Our joy at finding all obstacles removed, and that we were actually going to visit Jerusalem, was great indeed. The visit had been a subject of pleasing anticipation from the beginning of the cruise, and a disappointment here would have cast a damp upon all our other pleasures. But here we were at last, ashore at Jaffa, mounted and ready to be off; every face cheerful, and our hearts swelling with expected enjoyment. We wound through the low bazaar, and then slipping and stumbling over the execrable pavement of the gateway, found ourselves out in the country, and fairly on our way. And here we turned to look at each other, and enjoy the oddity and grotesqueness of the scene. We were, indeed, a curious looking set of pilgrims. As we arrived ashore, there was a general scrambling for the animals, which, by orders of the governor of Jaffa, had been brought in from the country for the occasion; and as these included every variety, and there was little time for choosing, it was amusing to see the mal-agreement which often occurred between man and beast. A stout and heavy man might be seen sweating and toiling along on the back of one of the most diminutive of donkeys; a graceful cavalier, who prided himself on his horsemanship, and had selected what appeared to be a fine-looking Arab, found himself on an asthmatic animal, which neither whip nor the pins stuck into his boots for lack of spurs, could force from a sluggish walk. Then came along a young midshipman, on a streak of lightning, clinging to the mane or saddle, and agape to find himself in a situation where his superior officers, and even the Commodore, were glad to yield the deck to him. His horse, brought up on the wild hills, is unconscious how sadly he is violating naval etiquette; and away they go, till a turn in the road hides them from our sight. “Give my Jack a punch,” cries one, “the nasty beast, I can’t get him to move;” while at the act, Jack suddenly finds the use of his hinder quarters, and the puncher, from being a grave-looking personage, suddenly takes to hopping and singing, and working his features into the oddest grimace. Some of our company had no animals at all, and others were debating whether they had not better leave those they had; while the animals themselves stood straight up to second the motion. My friend M----, thinking perhaps that necessity hath no law, stepped up coolly to a horse fastened to a bit of shrubbery, and having loosed him, and thrown his Turkey rug over the saddle, seated himself on the top of it; concluding, with good reason, that the owner would soon be after him, and that he could then, perhaps, make a bargain for the beast. It turned out that the horse belonged to a soldier going our way, and who, on promise of a _bakshish_, or present, agreed to this impudent arrangement; but the next morning horse and soldier were missing, and with them the fine, large Turkey rug,--showing how universally we may apply the counsel,