whole day has been allowed to go about freely, only now and then reminded by the stick to accelerate his slow march, and leads it to the place which he finds suitable, generally in the shade of some bushes. Now he cries to the camel, " Ikh, ikh ;" and if it is stubborn, he slaps it on the neck with his hand or stick to make it kneel down. The prudent animal often stands for a long time scraping and tramping to smooth the place in order not to hurt itself when it falls down with its heavy load. Meanwhile it utters a low moaning sound. If it is unruly, and will not lie down on the place its master has chosen, he takes it by the tail and directs it in this manner at will. At last it falls down carefully on its fore-legs, and after that it bends its hindlegs as cautiously, resting its large body on these and on a great thick gristly hump under the belly, between the fore-legs. The load is quickly removed and the animal is allowed to get up, and after having given itself a shake it is left at liberty to seek its food in the Desert on herbs and bushes. Hardly has the Beduin let go his beast, and left it to itself, before he repairs to the nearest shrubs to seek fuel. He soon brings back a great bundle of all kinds of dry roots and stems of bushes, or a load of camel-dung, of which there is abundance almost everywhere in the Desert. He strikes fire with his steel and blows from his tinder (generally prepared of herbs from the Desert) tire into the broken camel-dung, and within a minute you have a blazing fire. Whether the evening be cold or hot, the Beduin always warms himself by the fire, first his hands and then his feet, which he sticks into the middle of the flame, and often employs as firetongs to put the firebrands in place. After this he lifts up his long dress and steps across the fire, letting the flame blaze up on his stomach and back. This refreshes him, and he goes again in search of more wood, sufficient for the evening and following morning. Meanwhile I have set about roasting our coffee and grinding it between two stones, and generally I have it ready by the time my companions bring the last load of fuel. A good cup of coffee is the most delicious beverage in the Desert, even without sugar, as it is mostly taken here. I have rarely drunk tea, although I always have it with me on my travels. Besides, the water one gets in the Desert is seldom fit for tea, but is very good for making coffee. When the coffee is taken, one begins to think of the supper. On my former travels I never had anything to do with cooking, but left it to my attendants; but on this journey I every evening cooked our rice with pepper and onions, and a little flour. This dish has invariably been my supper on the whole journey. I always take my meals in company with my guides, never alone, and never forget to say to all present "bismilla," i. e. in the name of Allah. This is the custom of the Beduin, and this conduct put me in great favour with them : they called me Arab and Beduin, and made a great distinction between me and the hated inhabitant of cities. Meanwhile we have made use of our hands (not fingers) to eat our rice, and while I, with the exclamation "Alhamdo lillah," i. e." Allah be praised," wash my hands, the Beduin takes up our little saucepan, and in the true sense of the word licks it clean. During these transactions the Beduin has been obliged to keep his eye on his beast, because it walks among the bushes. It often happens that a camel runs away from