the Black Sea, because he anticipated a higher price for his corn than it would have fetched in Egypt.

No peasant is permitted to quit the country, and give up agriculture, which is thus overtaxed, and seek some other mode of life in the city.'-pp. 52-54.

This part of the population being thus reduced to a state but little removed from slavery, we will hastily glance at the condition of those who are supported by trade and manufacture.

Till the year 1815, Mehemet Ali had taken no other share in commerce than the sale of permissions for exporting various native productions; the industry of the country was entirely unfettered, and had acquired some consequence by the manufacture of cotton, woollen, and linen fabrics, the making of sugar, dyeing with indigo, working up of old copper, preparing leather, and some few other branches of manufacture.'-p. 54.

This prosperity has been annihilated by the pascha's grasping disposition, of which the following illustration given by our author may suffice.

The hide of every beast that is slain must be delivered to the pascha or to his farmer; when it has been tanned by the government, the leather is sold for the use of the natives at a price ten times greater than that at which it could naturally have been produced.'-p. 59.

Baskets, matting, linen, indigo, &c., are all under similar regulations.

As a pleasing relief to these scenes of oppression, we will mention the seminary at Boulak, near Cairo, established by Mehemet Ali in 1819. The number of lads is considerable; instruction is given in the grammar of the Turkish and Arabic languages, arithmetic, geometry, drawing, natural history, geography, French, and Italian. The advantages of the institution begin to be properly estimated; the disinclination to it was at first so great, that it was found necessary to purchase the good will of the parents. This school rendered a printing-press necessary; one was established in 1819; many European compendiums translated into Arabic have issued from it. We have not room to do more than mention his separation of the military from the civil power-his patronage of the medical professionhis establishment of a school of artillery-a naval school-and a veterinary college. The reckless waste of human life in the construction of the canal which communicates between the Nile and the harbor of Alexandria is well known.

Chapter III. consists of sketches and Notices of Lower Egypt. The prosperity of Alexandria, the population of which

city amounts to 60,000 souls, forms a striking contrast with the deplorable condition of other parts of the country.

In the many large villages, which are very numerous in Lower Egypt, one third is frequently forsaken, and the inhabitants of the remaining two thirds are in the most abject poverty. No trace remains of the silver ornaments of the female sex, furniture is fast vanishing from the houses, the cattle are becoming fewer, and the date-trees are diminishing in number.'-p. 88.

The following observations of our author are not unimportant, as being calculated to remove a general misconception.

With reference to the fertility of Egypt a very erroneous impression prevails generally throughout Europe, occasioned by the publications of ill-informed authors, who have written on the agriculture of this country. These persons commonly assert that a harvest is reaped three or four times a year from those lands which lie on each bank of the Nile. The truth really is, that, with the exception of gardens, the ground is never sown more than twice in the year; the natural inundation of the river suffices for the first crop, to sow the seed and gather in the harvest is all that is required; for the second a constant artificial irrigation is necessary. The much-praised fertility of this district really consists in the fields requiring no manure for either crop, as the slime deposited by the natural inundation is sufficient for both, and a failure of the corn-harvest is unknown. The first sowing takes place shortly after the retreat of the waters, that is to say, in November, and the harvest will be in March; the second, which is preceded by an artificial watering of the fields, is between April and August. The sudden rise of the river frequently damages this second crop, as the land is flooded before the corn is quite ripe. In cultivating the cotton and sugar-cane, which require long-continued artificial irrigation, those lands are used which are protected by means of small dams against the impetuosity of an inundation. The produce of the harvest, as compared with the sowing, is often ridiculously exaggerated in the narratives of Europeans. The following is the result of my inquiries respecting the four kinds of grain that are chiefly sown in Egypt. A piece of land of equal size and similarly circumstanced produces in one harvest-of wheat fifteen times the quantity sown, of barley eighteen times, of beans twenty-four times, and of maize thirty-five times.'

-pp. 91, 92.

Our author, in his fourth chapter, notices the following curious usage which prevails with reference to such Arab vessels as navigate the Red Sea.

"The owner selects among the Beduin tribes along the coast which he chiefly frequents, some chieftain, under whose special protection he places the ship and her cargo. This chief, to whom the name of Kafier is given, engages to employ all his influence, that in the event

of any disaster at sea befalling the craft for which he is guarantee, neither the ship nor its cargo shall be plundered by Beduins. The owner in return pledges himself to give his protector annually a certain quantity of cotton cloth or money, and when the vessel lies at anchor off a place where the Kafier or one of his dependants resides, the captain furnishes him with rations of meal, rice, and coffee."—p. 110.

On the 5th of May, 1831, our authorl eft the harbor of Tor, the Raito of ancient geography, having despatched one of the company to make corresponding barometrical observations along the shore of the Red Sea, whilst he ascended the mountains. His only companions were one European and two Beduins of the tribe of Soelhe. He directed his steps to the village of El Wadi, which is inhabited by about thirty Arab families, who are supported chiefly by the sale of water and other provisions to the travellers landing at the harbor of Tor. They also derive considerable profit from a large date plantation, which is the property of the Convent of Mount Sinai. At the time of gathering the fruit a cloth is spread beneath the tree, all that falls into the cloth belongs to the monks, the rest to the Beduins. As an Arab always climbs the tree, it is easy to guess where most of the fruit falls.

The following is the account he gives of his ascent of Mount Sinai.

Early in the morning of the 7th of May, I ascended Mount Sinai called by the Arabs Gebel Musa. From the monastery to the chapel at the summit of the mountain, occupies an hour and a quarter; the path is steep, but not very difficult; pieces of rock are laid all the way so as to serve for steps; but so unequal in size, that I could not venture to estimate the height of the mountain by the number of them, as Seetzen did when he ascended in 1806. The whole mountain consists of vertical strata of a fine-grained, grey granite, composed of equal parts of felspar and quartz intermingled with a very small quantity of mica; low bushes shoot up in all directions between the masses of stone, and afford a delicious sustenance for the goats. The top of the mountain is a single summit, with a small level place on which is erected a little Christian chapel: at no great distance, but rather lower, stands a mosque, near to which is a cistern of excellent water. The Christian chapel terminates the journeyings of the different religionists; according to tradition it covers the spot where Moses received the tables of the Ten Commandments.

The prospect from the summit of Sinai is bounded on the E. S. and W. by lofty mountains: on the N. alone the eye ranges over an extensive landscape, whose yellow, sandy level, broken by low rocks of black porphyry, forms a contrast that produces a singular impression.'-pp. 117, 118.

Our author bears testimony to the accuracy of Burckhardt's description of Sinai. Dr. Rüppell claims the honor of being

the first to estimate the height of this mountain with any degree of correctness; he sets it at 7035 French feet above the level of the sea at Tor. On the following day he ascended Horeb, or Catherine's Mount, the height of which he found to be 8063 French feet.

On his return from this excursion he was compelled to take up his residence again for some time at Cairo, and await the arrival of those remittances which were to enable him to set out on his travels to Abyssinia. On the 29th of July, just one month from the date of his departure from Cairo, he arrived at Djetta. The journal he kept on his voyage down the Red Sea forms the subject of chapter V. During his stay at this town he witnessed a procession celebrating the conversion of an Abyssinian Christian priest to the Mohamedan faith. These conversions are by no means infrequent; the most unworthy motives often induce the possessors of a nominal faith to change it for a system that will better promote their temporal interests. The man referred to in this case had changed his religion for the third time.

From this town our author went to Massaua, and next made an excursion to the valley of Modat. Whilst he staid at Arkiko he had the good fortune to be present at the wedding of the Naib's second son, Mehemet, with a daughter of the Scheik of Afté and Zula. After saying that the Kaimakan's landing was announced by a salute of artillery, and the continued firing of the soldiers, which lasted till our traveller and this important personage had arrived at the house of the Naib; he proceeds,

'On our arrival at his residence we reclined on sofas, and were regaled with coffee and honey-water. The Naib wore the suit with which I had presented him; but the bridegroom until after dinner was dressed in his every-day clothes, a dirty cotton cloth, and was by no means distinguished from the rest of the company, who took not the slightest notice of him. Till dinner the guests were entertained with the singing of four Abyssinians, who accompanied their songs, which were in part impromptu, with the notes of a one-stringed violin.'

-p. 238.

The company were divided into two classes at dinner, the nobility partaking first, and the others regaling on the fragments left by their superiors.

The repast consisted of roast mutton literally swimming in butter, rice-pillav, and very greasy cakes, on which honey was poured. After the meal the company retired to a neighboring courtyard to witness the dancing, or rather jumping, of two nearly naked men, having one or two swords in their hands. Time was beaten on a kettle-drum, and the female spectators sang in a low tone, whilst the men from the

neighborhood awaited with impatience the signal that permitted them to fall upon two camels which were given on the occasion.

Among the guests were some Schohos, with their hair standing on end, six inches long, stiffened with a quantity of mutton suet smeared on it so as to make it almost grey; others of these fashionables were strongly scented with civet; several old men had dyed their beards of a brick-dust hue. There was nothing remarkable in their dress; the inhabitants of Arkiko almost without exception wore over their shoulders a dirty ragged cloth, which had once had the form of a tunic.

Three hours after evening-prayer came the most important part of the ceremony, at least as far as the Naib was concerned. A herald, or public crier, summoned all the company to range themselves in a circle in front of the house. The bridegroom was then introduced, arrayed in a scarlet mantle, with the beating of drums and a doleful kind of song; over him was carried a white cloth, supported on four poles, beneath which he modestly took his seat on a straw mat. A piece of muslin was now thrown over him, and a naked sword was laid at his feet. Naib Jahia and his deposed predecessor, Naib Etman, sat near him in great wooden arm-chairs; both wore large green caps like those of the mullahs in Cairo, and a wide benisch of red cloth that had seen much service. The herald again proclaimed silence, and asked for the wedding presents, which he then began to collect.'-pp. 239, 240.

After this begging scene was over, the company retired amidst the blowing of trumpets and firing of muskets, to an open space outside the town; some fakirs then addressed the bridegroom in speeches expressive of their good wishes. Α nosegay of aromatic plants being given to each guest, the feast ended.

Our author's residence on the island of Dahalak, excursion to the ruins at Zula, and abode at Massaua till his departure for Abyssinia, form the contents of chap. IX. The Abyssinian coast, he informs us, is inhabited south of Massaua to Bab el Mandeb, by an independent tribe, called the Danakils, who devote themselves entirely to fishing and a seafaring life; their name is derived from Donak, signifying in the Tigré language a ship. Dr. Rüppell considers them from their physiognomy, dress, and language, to be of Abyssinian origin, and identical with the people of Tigré. The island he believed to be of volcanic origin. Its population he estimates at 1500 souls. Near to Dahalak Kebir, the chief settlement, are fifteen cisterns, with carved figures, the remains of a civilization that has long since vanished. A little to the north-west is a large square, with tombs and several chapels in the elegant Saracenic style of architecture of the thirteenth century. The inscriptions are mostly on black syenite, in Coptic and Arabic characters; none of the present inhabitants can read the former. The prosperity of the island arises from its pearl-fishery and its security against