with botany; but as I had seen nothing of this in him before, I
asked what strange freak had taken him.

"You were talking to that old man," he said.

"Well, yes, I was."

"That is the relation of whom I have spoken to you."

"The d- he is!"

"And I would avoid him, if it be possible."

I then learned that the old gentleman was his uncle. He had no
living father or mother, and he now supposed that his relative was
going to Jerusalem in quest of him. "If so," said I, "you will
undoubtedly give him leg bail, unless the Austrian boat is more than
ordinarily late. It is as much as we shall do to catch it, and you
may be half over Africa, or far gone on your way to India, before he
can be on your track again."

"I will tell you all about it at Alexandria," he replied; and then
he scrambled up again with his horse, and we went on. That night we
slept at the Armenian convent at Ramlath, or Ramath. This place is
supposed to stand on the site of Arimathea, and is marked as such in
many of the maps. The monks at this time of the year are very busy,
as the pilgrims all stay here for one night on their routes
backwards and forwards, and the place on such occasions is terribly
crowded. On the night of our visit it was nearly empty, as a
caravan had left it that morning; and thus we were indulged with