52 
LETTERS FROM 
to venture in, we lay to for an hour, and let 
off some rockets to give notice of our arri¬ 
val. One of these rockets reminded me of my 
first essays in the pyrotechnic art, for instead 
of mounting gloriously into the heavens, it 
darted off in a horizontal direction, and 
plunged into the sea before it was half burnt 
out. By seven o’clock we were moored in 
the quarantine harbour, where the packet 
remained twenty-four hours to take in a sup¬ 
ply of coals, and to allow time for the mails 
to be made up. We were now informed 
that we must undergo fourteen days purifica¬ 
tion in our present quarters, the lazaret, but 
our two fellow-passengers from England, who 
were bound for Alexandria, escaped this im¬ 
prisonment, embarking the same day in a 
steamer for the Levant. The three gentle¬ 
men from Gibraltar have apartments next to 
ours, and these are our only companions in 
captivity at present. 
