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 tians. They say, and firmly believe, that angels are sent by God to strike those people who are intended as a sacrifice. All those who receive the stroke must inevitably die, but those that receive the infection through fear only escape or recover. When they feel themselves infected, they say, anna matrubbel cuppa! which signifies, I am struck, or smitten, by the plague. As the 17th of June, according to the Cophts, is the festival of the Archangel Michael, on which day he lets a drop of water of such a fermenting quality fall into the river, as occasions its overflowings; they say that, at the same time, he, as the chief of all the other angels, orders all those occupied in striking the people to retire. The Cophts add, that if any of them should still lurk about in the dark after that day, they must absolutely fly before St John on the 24th of June. A thinking mind, though it acknowledges the hand of God in every thing, cannot con-