rich jewels, and in his sash he carries his purse, and sometimes a brace of pistols and a dagger, and a scymitar swings at his side. When thus attired, he presents an interesting and somewhat formidable appearance.

But the greater part of the people are poor-very poor, and are made, to a considerable extent, the slaves of the rich. They know nothing of the freedom of speech and action which we enjoy in England. They must all do as the officers of the Sultan bid them, or their heads would roll on the dust directly, without any trial by judge and jury!

All the Turks are Mussulmen-that is, they are believers in the false prophet Mahomet, of whom the Sultan is the chief, or head. The ministers of religion are called Mollahs, at the head of whom is one called the Mufti. They have also monks, who are called Dervises. Their places of worship are called mosques, which have usually large round domes at the top, as you see in the picture. Their book of religion is called the Koran, which, along with some good moral precepts copied from our Bible, contains many foolish tales, and some wicked and abominable fictions.

Once these Turks were very powerful, and kept all Europe in a state of alarm by their fierce and mighty

armies and the dreadful terror of their name; but of late years their power has been broken, and they have lost many of their territories - Greece and Egypt and Algiers having lately been wrested from them; and even now, Russia would soon crush them or drive them out if France and England did not prevent.

The cause of their present weakness was their love of self-indulgence. The highest happiness a Turk knows is to bathe in some marble pool and then lie down on a large soft cushion, or walk about, smoking his long pipe. Thus enervated by love of ease, he has become unable to contend with the hardy and vigorous tribes which inhabit the regions of the north.

Some think that it will not be long ere Russia takes possession of Turkey; and they affirm that the cruel crimes of the Turks in past ages, call for such a punishment: but we cannot approve of such conduct. We would rather far hear that something was doing to convince them that their religion is a deception. We would have the Bible take the place of the Koran, and the mild and peaceful religion of Jesus Christ prevail over the fierce and war-loving spirit of the Arabian impostor.

Some improvement has been made of late years. Christians are now permitted to distribute the Holy Scriptures, and to meet for divine worship; and the people, generally, as well as their rulers, are adopting many European customs which were once scornfully rejected. Let the Christians of England and the United States continue their efforts to diffuse the knowledge of Christ in those regions where the apostles preached the gospel of his salvation, and as nothing in vain man is beyond the power of God to subdue, we may hope that many years will not pass ere the blood-stained cross of Jesus shall be again exhibited, not as an object of superstition, but of faith, and the crescent of Mahomet withdraw itself iuto utter darkness.

ANOTHER ROBINSON CRUSOE.

CHAMBERS', in their "Journal," give the following account of the accidental leaving of a French captain on a small uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa.

That pious feeling amongst sailors which is so frequently awakened by the vicissitudes of their lives, has caused the name of "Providence" to be given to more than one coral reef and desolate

island in the Indian Seas. Rarely, perhaps, has it been more appropriately bestowed than on a small rocky islet which lies to the northward of the Mozambique Channel, a few days' sail from the Isle of Bourbon. This was shown in a notable instance which occurred about thirty years ago. The story is scarcely known even to the mariners of the nation to which the hero of it belonged; and therefore to make it familiar to our readers may not be thought undesirable.

In the year 1820, M. Cremasy, the captain of a Bourbon trading vessel, resolved to visit the little island of Providence, in order to obtain a cargo of cocoa-nut germs for planting in the colony to which he belonged.

Immediately on his anchoring in this manner off Providence, M. Cremasy went on shore, and sent back his boat with her crew to the ship, while he explored the island. He had been thus occupied for some time, when the cable of the pégase broke, and the vessel was carried out to sea by one of the violent currents which set off these shores. The mate made sail as speedily as he could to regain the anchorage; but he was unable to head the current, and night fell while he was endeavouring to do so. The captain, left ashore by this accident, had on at the time

nothing but a jacket and a pair of white trousers, and for his sole weapon a manchette, a kind of short sabre used in boarding. When he found himself condemned to pass the night on this desert island, his first care was to construct a place of shelter; and with the broad leaves of the cocoa-tree he built up an ajoupa, or hut, and made his supper of cocoa-nuts, eating the fruit and drinking the milk. He did not sleep over soundly, for he was tormented by a vague apprehension concerning his vessel; the sense of loneliness oppressed him, and he was somewhat in fear of rats and other noxious animals. At day. break he was on the shore, anxiously looking out to discover a sail on the horizon; but nothing was visible through the misty morning air. The sun rose and dispelled the mist, but his rays fell only on a wide expanse of azure sea, unbroken by any vessel.

He sat down on a rock, and began to meditate profoundly on his future destiny. There was but one course open to him-to bestir himself for the supply of his daily wants. With his manchette in his hand, he set out once more to explore the territory of which he was the unwilling sovereign. He got nothing but a cocoa-nut for breakfast, and dined also upon the same fruit-a luxury to a schoolboy, but not held in equal estimation by a hungry sailor,