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The sun was nearly setting in the sea, behind the walls of Acre, as we reached its level plain, and by urging our horses rapidly forward, we succeeded in entering the gates before they were closed for the night. The convent had no charms; the place had been already explored; the night was fine, and a light southerly breeze just crisped the azure surface of the Mediterranean; a single word to Achmet induced him to hurry down to the port, where he found a coasting vessel ready to sail for Beyrout, and only waiting, as it were, to take us on board. To him the word "Beyrout" was synonymous with "home:" there stood his neat little house among the mulberry gardens, and in that house, his pretty little wife was awaiting his return; no wonder, then, that he displayed an unusual alertness. As we jumped into a boat which was to convey us on board the vessel, a Turkish soldier, the first time such a thing had happened to us in the East, muttered something about "Passaporta," but we contented ourselves with replying to him by a look of ineffable contempt. In five minutes more we were outside the reef of Acre, and the following afternoon, after a delightful sail, cast anchor abreast of the hospitable comptoir of Mr. Heald.

CHAPTER VI.

VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK OF ST. PAUL-EMBARKATION AT CESAREA-COURSE

TO MALTA-SYRACUSE-REGGIO-PUTEOLI-ROME.

In this concluding chapter, dedicated to the voyage and shipwreck of St. Paul, it will be necessary to depart from the plan hitherto pursued, giving instead a connected outline of the whole voyage, and afterwards filling in the details from personal reminiscences of the different localities it embraces.

It is unnecessary to recal the circumstances already described of St. Paul's examination at Cæsarea before Festus and Agrippa, and his determination to appeal to Cæsar. Hereupon the Apostle was delivered into the custody of one Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band, and, accompanied by Aristarchus, Trophimus, St. Luke, and, as some suppose, by the historian Josephus, put on board a ship bound for Adramyttium, in Asia Minor. The wind being fair from the south, they arrived next day at Sidonstill a city of considerable commerce-where the vessel remained a short time; and Paul, who was "courteously entreated by Julius," received permission to go on shore and refresh himself. From Sidon, their course, had the wind been favourable, would have been direct towards the Straits of Cos; but as it happened to be contrary, they were compelled to make a circuitous course, and to sail under Cyprus; that is, to the eastward of it; and thus to traverse the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, between that island and the coast of Asia Minor. They next reached Myra, a city of Lycia, whose magnificent remains testify to the importance

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which it once enjoyed. So far they were on their course, although an indirect one, for Italy; but as the "ship of Adramyttium" would now pursue her voyage to the northward, it became necessary to leave her and to embark in another. One of the vessels then engaged in carrying supplies of corn from Egypt to Rome, also driven out of her direct course by contrary winds, was then in the harbour. These ships were of the largest class, carrying often several hundred people, and commanded, no doubt, by the most expert mariners to be found in the Mediterranean. From a representation of one of them on a coin of Augustus, it would

seem that they carried but one large mast, on which was hoisted the mainsail to propel the ship, while a smaller sail at the bowsprit assisted in steering her, a peculiarity which should be remembered in reading the subsequent account.

Owing to the westerly wind generally prevalent in the Mediterranean, their ship appears to have worked her way very slowly as far as Cnidus, where, unable to make a course direct west, which would have carried her to the northward of Crete, she was compelled to bear to the southward, and with difficulty doubling Cape Salmone, the eastern point of that island, came to an anchor in the roads called the Fair Havens; supposed to be a harbour on the southern side of Crete. So much time had been already lost, and the stormy season was now approaching so near, that Paul strenuously urged the centurion to remain

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where they were for the winter; a plan overruled by the master of the ship, on account of the incommodiousness of the harbour. As there was another haven called Phoenice, at no great distance along the coast, which offered superior advantages, they waited until there sprung up a gentle south wind, which promised to waft them to their destination in a few hours, and then set sail, keeping close along the shore. They had not proceeded far when they were suddenly caught by "a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon," blowing off the land directly athwart their course, and so furious that, being unable to bear up against it, they were compelled to let the vessel drive before it to the south-west, passing under the small island of Clauda, and using their utmost efforts to secure their boat, which had been hitherto towed after them. The gale blowing heavily from the north

east, would, had the vessel been suffered to scud on directly before it, have inevitably driven her into the Syrtis, or Great Gulf, on the coast of Africa, where she would have gone ashore; they were, therefore, obliged to put the vessel about, so that she might drift to the northward. Deeply laden, and encumbered with the huge and heavy yard required for the great sail, she laboured so heavily as to strain open the seams, to avoid which they "undergirded" the ship; that is, passed a thick cable round her, threw overboard part of the cargo, and on

the third day-the tempest continuing with unabated violenceto lighten her still further, "threw over with their own hands the tackling of the ship,"—that is, in all probability, the ponderous mainyard and its appendages. They had now done all that it was in the power of good seamanship to do, towards averting the fate which threatened them; yet the gale still blew with such fury, and the sky was so utterly obscured, that they might shortly expect either that their overlaboured ship would founder, or go ashore upon some unknown coast, especially as, since the vessel was put about off Clauda, they had continued to drift in the same course. Despair was seizing upon their spirits, when Paul, gently reproaching them for not listening to his advice, now told them he had received a miraculous assurance, that although they must suffer shipwreck, not a hair of their heads should perish.

On the fourteenth night, as they were doubtless on the lookout, the shipmen deemed that they drew near some land; detecting perhaps in the breeze the fragrance of gardens on shore, or faintly discerning at a distance the looming of the tremendous breakers of the coast of Malta. They now sounded, and finding the depth of water gradually decreasing, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and, in the emphatic language of the Apostolic narrative, "wished for the day." The practice of anchoring by the stern was usual in ancient seamanship, as Mr. Smith has proved by a representation of a vessel having holes for the purpose; but they were also sometimes, to keep them in a fixed position, anchored both fore and aft. And thus we find that, under pretence of throwing out the anchors forward, but in reality with a view to save themselves, the sailors were preparing to take to the boat; but on Paul's assuring them that if they did so the whole would perish, the soldiers cut off the boat-ropes, and let her fall into the sea. We may judge by this of the powerful ascendancy gained over the minds of all on board by one who had embarked with them as a prisoner. When the day dawned, Paul besought the fasting sailors, who during the storm