This page has been validated.

11

whose service he continued for some time. Before, however, he had attained his nineteenth year, he abandoned this employment; and went to reside on a farm in the tenure of his brother. In this situation he remained until the independence which the age of manhood confers, permitted him to gratify the leading inclination of his mind, which withdrew him from the interesting and innocent employments of agriculture, to encounter the hardships and perils of the life of a sailor.

Whilst thus employed, he visited various sections of the globe. In a memorandum extant, he relates, that he served eighteen months on board a ship of four hundred tons burthen, in a voyage to Scanderoon, and it is probable that during the stay of the vessel at that port, he made an excursion to the interior of Syria; for he often related, among other incidents connected with his ocean-wandering, that he had visited the memorable spot, where the Saviour of the World conversed with the woman of Samaria, and had refreshed himself by a draft of water