al death, without danger or offence
to the Sultan. Whether this story be true or not is now a manner of
so little consequence that it would not repay the trouble of a strict
historical investigation.

The year 1727 was drawing to its close, when on a dark stormy night
the howling and barking of the numerous dogs in the streets of New
Orleans were observed to be fiercer than usual, and some of that class
of individuals who pretend to know everything, declared that by the
vivid flashes of the lightning, they had seen swiftly and stealthily
gliding toward the residence of the _unknown_ a body of men who wore
the scowling appearance of malefactors and ministers of blood. There
afterwards came also a report that a piratical-looking Turkish vessel
had been hovering a few days previous in the bay of Barataria. Be it
as it may, on the next morning the house of the stranger was deserted.
There were no traces of mortal struggle to be seen; but in the garden
the earth had been dug, and _there_ was the unmistakable indication of
a recent grave.

Soon, however, all doubts were removed by the finding of an
inscription in Arabic characters, engraved on a marble tablet, which
was subsequently sent to France. It ran thus: "The justice of heaven
is satisfied, and the date-tree shall grow on the traitor's tomb. The
sublime Emperor of the faithful, the supporter of the faith, the
omnipotent master and Sultan of the world, has redeemed his vow. God
is great, and Mohammed is his prophet. Allah!" Some time after this
event, a foreign-looking tree was seen to peep out of the spot where a
corpse must have been deposited in that stormy night, when the rage of
the elements yielded to the pitiless fury of man, and it thus
explained in some degree this part of the inscription, "the date-tree
shall grow on the traitor's grave."

Who was he, or what had he done, who had provoked such relentless and
far-seeking revenge? Ask Nemesis,--or, at that hour when evil spirits
are allowed to roam over the earth and magical invocations are made,
go and interrogate the tree of the dead.

MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY.

~1806=1873.~

MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, the "Pathfinder of the Sea," was born in
Spottsylvania County, Virginia, reared in Tennessee, and entered the
Navy in 1825, rising to be lieutenant in 1837. In 1839 he met with an
accident which lamed him for life, and he thenceforward spent his time
in study and investigation of naval subjects. Under