DEPARTURE FROM PATMOS. 
his vessel to any particular point ; and calling 
to our interpreter, bade him notice what he 
termed, in Greek, " the belching of the deep" This 
happens during the roll of a calm, when a wave, 
lifted to a great height, suddenly subsides, with 
a deep and hollow sound, like air bursting 
through a narrow channel. Our. apprehensions 
had already got the better of our indifference to 
such observations; ancl in a very different tone 
of voice from that in which we had ordered him 
out of port, we asked the Captain, What that 
noise denoted ? He calmly replied, that it was 
generally considered as a bad omen ; but that 
he more disliked the appearance which he had 
desired us to notice before we left the harbour. 
Being by this time heartily sick of our usurped 
authority, we begged that he would be guided 
in future by the dictates of his own experience ; 
and, further, requested that he would put back 
into port. This he affirmed to be impossible ; 
that he would not venture towards a lee-shore 
during the night for any consideration. We 
prepared therefore to suffer, as we had deserved, 
for our extreme folly and rashness, and, strange 
as it may seem, not without many an anxious 
thought for the antient Manuscripts we had on 
board. The crew lighted a wax taper before a 
small picture of some Saint in the foreship ; all 
9 
