33° STUDIES OF NATURE. 



I was confirmed in this idea by the fight of the 

 water, which ftill flowed, in yellow currents, along 

 tlie roads. I farther concluded, that thefe waters 

 muft, of neccffity, empty themfelves into fome 

 brook, and this brook into the river. I was about 

 to follow thefe indications, when fome men, who 

 came out of an adjoining cottage, compelled me, 

 with a threatening tone, to enter. I then perceived 

 that I was free no longer, and that I had become 

 the flave of a people, who, I once flattered myfelf, 

 would have honoured me as a God. 



I call Jupiter to witnefs, oh, Cephas ! that the 

 affliction of having been fhipwrecked in port, of 

 feeing myfelf reduced to fervitude by thofe, for 

 whofe benefit I had travelled fo far, of being rele- 

 gated to a barbarous country, where I could make 

 myfelf underftood by no perfon, far from the de- 

 lightful country of Egypt, and from my relations, 

 did not equal the diftrefs which I felt in having loft 

 you. I called to remembrance the wifdom of your 

 counfels ; your confidence in the Gods, of whofe 

 providence you taught me to be fenfible, even in 

 the midft of the greateft calamities ; your obfer- 

 vations on the Works of Nature, which repleniflied 

 her to me, with life and benevolence ; the tran- 

 quillity in which you fo well knew how to main- 

 tain all my paffions : and I felt, by the gloom 

 which was gathering around my heart, that I had 



loft, 



