us, as it were, to forget the lost boy who had been taken from amongst us. Troubles, it has been said, sit lightly on sailors; but we had on board a little cabin-boy, who had been a great friend of poor Morgan, and who bitterly felt his loss. In the course of the morning this poor lad came up to me on the quarter-deck, and, after looking at me very earnestly, asked, with much simplicity, whether I thought poor Tom was eaten by the sharks by this time. There was something so strange in the question, and in the child-like manner of putting it, that I felt, for an instant, at a loss how to reply. After a moment's silence, I told him, that, by the mercy of God, and through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour, poor Morgan was, I hoped, in a better world; and that, if so, it was of very little consequence to him whether he was eaten by the sharks at sea, or by the worms on shore; that our bibles told us, that at the last day, the sea would give up its dead, and that poor Morgan would not be forgotten. very bitterly; nor did appear to comfort him.

The little cabin-boy cried anything that I could say, He was only twelve years

of age, and an interesting and well-disposed boy. He could not read very well; but the black cook had taken some pains to teach him and poor Morgan to read the New Testament.

For several days a cloud was cast over the usual cheerfulness of the ship's crew. The fiddle in the forecastle was silent, and the hearty laugh was heard no more-sailors are proverbially superstitious, espe

cially about death! I was told, that some of the crew fully expected to see the ghost of poor Morgan sitting on the bowsprit on the ninth night from his death. The following Sunday, it was pleasing to see that, out of respect to the departed youth, almost every man wore some article of mourning.

Speaking of Sunday, it is not a day often neglected, nor are its sacred hours allowed to pass by unheeded on ship-board; and though the beautiful prayers in our fine church service, intended for use at sea, are not always read aloud in the cabin of every vessel, yet I think, generally speaking, the Sabbath, in our English ships, is as well observed, and is kept as holy, as circumstances will admit. In this matter, everything of course depends upon the captain, who has many blessed opportunities of doing good to those entrusted to his care. I am now, it must be understood, speaking with reference to the Merchant Service; that great nursery for British seamen. The first Sabbath that I spent at sea is still fresh in my memory. The evening before exhibited quite a busy scene, and newly-washed clothes were fluttering from every rope, to dry. All the crew were engaged in setting matters in order on board; and on the following morning, all turned out in their best apparel. Everything connected with the usual daily work on board a large vessel was put out of sight, and the ends of all loose ropes were, what is called, "Flemish coiled." The decks, from the holy-stoning of the night before, were snowy-white; all unnecessary labour was avoided,

and the men and boys were allowed as much spare time for reading as was consistent with the safeworking of the ship. It was a pleasing sight to see them seated at their ease, many reading their Bibles, or other books suitable to the day. Thoughtless as sailors too often are, the Bible is a book generally to be found in some corner of each man's chest; and it is not an unusual thing to see there also a bundle or two of religious tracts, put in, no doubt, by some good mother or sister, who had packed the box. On the day to which I allude, the captain said he would have prayers read in the cabin. All the boys were very properly ordered to attend, but the men were allowed to act in this matter as they thought proper; and the mate rang the bell at eleven o'clock. The morning was unusually 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 so many of our most careless 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 solemn introductory prayer was read, beginning with "O Eternal Lord 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, when the elements were at rest, that in a few hours afterwards our vessel was to be nearly dismasted in a tremendous gale. Such, however, was the case. Within but a

few hours, a storm burst upon us so suddenly, and with such awful fury, that before we could take in any canvass to save them, our main-topmast, main top-gallant mast and royal, were carried away. So little can they, who "have business in great waters,” judge what an hour may bring forth.

When

But I have rambled from my purpose, and must return to it, or we shall never reach Bombay. 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, and was now going safely, with her passengers and mail-bags, to Aden. As we were obliged to haul in pretty close, and were out of com

pliment obliged to take in our stun-sails, I had a good opportunity of seeing this beautiful vessel, the property of the Honourable East India Company.— Her quarter-deck was crowded by 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 the cabinwindows might be seen-what was a tempting sight to us, who had been so long at sea-nets filled with all sorts of vegetables, fruit, fresh meat, and other good things necessary for the voyage. After a request that she should be reported as soon as we should arrive in Bombay, from whence she had sailed— which request was roared through a speakingtrumpet, by a very little red-faced 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 smoking, over the mountain-waves which the late storm had raised up, and which we had happily escaped by one single day.

There appeared to be a singular variety of characters on board of the steamer. I espied two or three jaundiced-looking old 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 seasickness and misery; and in some countenances there was a glow of hope, excited by the thought of once more visiting old England.