AND FROM PASSENGERS OF THE RIPON.

101

to join their husbands on the other side of the globe. They all came to the deck, or to their cabin windows, when I departed from the Haddington, roaring out blessings, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and some of them, it may well be believed, shedding tears not a few. "God bless and prosper you all!" said I from the bottom of my heart. "Some of you may sicken, pine and die far from the eyes which would have watched, and wept, and prayed over your feverish pillow." "Some of you may redden the field of battle with your warm blood, or even whiten it with your unburied bones bleaching in the winds of heaven." When I saw the Haddington begin to steer steadily down the gulf I trembled in every limb, and continued to shiver for about three hours; but I remembered the motto of the ship, "Quis separabit.” Now a sick and solitary wanderer in the midst of the wilderness, four thousand miles from home, I thought of the beautiful little incident of Mungo Park and his flower, and I had recourse for comfort again to my favourite passages of Scripture. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee."

Park had been robbed of his horse, pocket-compass, and clothes. He found himself in the midst of a vast wilderness, naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. He was five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement. He considered his fate as certain, and that he had no alternative but to lie down and perish. The influence of religion, however, supported him. He was indeed a stranger in a strange land; yet he was still under the protecting eye of that Providence who has condescended to call himself the stranger's friend. At this moment the extraordinary beauty of a small moss in fructifica

102

PARK'S REFLECTIONS.

tion caught his eye, and he mentions this to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation; for, though the whole plant was not larger than the tip of his finger, he could not contemplate its delicate conformation without admiration. Can that Being, thought he, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing apparently of so small importance, look with unconcern on the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image? Surely not. Reflections like these would not allow Park to despair. He started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, he travelled forward, assured that relief was at hand; and he was not disappointed.

CHAPTER V.

THE RED SEA, AND THE PASSAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ACROSS IT."

It would be endless to enumerate the various circumstances which combine to cast a spell over the shores of the Red Sea. From the earliest dawn of history, the Egyptian side of this gulf has figured as the scene of events, which both religious and civil records have united to render memorable. Here Moses and the Patriarchs tended their flocks, and put in motion those springs of civilization, which from that period have never ceased to urge forward the whole human race in the career of improvement. Here empires have grown up, and decayed like Jonah's gourd. Here the Egyptians have been conquered by the Persians; the Persians by the Greeks; the Greeks by the Romans; and the Romans by a daring band from their own burning

* Dr. Crichton, in his History of Arabia Ancient and Modern,' collects within a moderate compass everything which, from its novelty or importance, deserves to be recorded concerning the literature and religion of the Arabs, their traditions, customs, government, and institutions. These are traced and delineated in a very able manner indeed. He gives a just view of the exodus; and seems to be much of my opinion as to the passage of the children of Israel across the Red Sea. On this subject, and in reference to the Arabians generally, the reader cannot do better than to consult the second edition of this standard work.