rks or Egyptians, which they are;
others, also of Oriental aspect, in red caps with blue silk tassels--the
fez. In short, he sees sailors of all nations and colours, from the
blonde-complexioned Swede and Norwegian to the almost jet-black negro
from Africa.

But while endeavouring to guess the different nationalities, a group at
length presents itself which puzzles him. It is composed of three
individuals--a man, boy, and girl, their respective ages being about
twenty-five, fifteen, and ten. The oldest--the man--is not much above
five feet in height, the other two short in proportion. All three,
however, are stout-bodied, broad-shouldered, and with heads of goodly
size, the short slender legs alone giving them a squat diminutive look.
Their complexion is that of old mahogany; hair straight as needles,
coarse as bristles, and crow-black; eyes of jet, obliqued to the line of
the nose, this thin at the bridge, and depressed, while widely dilated
at the nostrils; low foreheads and retreating chins--such are the
features of this singular trio. The man's face is somewhat forbidding,
the boy's less so, while the countenance of the girl has a pleasing
expression--or, at least, a picturesqueness such as is commonly
associated with gipsies. What chiefly attracts Henry Chester to them,
however, while still further perplexing him as to their nationality, is
that all three are attired in the ordinary way as other well-dressed
people in the streets of Portsmouth. The man and boy wear broadcloth
coats, tall "chimney-pot" hats, and polished boots; white linen shirts,
too, with standing collars and silk neckties, the boy somewhat foppishly
twirling a light cane he carries in his kid-gloved hand. The girl is
dressed neatly and becomingly in a gown of cotton print, with a bright
coloured scarf over her shoulders and a bonnet on her head, her only
adornment being a necklace of imitation pearls and a ring or two on her
fingers.

Henry Chester might not have taken such particular notice of them, but
that, when opposite him, they came to a stand, though not on his
account. What halts them is the sight of the starred and striped flag
on the _Calypso_, which is evidently nothing new to them, however rare a
visitor in the harbour of Portsmouth. A circumstance that further
surprises Henry is to hear them converse about it in his own tongue.

"Look, Ocushlu!" exclaims the man, addressing the girl, "that the same
flag we often see in o