u usally calm and serene, and was singularly favourable to the performance of a duty of this description. I think all who could do so, attended the summons; and it gave me great pleasure to see some of the poor old sailors fall down upon their knees as they entered the place set apart for prayer, and behave with all reverence during the whole service. There was something to me very impressive and beautiful in the appearance of this little group of persons, bound upon a long and dangerous voyage, and now voluntarily collected together in a frail vessel, and upon a treacherous sea, to offer up their prayers, and to pour forth their praises and thanksgivings before the throne of Him, whose paths are in the great waters, and whose footsteps are not known. When the beautiful introductory prayer was read, beginning with "O Eternal God, who alone spreadest out the heavens, and rulest the raging of the sea, who hast compassed the waters with bounds, until day and night come to an end, be pleased to receive into thy Almighty and gracious protection, the persons of us thy servants," &c.; and when the reader proceeded to, "thou didst send forth thy commandment, and the windy storm ceased and was turned into a calm," how little did any of us think, during that quiet and peaceful morning, that in a few hours afterwards our vessel was to be nearly dismasted in a tremendous gale. Such, however, was the case. Within a few hours a storm burst upon

us so suddenly, and with such fury, that before we could take in any canvass to save them, our masts were carried away. So little can they who "have business in great waters," judge what an hour may bring forth.

But I have rambled from my purpose, and must return to it, or we shall never reach Bombay.

When we were within a few days' sail of India, we were rudely summoned by the commander of the Sesostris steamer, to heave-to and bear tidings to the great men of Bombay, that she, the Sesostris steamerfrigate, had been out six days in a hurricane, but had weathered the gale, but was now going on safely with her passengers and mail-bags to Aden. As we had to haul in pretty close, I had a good opportunity of seeing the beautiful vessel, the property of the Honourable Company. Her quarter-deck was crowded with a strange collection of black and white faces of every caste and colour. Servants were running about in their Eastern costumes, and overgrown turbans; and under their cabin-windows might be seen what was a tempting sight to us who had been so long at sea, nets filled with all sorts of vegetables, fruits, fresh meat, and other good things necessary for the voyage. Her

rigging was curious, and quite different to anything I had seen before. After a request that she might be reported as soon as we should arrive in Bombay, whence she had sailed—which request was roared through a two-yard speaking-trumpet, by a very little man, who, by-the-bye, forgot to ask whether we were in want of water, or had run short of anything-away went the Sesostris, rolling, pitching, and foaming, over the mountain-waves which the late storm had cast up, and which we had happily escaped by one single day. There appeared to be a singular variety of characters on board of this frigate. I espied two or three prematurely-aged men, who, as I supposed, after heaping up riches and perhaps honours, were tearing themselves away from India to flutter for a year or two about the sunny side of Cheltenham, and then to die. Others there were who were pictures of sea-sickness and misery, and in some countenances there was a glow of hope excited by the thought of once again beholding England.

Two days after this encounter in the Indian Ocean, we were safely riding at anchor opposite the Fort of Bombay, and in one of the most lovely harbours it has ever been my good fortune to visit. We had been just three months and a half upon our voyage, and I really felt sorry that it was over, for the last ties that still seemed to bind me to home were now to be broken. "And this is India !" thought I, as with a strange feeling of pleasure and surprise, my eyes wandered over the scenes on shore, as I sat upon a chair on the quarter-deck. "This is the far-famed country concerning which I have heard so much! the land of gold and sunshine; nabobs and diamonds, of which tradition has told us many marvellous tales, and of which such wondrous accounts have been handed down, ever since the days when Vasco del Gama, the Portuguese navigator, laid the foundation of a scheme which was soon to disturb its tranquillity, and relieve it of a portion of its riches; and which was afterwards so successfully carried into effect during the period of two centuries and a half, by a quiet little company of merchants in Leadenhall Street, London, who thought it was a pity that the Portuguese should have all the riches of the East to themselves.

Here then was Bombay, the wedding-gift of the Infanta on her marriage to Charles the Second, in 1662, and now the site of a fine populous city, remarkable for its strong fortifications, magnificent harbour, and wealthy merchants; a city which is one of our most flourishing depôts for the produce of the East; and though England may still be accused of injustice towards India, she has not been indifferent to the spiritual welfare and happiness of its countless inhabi

tants. She has not, as the Romanists have done wherever their agents have obtained a footing, pulled down one set of idols to set up another set. The spiritual light which she has poured into India, is the true light of the Gospel. The pure and unadulterated Word of God, as preached by those English missionaries, who have gone forth to offer to India salvation through the merits and death of a crucified Redeemer, without money and without price, has been, in a measure at least, effectual to enlighten its benighted people. It is indeed but too true, that we have but feebly obeyed the command of our Divine Master, to go "into all nations, and preach the Gospel to every creature." We have not done in this matter so much as we might have done, and as it was our duty to do. While countless treasure has been drawn from this fair land, to minister to England's national pride, and to subjugate to her power the nations of Southern Asia; how few are the voices which in that vast wilderness are at this present moment preaching forgiveness of sins through the blood of the Redeemer! The harvest truly is plenteous, and now ripe for the sickle; but where, it may be asked, are the reapers to gather it in? Here and there indeed, a lone man of God is gloriously expending his health, his strength, his life, in the great cause of man's redemption; but what are these among so many? what provision is this for the spiritual wants of that mighty empire, in which 120,000,000 of our fellow-subjects are lost in the thick darkness of the grossest idolatry? It is but as a drop of water in the ocean, a blade of grass in the forest or the jungle. If but the smallest fraction of the gains of England's merchants as a body, were systematically laid aside for this noble object, how vast would be the sum annually collected, and how many more labourers might be sent into the field of India! Shall it be said of us, that we gather where we have not sown? We have received from India temporal riches; let us give her those which are eternal.

We had scarcely come to an anchor, before our vessel was surrounded by punts, dingies, and a dozen different kinds of boats, all of which had come off from the shore in the full expectation of getting a job of some description or other. One contained the custom-house officers; another, the parties to whom the ship was consigned; another, the master dobie, or ship's washerman, who kindly volunteered to wash for the whole ship's company at an almost nominal charge. He had a turban full of the highest testimonials, signed by all the known and unknown officers of the Indian army and navy, extending over a period of thirty years at the very least. Another boat had been hired by

a collection of Portuguese servant-boys, who were anxious to engage themselves to captain, mate, passengers, or, in fact, to any one that was silly enough to take them on the strength of their recommendations. Another boat had pulled over a remarkably jolly-looking Hindoo, who kindly offered to dispose for the captain, of any little thing he might have brought over on his own account. He said, he was intimately acquainted with all the Liverpool commanders, and had been the means of putting them into the way of realizing large sums on their Yorkshire hams, Cumberland bacon, greyhounds, and cast-off clothes. He was in fact the Jew of the London docks. Another, and perhaps the most acceptable boat in the lot, was filled with all sorts of desirable things fresh water, new bread, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, meat, vegetables, newspapers, cigars, Chinese punkahs, and fifty nameless articles difficult to remember. Then there was a boat crowded with Lascars, fine, strongly-made men, who had come off to assist in unloading the ship. A knowing-looking Mussulman, seeing me alone on the quarter-deck, came up, and after making me a very low and graceful salam, begged my acceptance of a bunch of sweet green leaves, and a real genuine English rose, which appeared doubly sweet to me. He had tied it up neatly on a painted stick; and having thus introduced himself, he began to recommend, in very glowing terms, a young gentleman sitting in the bow of one of the boats, holding over his head a ragged, sea-umbrella, as a fit and proper person to look after my luggage, and act as valet de chambre during my stay in India. I told him, however, that I should probably have to be my own, for some years to come. He apologized for the intrusion; and was afterwards, with about two dozen others, unanimously, and rather hastily, ordered off the deck by the captain, as some of the crew had discovered that our polite visitors had made several mistakes in taking away with them articles not lawfully their own. No sooner had they pushed off, than it was also discovered that the loose ends of almost every rope had been cut off.

We had evidently fallen amongst thieves, perhaps the most expert the world could produce. One of the sailors declared that a Lascar was sawing off the end of a rope with the greatest coolness, with his hands behind him, as he was talking to him about the nature of the cargo. It may appear strange that the captain was not aware of this national failing; but it was his first voyage to the port. We got a most acceptable supply of fresh water from the custom-house officers, as we had suffered much during the voyage from the bad tank that ours had been put into. I thought I had never tasted anything so delicious in my life,

after so long an abstinence. Truly we never know the value of any blessing, till we lose it.

Much has been said of Indian hospitality; and, generally speaking, an Englishman is pretty certain of a hearty welcome, when he arrives in the country, if he has the least introduction to any English family in the place; and this may account, in some manner, for the absence of boarding-houses in Bombay; as there is only one that has the least pretension to that name in the Fort.

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The island is beautifully situated on the western coast of Aurungabad. The soil is not very remarkable for its productiveness, and the visitor sees, comparatively speaking, but little to gratify his curiosity. Here are no ruined temples, or deserted cities; no vast jungles or deserts; but a plain-and were it not for the exquisite scenery that surrounds it-an almost uninteresting place. The city is on the south-east end of the island, and is peopled, entirely, I may say, by the natives. It is the grand resort for foreigners, who are constantly seen to throng the narrow streets. The Dock-yard, Arsenal, Mint, Town-hall, Cathedral, Scotch Church, and Custom-house, are handsome buildings, and, by their style of architecture, give an English character to the place, which rather contradicts your English-formed ideas of Oriental cities. The strange costumes and odd-looking people you are constantly meeting, puzzle you amazingly, before you can find out who they are, or before distinguish the different castes. Here is one man with forty or fifty yards of muslin rolled up into a turban on his head; here, another, with a tower of card-board, covered with chintz; there, another, with a peak coming down between his eyes, and resting on the bridge of the Then every native has a peculiar daub of coloured paint on his forehead, as a distinguishing mark, which is renewed every morning. The light and cool-looking dresses which all persons wear; their long, flowing white robes, and silk trousers, make you quite envy them, and long to cast off your tight, uncomfortable European dress, for theirs. There are still a great number of Portuguese here; but they belong chiefly to the poorer classes. They have their churches, chapels, and religious houses in abundance; and keep up a great deal of the pomp and show of their religion. Goa still exists, as their gate into India. Its magnificent churches and monasteries cannot easily be forgotten by those who have visited that once celebrated seat of the Inquisition; and Goa still continues to supply India with fresh recruits for the service of their master, the Pope.

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The lower orders are much employed by English families, as cooks;