down the wrinkles with which age had furrowed his face, when he spoke to me of another accident, in the recollection of which he was wholly absorbed. A few years ago his only son, who sailed with him in these same seas of the Levant, had, in a heavy gale, been crushed to death under his eyes, between the vessel and the boat. He was inconsolable at this loss, and his head was really affected by it.

'We remarked, and this observation is well known to navigators who frequent those seas, that, along the coast of Caramania, the currents set to the south-west; their impulse was favourable to us, and diminished the action of the westerly wind, which did not quit us during the day. However, it had lost much of its strength: the sea had fallen, and the different aspects of the land, which our continual change of situation rendered very diversified, made our voyage an agreeable excursion. Towards the sea, we also had objects which interrupted its tiresome sameness: some vessels were sailing near ours, and in the midst of them rose, like a floating mountain, a caravel belonging to the grand signior: thus are called the ships of war of the Turkish navy; their elevation. above the water is excessive: their stern is, besides, of a disproportionate height. This structure, which gives great hold to the wind even on the hull of the vessel, occasions her to be difficult to manage, and exposes her to make considerable lee-way, as well as to all the violence of a heavy sea: in an action, the enemy's shot find a greater surface to strike; the vessel is a heavy sailer, and not sure in stays; added to this, the rigging is incomplete and confounded; the artillery, entirely of brass, is composed of pieces of different calibres, which makes it tedious and difficult to serve them, and the gun-decks, being always lumbered, likewise clog a service, which the difference of the weight of metal necessarily renders confused. From such great defects in the construction and rigging of the Turkish men of war, and even the nature of the wood with which they are built, it is easy to remark the infancy or rather the barbarism of navigation.

And the men who conduct these shapeless masses, are also the most ignorant in the world. There are few among

them who are familiarly acquainted with the use of the compass, who know how to find and mark their route on a chart, who are capable of observing the altitude of the sun above the horizon, when it passes the meridian, in order to ascertain the latitude; nor is there one who has any idea of geography. It may be remembered that, in the course of the last war between the Russians and the Turks, it was impossible to persuade the latter that the Russian fleets could reach Constantinople by another route than by the Black sea. In vain was pointed out to them on the chart the route which brought ships from the Baltic into the Archipelago; the divan, in which sat the high admiral himself, persisted in considering the thing as impracticable; and it was not till the enemy's fleet arrived in the seas of Turkey, that the possibility of this voyage began to obtain credit.

Towards the evening, a multitude of fishes of the small species of tunny appeared all at once near the ship; they divided with extreme rapidity the surface of the waves, which they caused to bubble, and they darted sometimes out of the water by quick and tumultuous heaps; these sudden passages of fish, swimming in close columns, are, in the eyes of navigators, a certain presage of bad weather. In fact, the sky was charged with vapours, and the horizon began to be covered with clouds, which, to the north-west, were intersected by some vivid and repeated flashes of lightning. The captain, faint and trembling, told me that it was uncommon to sail in these seas, without encountering some violent storm; he added that, the year before, he had been caught in a gale of wind, which had put him in the greatest danger. In consequence, he ordered several sails to be taken in, although the weather was yet very fine, and employed some precautions which were not attended with great success.

After having exhorted my timid skipper to courage and vigilance, I went to bed and fell into a sound sleep. At two o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by a great noise, and by cries of "The axes, the axes! Cut! cut away!" I sprang on deck, and I saw that, notwithstanding his alarms and precautions, the captain had not the less suffered himself VOL. IV.

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to be surprised by a very heavy squall, which, bursting all at once on the vessel, still pressed with more sail than she could carry, had overpowered her to such a degree that she was almost half under water, and on the point of being entirely buried in the waves. We contrived to right her, by cutting some of the running rigging and splitting a sail; a few moments more, and we should have been swallowed up. I complimented the captain on his skill, and returned to my bed, fully promising myself not to make a long voyage, under the guidance of such seamen.'

At last, M. Sonnini cast anchor in the harbour of Rhodes. This island,' he observes, is much longer than it is broad; its great strength, in a direction from north to south, is about 12 leagues; it is but six in breadth, and its circuit is commonly estimated at 44 leagues. Its form is nearly triangular, whence it obtained the name of Trinacria, which it bore in former times, with a great many others.

The city which bears the same name of Rhodes, and which is the capital of the island as well as the chief seat of its government, is situated to the north-east. It is fortified, and its ramparts partake of the state of neglect and decay of every thing that is in the hands of the Turks. But proud recollections are attached to them, and will preserve them eternally in the memory of mankind; they will, to the latest posterity, be a testimony of what valour can achieve against the most formidable forces, valour which duty and a sense of honour alone inspired, and which was neither sullied by the ambition of conquests, nor the allurement of the spoils of the vanquished. It was on this theatre of glory that Villiers de l'Ile Adam, loaded with years and with the palms of heroism, and who, to be one of the most renowned generals in the world, wanted no more than the command of a large army, inspiriting a handful of combatants already multiplied by their own courage, long checked the attacks and efforts of the victorious arms of the proud Soliman. History has transmitted to us the unheard-of prodigies which rendered illustrious the defence of Rhodes. Soliman's triumph, which cost him 100,000 of his best troops, was at least not profaned

by acts of atrociousness and barbarity; and he gave not the example of the abominable cruelty, which, in contempt of solemn conventions, the lieutenant of one of his successors, a warrior who knew only how to be ferocious, exercised, at the capture of Famagusta, towards its valiant defender. The Ottoman prince was acquainted with all the value of courage; he understood how to appreciate it, and pay it homage even in his enemies: he loaded the grand master Villiers de l'Ile Adam with attention and deference, and endeavoured to make him forget the blow which the fate of arms had just given hìm.

"In several places of the city of Rhodes are still to be seen marks of the ancient possession of the order of St. John of Jerusalem; a long street there preserves the name of Rue des Chevaliers; it is perfectly straight, and formed of old houses, on which remain the armorial bearings of the members of that order. Some of these buildings still exhibit the arms of the pope; and it is rather astonishing that the Turks, consummate masters in the infernal art of destruction, have respected these emblems of the sovereignty of the catholic pontiff whom they hold in abhorrence, because they consider him as the natural and irreconcileable enemy of their religion. However, we cease to be surprised at this sort of inconsistency of the actions of the Mussulmans, when we have seen them, in our days, fly to arms, and take a very active part in a war, one of the motives of which is the re-establishment of the court of Rome and of the order of Malta.

'In the harbour of Rhodes, I learnt how sailors contrive to get rid of rats that are troublesome, and to make them pass to their neighbours. Our vessel was full of these gnawing animals; they there occasioned considerable havock, and devoured or spoilt the provisions. A Greek bark, loaded with apples, came and cast anchor near us. Our sailors, without making the smallest noise, ran out to her, during the night, a hawser or cablet, and then drew it tight, so that it might serve as a bridge to the rats: the latter, attracted by the smell of the apples, of which they are very fond, passed, without the exception of a single one, into the bark, and there gave the Greeks reason to curse their neighbour.

"Who has not heard of the famous colossus, one of the seven wonders of the world, which, being placed, it is said, at the entrance of the harbour of Rhodes, was tall enough for ships to pass between its legs? According to Pliny, this was a monument which commanded admiration. It was the production of an artist, born at Lindus, one of the towns of the island of Rhodes, and a pupil of Lysippus, a statuary of great celebrity. Other historians affirm that he only began it, and that, having killed himself, another sculptor of the same country completed the work. Be this as it may, twelve years were consumed in erecting this colossus. Its height was seventy cubits, which is about one hundred and five of our feet; some authors have carried it to eighty cubits, or one hundred and twenty feet, and even to one hundred and fifty feet. At the expiration of fifty-six years, it was thrown down by an earthquake; and prostrate as it lay, it still appeared a prodigy. Few men could clasp the thumb of this gigantic statue; each of its fingers was larger than most statues; its different parts, when broken, shewed in their inside vast cavities, some of which were filled with stones of an immense size, intended to add to its weight, and give it greater stability.

'No one thought of raising again so heavy a mass; it remained extended on the ground near nine hundred years, and it was not till the year 672 that it was carried off, after having been taken to pieces. Almost all authors agree that it required nine hundred camels to remove its remains; and the load of each camel being estimated at eight hundred pounds, it results that the weight of the colossus was near seven hundred and twenty thousand of our pounds. All the bronze of which it was formed was shipped and carried away by the Arabs, when they made themselves masters of the city.

'However, the common opinion which represents the colossus of Rhodes at the entrance of the harbour, and ships passing in full sail between its extended legs, is erroneous, as several of the learned, and M. de Caylus in particular, have very clearly proved: they, with much greater probability, place this monument of the power of the Rhodians at some distance from the sea.