by the Romans, who once had a settlement here. They were accidentally discovered some years ago, and the rubbish with which they had been gradually filled was cleared away at the expense of the Government. They are approached by a neatly kept garden, in which, at nearly every turn, is set up an earnest request that visitors will not pluck the flowers. This, I fancy, is a bitter joke, for scarcely any flowers will bloom in this enclosed space, on which the sun beats down with a terrible power that dries up the thinly sprinkled soil.

We returned to the port by another route, on which the dust was laid by water-carts, drawn by camels. From this road, not Aden, but the prospect from its hills, looked fairer. The volcanic peaks on the opposite shore were doubtless as brown and desolate as that on which we stood. But seen at a distance across the blue bay, they were dowered with soft reds and deep purples, whilst here and there the riven masses opened up glimpses of golden sand.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THROUGH THE SUEZ CANAL.

THE voyage from Aden to Suez in such weather as fell to our lot is one of dreamy delight. Leaving Aden behind, we sailed along a coast guarded by files of sentinel hills rising one above another, with boundless wealth of blue sea at their feet. There is no sign of tree or verdure, but the rocks, birth of volcano, take on in the varying distance hues of infinite beauty. Close by Aden there is a miniature bay of pure white sand, shut out from the world in the rear by an impenetrable wall of rock; this is called "Honeymoon Bay," because, it is said, young couples getting married have been known to sail away and build them a tent here. Further out there are a constant succession of bays sufficient to meet the honeymoon necessities of the close of a London season. We had magnificent

weather and seas without a ripple till almost within sight of Suez; but the clouds had, as of old, hidden Mount Sinai as we passed.

On the afternoon before we reached Suez, the wind suddenly veered round, and a summer's afternoon was instantly changed into bleakest October weather, the sun still shining, but the wind piercingly cold. The Southern Cross, constant harbinger of the coming day, was left behind, not to be seen again on this journey. The last time I saw it, midway up the Red Sea, it was shining brightly in the southern heavens, whilst to the eastward both sea and sky were suffused with the rosy tints of the coming sun. In the west the moon and its attendant court of stars and planets shone out as brightly as if the sky were their unquestioned empire, and there was no such thing as day.

On the fifth morning after leaving Aden we awoke to find ourselves anchored at Suez. Two miles away on the left, lay the town, its white-walled houses shining fair in the morning light, though I believe it is the cleanliness and beauty of a whited sepulchre. We got a nearer view of Suez as we entered the Canal, and saw the long procession of mules travelling to and fro along the narrow causeway raised above the swampy level, and connecting

the town with the port. The French genius of the place breaks out in a little café fronting the entrance to the Canal, where doubtless petits verres are to be had, after which refreshment the pleased resident may stroll along a forlorn boulevard, bordered here and there with stunted funereal cypress.

At Suez, in accordance with the regulations of the Company, we took on board a pilot, a stout middle-aged Italian, who knew as much of English as our captain did of the language of Dante- that is to say, nothing. The necessity of engaging a pilot to take a steamer through the Canal is analagous to that which exists for compelling the commander of a flat to ship a pilot on entering the Metropolitan boundary of the Regent's Canal. What is wanted is a steady hand on the tiller, and an eye that can follow a straight line. It might even be supposed that a pilot, in addition to the heavy impost exacted for his service, is undesirable, since a quartermaster accustomed to steer the ship would do it better if left alone. However it be, our pilot within an hour of taking command ran us ashore, in broad daylight, in a straight cut of the Canal, with not a breath of wind stirring, and with no one on board having a command of the Italian language

sufficiently fluent to let him know what we thought of him.

The Nepaul, after unaccountably wobbling to the port and starboard, finally selected the left bank, and with gentle gliding motion ran on to it, her bows rising three feet in the air. The engines were already reversed, and the screw plunged and hissed through the water in the effort to withdraw the bows; but the bank held like a vice, and the only result was that the stern swung over, grounded on the opposite bank, and the screw was useless. This was a pretty interruption of a prosperous voyage, lying like a log athwart the Canal, with the pilot aimlessly trotting up and down the bridge, and no one on board able to speak Italian!

All along the Canal bank, on both sides, posts have been driven for use in contingencies of this kind. Captain Wyatt, leaving the pilot to his own reflections, promptly had steel hawsers attached to these posts, the steam winch was got to work, and an effort was made to slew the stern round so that the screw could be freed. After a few moments' straining the hawser parted, the riven end wriggling along the deck like a snake that had been cut in two. Fortunately no one was near, and no one hurt. Another steel hawser