was no doubt Mr. Jowett, who, during his journey into Upper Egypt, four years ago, distributed upwards of twenty Arabic Bibles, all he had with him. We offered to purchase some of the manuscripts, but he refused. We showed him several of our books, and offered them as a present, but he declined receiving them, and said they had an abundance of books already. His conduct probably arose from his ignorance and indifference, rather than from opposition. When we were about taking our leave, he invited us to remain and dine with him, which we did. It was interesting to see the simplicity of his fare. The table was a wooden frame, eight inches square, and a foot high. On this was placed a large pewter platter, with four dishes on it. One contained boiled eggs, another preserved dates, and the other two soft cheese. Small loaves of bread were laid in a row around the dishes. This was the bishop's dinner. We seated ourselves, with him and two or three others, on the floor. A servant then brought water, that we might wash each his right hand, as that was to serve instead of a knife, fork and spoon. Before eating, the bishop made the sign of the cross, and asked a blessing. Of liquor there was only one kind, the water of the Nile, and we all drank from the same brown earthen jug.

"At one P. M., we left Minie, and toward evening we began to pass by the grottos in the hills, east of the river, which were inhabited by the hermits in the fourth century, and where the early Christians, in times of persecution, found an asylum.

"14. Went to a village called Bladia, which consists almost entirely of Copts. On entering the village, saw a boy with a book in his hand reading; went up to him, and then discovered a man sitting at the door of a mud hovel, with a long reed in his hand, which he was swinging over the heads of twenty-six children, all engaged in writing Arabic

and Coptic on plates of tin. This was a Coptic school.

"17. At two P. M. we arrived at Siout, the seat of government for Upper Egypt. Ahmed Pasha is now the governor. We had a letter to him from Mohammed Ali Pasha. This was given us as a passport. We found the pasha himself was gone to quell an insurrection among the Arabs in the country. We found the kadi or judge, sitting at the gate, to whom we made known our business. He invited us to sit with him, and told us the pasha's lieutenant, who now acts in his stead, was gone to dinner. He ordered coffee for us, and sent to inform the governor of our arrival. After we had waited awhile, the dignified personage came. He was on horseback, preceded by six grooms, and followed by a large retinue. He went into a small presence chamber, and the kadi immediately took us to him. He received the letter, ordered coffee, conversed a little while with us, and then called a writer, and commanded a passport to be made out for the rest of the journey. We then took our leave, and went to the Coptic bishop. His name is Michael, and his appearance and conversation indicate an unusual degree of intelligence. He seemed gratified that we had brought the Scriptures for distribution, and when we proposed leaving some for sale, he spoke to three priests, to go with us to the boat, and take them. He thought fifty or sixty would be wanted; we accordingly left fifty Testaments.

"About two P. M. we arrived at Abutig on the west bank. Went to call on the roumus, or head priest. Sold a few books, and returned to the boat. Several Copts came and bought books, and we gave ten to a young man to sell during our absence.

"20. As we were walking on shore, a Copt, from Abutig, came to us, and wished to purchase ten Testaments to sell again. We let him have them at a very low price. The circumstance has encour

aged us much. It indicates a desire among the people to possess the Scriptures; for in this country the Christians are so poor, that they will not purchase books, even at a low price, unless they really want them.

"21. In the morning passed a village on the west, called Souhadg. Near it was the encampment of the pasha's Nubian troops, who are learning European tactics

"About noon we arrived at Akmin, a considerable town on the east. Took books and went to the Coptic church. We there found the roumus, who immediately purchased some of our books. Saw also four or five priests. There are six or seven in Akmin, and several hundred Coptic houses; some said five hundred. We sat down in the yard before the church, and offered our books to those who were present. The information was circulated, and others came to buy, and we were obliged to go repeatedly to our boat for more books. Took our stations in different parts of the yard, and the roumus and priests sent for the people, and assisted us in selling. How different their conduct from that of the Catholic priests in Alexandria! Before nine in the evening, we had sold ninety, and given away nine books, besides Tracts. In the evening there fell a few drops of rain, but scarcely enough to be perceived.

"In the evening we arrived at Minshich, a village on the west. Near it another company of soldiers had their tents. We took books and called on the roumus. His name is Rafael. He received us first in a stable, where were two jack-asses. After reading the patriarch's letter, and conversing some minutes, he took us through another stable, in which were buffaloes, and then up stairs to his own apartments. These, however, had but little more of neatness about them, than the stables we had passed through. There was so much dirt and smoke, as seemed to render the rooms really uninhabitable.

A bottle of rakee, (a kind of brandy,) was produced. The roumus drank first, out of a kind of coffee cup, and then offered to us. He continued to drink, at short intervals, the whole evening, in a manner not at all calculated to give us a favorable idea of his temperance. He told us there are two other priests, and about thirty Coptic houses, in the village. We supped with Rafael. The floor was our seat. The supper consisted of one dish of meat, one of soup, and bread. We ate the soup by dipping pieces of bread in it, and from the meat each one helped himself with his fingers. Several Copts came in, and we sold a few books, gave away a few, and exchanged others for a Coptic manuscript, a folio volume of prayers and extracts from the Scriptures. The poverty and misery, in which these people live, is almost beyond description.

"24. About noon saw four or five crocodiles, the first we have seen. They were lying on the sand near the water. Came so near them in the boat, as to attract their attention, and they plunged into the river; but we were unable to get a very near view of them. The crocodile is said to move with great rapidity. Our boatmen confirmed this statement. His appearance, however, as we saw him, would indicate clumsiness rather than agility. He has four short legs. His body and tail resemble a fish in form.

"A little after noon passed Girge on the west, which was formerly the capital of Upper Egypt. It has its name from St. George. As the wind was in our favor we did not stop. Here the mountains on the east come very near the river, and are full of grottos.

"25. When walking on the shore we noticed the doum-tree. It is the palm of Thebais, or Upper Egypt, but it differs from the common palm, being neither so large, nor so high; the body of the tree is smoother, the wood seems harder, and the tree often has several branches. The common palm-tree

grows high, perpendicular, and without branches. The trunk of the tree does not increase from year to year in size, like other trees, but only rises higher, You see, therefore, in a grove of palms, the trees which are ten or twenty feet high, just as large as those from fifty to one hundred feet. "The trunk of the tree is not solid, like other trees, but its centre is filled with pith.' In fact the tree, when cut down, seems more like a bundle of straws, or splinters closely bound together, than like timber. The date is the fruit of the palm-tree. The fruit of the doum is several times larger than the date, and totally different from it. Gibbon says, "The diligent natives celebrated, either in prose or verse, the three hundeed and sixty uses, to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit of the palm were skilfully applied.' We have not had occasion to make three hundred and sixty uses of it; but, besides eating of its fruit, and using the wood for fuel, we have slept under roofs made of its leaves, and on bedsteads made of its branches. It has served us for baskets, mats, brooms, ropes, cages for poultry, and walking sticks. In crossing canals, it has been our bridge, and we have eaten honey made (according to the account of the natives,) from its sap. "The palm is crowned, at its top with a large tuft of spiring leaves about four feet long, which never fall off, but always continue in the same flourishing verdure. Dr. Harris, in his Natural History of the Bible, has given a great deal of information on this subject, as well as on others, of which he treats.

27. Most of the day there has been a strong wind. About noon the sandy mountains being near us on the west, and the wind blowing high from that quarter, the air was filled with sand, driven before the wind like snow in New-England, when a heavy north-west wind follows a fall of light snow. It came into our boat, and even into our cabin, so that our clothes and books were covered with it.

* Psďlm xcii, 12—14.