been two or three miles above. Capt. M. took his gun in search of the rabbits, which find a safer resting place among the thyme and other fragrant herbs, on the banks, since the Greeks have been deprived of their arms. Our Scotch friend, John, who accompanied us, took satisfaction for not being permitted to accompany Lord Byron when he swam across the strait, by insinuating that there was no one to tell how much assistance he received from his friends in the boat. The bank is perhaps two hundred feet above the water, and the country of the same elevation, yet slightly undulating, and as far as the eye could reach, almost wholly uncultivated.

After walking some distance into the interior, we followed the boatmen down to the village of Maita, on a bay of the same name, not far above the European castle. The inhabitants, about two thousand in number, are nearly all Greeks. They have suffered greatly from their Turkish masters, during the present revolution. At one time early in the war, when the lawless soldiers were passing the strait, every individual fled, and their village was set on fire. The blind man who acts as interpreter and agent for those who stop here for traffic, pointed out the scar of a frightful wound on the head of his son, which he had received from a Turkish scimeter. We gave the little fellow a book, and his father gladly accepted a package of tracts, to sell for his own benefit. A young priest from a neighboring monastery, returned the tracts which we had handed him, and began to dissuade the people from receiving any. The interpreter with more good sense, having listened to extracts from several, loudly proclaimed their excellence, and call

ed the priest an ignorant fellow.

Upon this there arose a boyish scuffle between them, the latter striving to get back those which he had given up. Other Greeks, whom we met on our walk in the fields, had also declined our tracts, doubtless from very natural, and perhaps justifiable apprehensions of their political character. We had many applications afterwards, however, from the villagers, and just as we were leaving, a respectable Greek from the country, came to our boat, and earnestly begged a stock for his neighborhood. We promised to send him a supply through the interpreter.

On the Sabbath, Capt. March assembled his men for public worship in the cabin. The exercises were scarcely concluded, when the south wind again sprung up, and before the crews of other vessels, which were sauntering about the shore, could be mustered, we were entering the Sea of Marmora. Thus, though Capt. M. had declined beginning his voyage from Smyrna on, the Sabbath, we passed the straits sooner than several vessels which sailed nearly a week before us. Capt. March is only temporarily engaged in the merchant service, as he holds the commission of lieutenant in the British navy. In him and other English and American officers with whom I have met, it is delightful to find evidence that active and consistent piety are not necessarily confined to the fixed sanctuary and to the land. Every evening, when the weather permits, it is his custom to read the scriptures and pray with his crew. He also constantly carries a stock of bibles, in different languages, for circulating in the several ports which he visits. Happy will be the day when every vessel shall be thus freighted with the

bread of life. I should not forget to add, that Capt. March very generously declines receiving any thing for passage, excepting the expenses of board in justice to his owners.

As we passed the hill of Xerxes, the only person to be seen on it, was a shepherd keeping watch over his flock. The monarch and the millions which encircled him, have for ages been laid in the dust, and the men of an hundred generations who have since trodden over that hill, have followed them to "the house appointed for all living." Alas! that so few of them should have "known the only true God, in Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, whom to know is life eternal!"

We had advanced but a short distance up the Sea of Marmora, when a dead calm came on, leaving us perfectly motionless for twenty hours. To this succeeded so violent a squall from the north, that we were compelled to clew up nearly all our sails, and make for shelter in the little Asiatic harbor of Camara-su, near the ancient Parium. So defective was our chart, as indeed until lately all the English charts have been, that it did not even indicate the existence of a harbor here. Had we not descried an Ionian vessel and followed her movements, we should have been cempelled to have gone back to the Dardanelles.

Just at night we landed in this village, which we were told contained twenty Turkish and thirty Greek families. We discovered several Greek inscriptions on blocks of marble in the walls, or by the side of fountains and dwellings. The inhabitants seemed little accustomed to the sight of strangers. A group of Turkish women sitting on a hill, above some ruins which I sought to explore, and a score of Turkish dogs were

so clamorous, that I was compelled to retire. I had hoped to repeat my visit this morning, and see, though I do not purchase, some coins which a Greek whispered me, he had for sale. I wished also to leave some tracts, which, for prudential considerations, I did not take at my first landing. Favorable, though light winds, induced us, however, to put to sea early this morning.

Dismissing therefore, thoughts of the varied and novel objects which I have witnessed in my past voyagings, I am now preparing my mind for a sight of the great Turkish capital.

CHAPTER IX.

FIRST WEEKS IN THE CITY.

Pilgrim lot of the missionary-Temporary residence in PeraMild weather-Recollections of home-A Levant boarding house-Method of heating room-Fellow boarders and acquaintances-Changed and peaceful aspect of the city—Rumors of the plague.

Constantinople, Feb. 16, 1827.

You had anticipated that my letter would have been dated at Jerusalem, "the city of the Great King," instead of this place where Christianity first assumed an earthly diadem. But the lot of the Christian missionary is still like that of the Mesopotamian pilgrim, who, from Ur of the Chaldees, "went out, not knowing whither he went." Happy if with the like fortune he have the like faith.

I arrived here froin Smyrna, on the 2d of the present month, after an eleven day's passage of almost summer weather. The distance is reckoned at only four hundred miles by sea, and less than half that in a direct line. It is often passed both by land and water, in four days. Through the friendly attentions of Rev. Mr. Leeves, I have for the present found lodgings in the Frank suburb of Pera. Mr. L. is the Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and acting chaplain to the British embassy.

A thousand objects of interest solicit my attention, but I feel it my duty at present, to devote uninterrupted thought and labor, to the condition and language of the Jews. Providentially, I have been able to secure the best temporary helps for this purpose, which the nature of the case admits. For a teacher, I have obtained one of those Jews who assisted Mr. L. in the translation of the New Testament into Jewish-Spanish.

With the exception of a few flakes of snow, which fell at Smyrna, I have here for the first time seen any during the present winter. It came to the depth of two or three inches day before yesterday, but is now nearly gone. The fields are charmingly green, and sprinkled over with the beautiful pink and white mountain daisies, which you cultivate in your flower pots. You may

often gather a dozen of them without changing your position. We are in about the same latitude with yourself, 41° north, but the winter in Turkey has been uncommonly mild. In consequence of this, it is expected that the plague will rage more than usual the approaching summer. I have not fully decided where I shall go when the hot months set in; perhaps to Smyrna, or to some village a few miles from the city.