424 ALEXANDRIA TO COS. 
CHAP, attempted to assist, and even spoke to the 
t.iiwy- ' Captain. His rage, upon being addressed by an 
infidel at this critical moment, exceeded all 
bounds. He spat first upon the deck', then into 
the sea, attributing the accident entirely to our 
presence on board, and cursing the whole race 
of Christians, as the authors of all the ill-luck 
he had ever experienced. The gale increased; 
but it came on from the north-west with more 
steady violence, and, by taking it in poop, and 
running before it, according to the invariable 
practice of the Turks, we were secure as long 
as sea-room could be found. It continued in 
this manner durinsf one entire niaht ; and if it 
had not abated the next morning, Sept. '28th, the 
ship, being suffered to drive, would have been 
wrecked upon the first lee-shore that intervened 
in her course towards the south-east. This day, 
at noon, the author having found an excellent 
sextant in the ward- room, which had been taken 
from a French prisoner, made an observation of 
the ship's latitude ; and calculating, as well as 
he was able, the course she had made, upon a 
(1) The Oriental mode of cursing, by spitting vpon the ground. 
Allusion has been already mads to this practice in the former Chajiter. 
See p. 400, Note (l). 
