assert that "it appeared suddenly when the Holy Family visited Egypt;" and it is situated close to the sequestered spot where, as I have stated, Joseph and Mary thought it prudent to conceal the infant Jesus. In order to visit this well, we turned a little out of the beaten track, and entered a tolerably thick plantation on the right, where, in the midst of date-trees, citrons, &c., we reclined beneath a venerable sycamore, supposed to be the identical tree whose wide spreading branches afforded shelter to the holy fugitives from the parching rays of the sun. It is cut in all directions, and has been denominated the "Tree of the Madonna.' Its shape is singular; it is very large, and the upper portion of it has been blown down or struck by lightning; a number of young branches grow out from the top of that which remains. It is, beyond all doubt, very aged, and there is nothing inconsistent in the idea that the Virgin did seek an asylum beneath its branches. She was as likely to choose this tree as any other, and we know very well that the sycamore sometimes lives to a most astonishing age ;-it is even said "several hundred years,”—though I confess I know not who is able to make such an assertion! Close by it, is the "miraculous well"—the previous existence of which afforded perhaps the most important reasons why this spot should be selected in preference to others. Between this place, and the town of Matarieh, there are numerous corn-fields, which look rich and inviting; they extend nearly to Heliopolis, or rather I should say, the accumulations of rubbish, which with the Obelis'que, point out its original situation. The distance is not great: it is probable that the city extended in that direction, and that the inhabitants were accustomed to repair thither to draw water: it is even thought to