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shore of the Mediterranean. At the Council of Carthage, A. D. 253, Millman tells us that “there were no fewer than eighty-seven bishops present and an equal number of presbyters, and that there were 580 sees between Cyrene and the Atlantic.”

Speaking of sees, one is reminded of Bishop Potter's answer to the young lady who was walking with the genial ecclesiastic one Sunday morning at Long Branch. Looking out upon the ocean with a longing glance and wishing at the same time to get spiritual advice upon the problem distressing her soul, she turned to the bishop and said appealingly:

“Bishop, is it wrong to take an ocean bath on Sunday?”

The bishop, remembering that he was in New Jersey and not in New York, replied with dignity:

“My dear child, this is not my see.

While the new town of Algiers is interesting, it resembles Marseilles or Liverpool more than a town on African soil. The French are rapidly transferring the town from Moorish into European style.

It will take a long time, however, to replace the crowded city with one of modern buildings. If the new part is interesting, the old part is unique. One must not be too fastidious, however, as he picks his way through the narrow streets, perhaps brushing a wall

one or both sides with his elbows. It is said that the dirt which chokes the sides of these alleys is to the dirt of Italy as the dirt of Italy is to the dirt of

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on

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Whitechapel; but so fascinating are the old shops with their brass work and embroidery that ladies especially forget their fear of typhoid fever and similar diseases while they stand bargaining for rare examples of Algerian work.

The mosques of Algiers are extremely interesting, and entering them one sees the great care taken by the worshipers to appear clean and tidy in their sacred edifice. The walls are devoid of pictures and statues, in striking contrast to the cathedrals in Spain. Cheap rugs lie on the floor which no infidel foot can rest upon until it is covered with a sacred slipper. In the back of the mosque there is a fountain, and before going over the sacred rugs the worshipers bathe their faces, arms, necks and chests, and then wash their feet, waiting for the flesh to dry without the use of towels. Then they pick up their sandals and outer garments, and walking leisurely to one of the pillars, they bow, touching the floor three times with their foreheads, entirely oblivious of the curious. The effect is impressive in the extreme. Every man seems to be in the actual presence of his Maker, and a nonMoslem feels out of place amid such devotion. Malta has been termed "England's eye in the Med

" * iterranean,” and one feels as his ship threads her way through the narrow entrance in the harbor and turning around backs up alongside the splendid breakwater in full view of the overshadowing guns, that the appellation is well deserved. Great Britain is justly proud of her Mediterranean Squadron, which can reach the harbor of Alexandria or Piræus or enter the Dardanelles at short notice, if “moral pressure”' is needed at any place.

The main street of Valetta, the principal city of the island, is lined with fine houses, having little stonecovered balconies which lend a peculiar character to the buildings. The principal places of interest, aside from the Government Palace and the Church of St. John, are the Opera House and the Union Club. On the church the Knights lavished their riches.

The Church of St. John, as the Cathedral is called, is constantly thronged with visitors. This famous edifice was begun in 1573, but its special interest centers about the Knights of Malta, the marble slabs in the nave of the church, placed among the mosaics in the floor, being memorials of the knights and nobles who are buried underneath the coats-of-arms, musical instruments, angels, crowns, palms, skeletons and other singular devices. These were walked on by the curious and thoughtless on their way to see the splendid marble statue in a single piece of “John Baptizing Jesus,” back of the high altar or cross, the nave to the chapel at the left containing the great painting of the “Beheading of St. John,” by Caravaggio. In the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament there is a silver railing, preserved from the rapacity of Napoleon's soldiers by a priest, who painted it black. In this chapel also, underneath the altar, are the ancient keys

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of Jerusalem, Acre and Rhodes, the former residences of the Knights before they came to Malta.

The Tapestry Room and the Armory Hall in the Government Palace and a peculiar chapel known as the Chapel of Bones, especially attract visitors. It is said that there are two thousand skulls arranged on the walls and ceiling of this underground structure, not to speak of legs and arms innumerable.

When one is approaching Malta he should refresh his memory on the experiences of Paul, and read again the story of his shipwreck on the way from Jerusalem to Rome. Standing on the shore of St. Paul's Bay a few miles from Valetta one recalls that after the damage wrought by Euroclydon, when the ship which bore Paul toward Rome “could not bear up into the wind,” in the expressive English of the Authorized Version, they “let her drive." He sees again with Luke the vision of the angel who assured Paul that Italy and not Malta was his final destination, but that a temporary stop must be made at Malta.

He remembers also that two hundred and seventy-six passengers and members of the crew escaped to shore under Paul's direction, some by swimming and some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. The story of Paul's kindly reception by the people of Malta, though they were “barbarous people,” and his apparently miraculous escape from the viper which fastened on his hand, and his remaining on the island three months until the party was picked up by a ship from Alexandria on its way to Sicily and Italy—all this and more is in the mind and on the lips of every Christian who visits this memorable place.

St. Paul's Tower and the Chapel erected near it, with crude paintings and frescoes illustrating the famous shipwreck, may be seen at this day.

A great statue of Paul was erected by the Maltese on Selmoon Island about fifty years ago, and on February 10, the alleged date of the disaster, a great festival is held. At Citta Vecchia, the ancient capital of Malta, one may see the Cathedral of St. Paul, built on the supposed site of the residence of Publius, "the chief man of the island, who received us and lodged us three days courteously,” according to Luke, and whose father lay ill of fever, whom Paul healed.