scriptions. The principal town is called El-Kargeh. Here are the remains of a temple beautifully situated in the midst of a rich grove of palm trees. Near El-Kar geh, there is also a regular necropolis or cemetery, containing 200 or 300 buildings of unburned brick, chiefly of a square shape, and each surmounted by a dome simi lar to the small mosques erected over the graves of sheiks. At distances of a few miles, some other remains of ancient temples are found. This whole oasis has always been and still is dependent on Egypt. None of the other oases of the desert present us with any object worthy of being dwelt upon.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIETY AND ART.

"This, then, is the necropolis, or city of the dead. But where was Meroe, its temples and palaces? A large space, about 2000 feet in length, and the same distance from the river, strewed with burnt brick and with some fragments of walls, and stones similar to those used in the erection of the pyramids, formed, doubtless, part of that celebrated site. The idea that this is the exact situation of the city, is strengthened by the remark of Strabo, that the walls of the habitations were built of bricks. These indicate, without doubt, the site of that cradle of the arts which distinguish a civilized from a barbarous society. Of the birthplace of the arts and sciences, the wild natives of the adjacent villages have made a miserable burying place: of the city of the learned-its cloudcapt towers,' its gorgeous palaces,' its solemn temples,' there is left not a reck behind.' The sepulchres alone of her departed kings have fulfilled their destination of surviving the habitations which their philosophy taught them to consider but as inns, and are now fast mouldering into dust. As at Memphis, scarcely a trace of a palace or a temple is to be seen. In this once populous plain, I saw the timid gazelles fearlessly pasturing. The hyenas and wolves abound in the neighbouring hills. This morning Signor B. met a man with the head of one which he was carrying in triumph to his village: he said that he had been attacked at once by three small ones when alone, and with no weapon but his lance. The small villages of Bagromeh, south of the ruins, consist of circular cottages with thatched conical roofs. The peasants have numerous flocks, which they send to pas-tribution; but its chief source of revenue was in manuture on the plain. On the banks of the river I observed cotton, dourah, and barley. Such is the present state of Meroe. It is an ample requital for my toilsome journey, to have been the first to bring to England accurate architectural drawings, &c., of all the remains of the ancient capital of Ethiopia, that city which will ever live in the grateful recollection of those who love the arts."*

Returning to Egypt, the description of the country may be concluded by a notice of those fertile districts in the desert at a distance from the Nile, and termed Oases.

THE OASES.

Oasis is a Coptic word signifying an inhabited place, and is usually applied to a fertile spot or island in the midst of a sandy desert. The Oases of Egypt are found at intervals in the middle of that vast plain of arid sand called the Libyan Desert. There are several of them, which are named, according to their size or situation, the Great, Little, Western, Northern, &c.

The discoveries which have been made in modern times by travellers (chiefly French, Italian, and English) in Egypt, although disclosing the remarkable remains of pyramids, temples, and tombs, which have been above adverted to, do not give any just idea of the grandeur and opulence of the ancient Egyptian dynasties. We learn from Josephus, Diodorus, Herodotus, and other historians, that at one time Egypt and the adjoining provinces under its sway contained 20,000 (some say 30,000) populous cities, and as many as 7,000,000 of inhabitants. At that early period (2300 to 1000 years before Christ) the country was also more fertile, and much less encroached upon by sandy deserts than it now is. Besides depending on its internal resources, it drew great wealth from the territories which it laid under con

facturing industry and commerce. Its artisans excelled in all manner of handicraft employments, and its merchants conducted an export and import traffic on a most extensive scale; in short, Egypt was long the Great Britain of its day-the most industrious and wealthy nation in the world.

It is interesting to know what was the constitution of Egyptian society in these days of ancient glory. It was that of castes similar to what still exists in India. According to the best authorities, the first or chief caste was that of the priests, to whom the king necessarily belonged, as a species of pope or temporal head; the second was composed of the soldiers and agriculturists: the third of the artificers, tradesmen, merchants, builders and professional men; and the fourth consisted of shepherds, fishermen, servants, and all other orders of common peo ple. All the learning of a refined or metaphysical kind was confined to the order of priests, who were of various classes, each following its appointed duty; for example, each deity had its own order of priests. The judges and The Northern, or Oasis of Siwah.-This place, which magistrates were also priests, as likewise were the sacred is about 300 miles distant from Cairo, and about 100 scribes, the officers who examined and set their seal on from the Nile, is peculiarly interesting, from its being the sacrifices, the attirers of the statues of the gods, the supposed to enclose the far-famed temple of Jupiter Am-keepers of the sacred robes, the doctors, the carriers of the The Oasis is about six miles long, and from four to five broad. It is pretty fertile, and contains about 8000 inhabitants. The capital is called Siwah. Besides the splendid remains of the temple, supposed to be that of Jupiter Ammon, are the ruins of other sacred places, and a number of sepulchral excavations.

mon.

Great Oasis.This Oasis is formed of a number of

fertile isolated spots, which lie in a line parallel to the course of the Nile, and to the mountains which bound the valley of Egypt on the west. It is about two days' journey from the nearest part of the valley of the Nile. The patches of firm land are separated from one another by deserts of twelve or fourteen hours' walk-so that the whole extent of this Oasis is nearly 100 miles, the greater proportion consisting of a desert. It contains many gardens watered with rivulets, and its palm groves exhibit a perpetual verdure. According to a more recent account, it contains Egyptian ruins covered with hieroglyphic in

Travels in Ethiopia, by G. A. Hoskins, Esq. 1 vol. 4to. Lonion, Longman & Company, 1838.

sacred emblems in the processions, the bearers of the small statues, the preservers of the sacred animals, the sprink lers of water in the temples, the embalmers of bodies, the drivers away of flies from the countenances of the gods, and various other functionaries. Thus, the Egyptian priesthood, with the king at their head as a sort of deity, were a formidable body among the people, both from the power with which they were invested and their number; and it need hardly be mentioned that they appropriated to themselves by far the largest share of all the good things with which the land abounded, or which the industry of the nation introduced from foreign countries. The enormous sums which must have been lavished by them in the erection of temples and palaces are beyond all calculation; and when we consider that this vast expenditure went towards the adoration of crocodiles, bulls, dogs, storks, snakes, and other animals, or at least of a tribe of gods whom these creatures were imagined to represent, we are overwhelmed with the magnitude of the supersti tion, and look upon the ancient Egyptians, with all their

learning, as little advanced on the right road to civilization.

of the control of superiors. His youth, it has been related, was partly spent in the service of a tobacconist, but leaving this employment, which was unsuitable to his genius, he entered the Turkish army as a common soldier, at a time when troops were raising in his native district. This was the sphere of life in which he was calculated to shine. Distinguishing himself as a soldier by his bold and skilful conduct, he soon attracted the attention of beys, pashas, and the sultan himself; and having attained a prominent position in the bloody wars that distracted Egypt under the Mamelukes, he rose to be Pasha, or Viceroy of Egypt, one of the highest posts of honour in the whole Turkish empire. On getting the command of that province, he speedily showed that he' was no ordinary man. He established a regularly paid, disciplined, and armed military force, on the European plan, instead of the irregular bands of men serving as soldiers in Egypt. The remnant of the Mamelukes, that remarkable body of men, which since the days of Saladin had practically governed Egypt by overawing the viceregal authority, he annihilated, and thus became the uncontrolled lord of the land of the Pharaohs, Ptolemies, Cæsars, and Caliphs. By the strictness of his government, he rendered Egypt as safe to travellers as any factures, all engaged his attention; and though his reforms were accomplished with a despotic hand, perhaps with no small degree of cruelty, his conduct deserves our approbation. He may be crafty, cruel, and treacherous, still he has prodigiously advanced the cause of civilization and improvement in Egypt, and, opened the way for further and more important reforms.

A nation, however, as has been a thousand times proved, may have attained considerable proficiency in learning and the arts, and yet be affected by the most ridiculous superstitions. The Egyptians, as appears from hieroglyphics, paintings, and records of various kinds, were adepts at mechanical expedients, and possessed almost all the elegances of refined living which are now common in an improved form in Europe. In the construction of their pyramids and other large buildings, no degree of labour for any length of time seems to have intimidated them. The huge blocks of stone, sometimes weighing 1000 tons each, were dragged for hundreds of miles on sledges, and their transport, perhaps, did not occupy less time than a year; in one case which is known, 2000 men were employed three years in bringing a single stone from a quarry to the building in which it was to be placed. Usually, the sledges were drawn by men yoked in rows to separate ropes, all pull ing at a ring fixed to the block. Where it was possible, the blocks were brought from the quarries on flat-bottomed boats on the Nile. But the transport of these large masses was much more easily accomplished than the placing of them in elevated situations in the build-ordinary civilized country. Agriculture, commerce, manuings. They were raised by the power of levers and inclined planes of immense trouble and cost. One of the largest is the lintel over the doorway leading into the grand hall at Karnac; it measures 40 feet 10 inches long, and five feet square. It is understood that slaves or captives furnished a large share of the moving force in these undertakings; but besides these there was a variety of classes of workers, each carefully trained in the performance of his own particular duty; for instance, in dragging the blocks, there were employed slaves to pull, guards to watch, task-masters to regulate the operations, men with jars to throw water on the ground before the sledges, and, lastly, a person whose duty consisted in marking the time to the cadence of a song to ensure a simultaneous draught. This practice of shouting or singing to mark time during work, as still customary among sailors, is of extremely ancient date, being alluded to in the book of Jeremiah, xxv. 30:-"He shall give a shout as they that tread out the grapes."

Mehemet Ali has a family of several sons, the eldest of whom, Ibrahim Pacha, acts as commander-in-chief of his troops, and is understood to be of a less sagacious mind than his father. It is incontestible that Mehemet Ali has done much to further the advancement of civilization in modern Egypt, but the whole of his efforts have at the same time tended to personal aggrandizement, and to the complete subjection of the people to his will. In order to maintain his authority, he raises troops from amongst the male population by the most tyrannical means; and so much is this forced military service detested, that great numbers of young men mutilate them

The most extraordinary of the customs of this remark-selves, by destroying an eye, or cutting off one or more able people was that of embalming their dead bodies with a view to perpetual preservation in the tomb. The business of embalming was very dignified, and was aided by a host of inferior functionaries who made and painted coffins and other articles which were required. The bodies of the poorer classes were merely dried with salt or natron, and wrapped up in coarse cloths, and deposited in the catacombs. The bodies of the rich and great underwent the most complicated operations, wrapped in bandages dipped in balsam, and laboriously adorned with all kinds of ornaments. Thus prepared, they were placed in highly-decorated cases or coffins, and then consigned to sarcophagi in the catacombs or pyramids. Bodies so preserved have been called mummies, from the Arabian word monia, or the Coptic word mum, signifying bitumen or wax. The quantity of mummies carried off in modern times to England, France, and indeed every European country, has been very considerable. The collection of them, and other Egyptian antiquities, in the British Museum, is very extensive.

fingers, in order to escape the conscription. Having been lately driven from Syria, with a prospect of being permanently confined to Egypt, it is likely that the pasha will relax the excessive military burdens of the people. In the meanwhile, his lust of conquest has led to the exaction of taxes to a degree altogether unheard of in any country laying claim to civilization. "His revenue," says Mr. Lane,* «is generally said to amount to about £3,000,000 sterling. Nearly half arises from the direct taxes on land, and from indirect exactions from the fellaheen (fellahs or agriculturists), the remainder principally from the custom-taxes, the tax on palm-trees, a kind of income tax, and the sale of various productions of the land [no one being permitted to export corn or cotton but himself]; by which sale, the government, in most instances, obtains a profit of more than fifty per cent. The present pasha has increased his revenue to this amount by the most oppressive measures. He has dispossessed of their lands all the private proprietors throughout hi dominions, allotting to each, as a partial compensation, a pension for life proportioned to the extent and quality of the land which belonged to him. The farmer has, therefore, nothing to leave to his children but his hut, and perhaps a few cattle and some small savings.

"The direct taxes on land are proportioned to the natural advantages of the soil. Their average amount

Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyp tians. 2 vols. 1536.

is about 8s. per feddan, which is nearly equal to an
English acre. But the cultivator can never calculate
exactly the full amount of what the government will
require of him he suffers from indirect exactions of
quantities (differing in different years, but always levied
per feddan) of butter, honey, wax, wool, baskets of palm-
leaves, ropes of the fibres of the palm-tree, and other
commodities; he is also obliged to pay the hire of the
camels which convey his grain to the government shooneh
(or granary), and to defray various other expenses. A
portion of the produce of his land is taken by the govern-
ment, and sometimes the whole produce, at a fixed and
fair price, which, however, in many parts of Egypt, is
retained to make up for the debts of the insolvent pea-
sants. The fellah, to supply the bare necessaries of life,
is often obliged to steal, and convey secretly to his hut,
as much as he can of the produce of his land. He may
either himself supply the seed for his land, or obtain it
as a loan from the government; but in the latter case he
seldom obtains a sufficient quantity; a considerable por-
tion being generally stolen by the persons through whose
hands it passes before he receives it. It would be scarcely
possible for them to suffer more, and live. It may be
hardly necessary, therefore, to add, that few of the fellahs
engage with assiduity in the labours of agriculture, un-
less compelled to do so by their superiors. The pasha
has not only taken possession of the lands of the private
proprietors, but he has also thrown into his treasury a
considerable proportion of the incomes of religious and
charitable institutions, deeming their accumulated wealth
superfluous. He first imposed a tax (of nearly half the
amount of the regular land-tax) upon all land which had
become a wuckf (or legacy unalienable by law) to any
mosque, fountain, public school, &c.; and afterwards
took absolute possession of such lands, granting certain
annuities in lieu of them, for keeping in repair the re-
spective buildings, and for the maintenance of those per-
sons attached to them, as nazirs (or wardens), religious
ministers, inferior servants, students, and other pension-
ers."
Mr. Lane subsequently mentions, that sometimes
the poverty of parents causes them to sell their children
to any one who will purchase them, which presents a
shocking idea of the degraded condition of the humble
order of modern Egyptians.

1

opium and indigo, and prepare them for the market There are about two millions of date trees in Egypt, each of which yields by its fruit from 8s. to 16s. per annuin A few attempts have been made to introduce the vine Onions are still produced and consumed in prodigious quantities, as in the days of Herodotus. The pasha has established model farms, with improved ploughs, &c., but even his despotism cannot induce the people to abandon their ancient rude processes and implements.

The pasha is a great manufacturer. He has built large mills, and procured skilled workmen at a great expense from France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and Britain, to conduct them. He has manufactories of cotton yarn and cotton cloth, woollens, carpets, ironware, muskets, cannon, bayonets, gunpowder, &c. All these establishments are believed to be attended with loss to his high ness, and in some cases the loss is heavy. His spinning mills for cotton are the most extensive of his manufactories. There are twenty-two of these, which, according to Dr. Bowring, produce about 210,000 rottoli of yarn monthly, of various qualities, from coarse to “very fine.” The Cairo rottoli is, we believe, just equal to the British pound, while the Alexandrian rather exceeds two pounds. The former, we suppose, is the weight alluded to in this instance; but as the cost of this yarn to the pasha is said to be only L.5270, we suspect there is some mistake in the statement. The men are paid fixed wages, generally about twopence per day, and they are punished with the lash for bad work or misconduct. The pasha has three manufactories of arms, which turn out 1600 muskets and bayonets per month. The largest one is managed by an Englishman, who has five other Englishmen and a number of Arabs under him.

All travellers represent Mehemet Ali as a person of plain and affable manners in private life, and fond of his family. Dr. Bowring speaks of him as follows:- Mehemet Ali was forty-six years old before he had learned either to read or to write. This he told me himself. I have heard that he was taught by his favourite wife. But he is fond of reading now; and one day, when I entered his divan unannounced, I found him quite alone, with his spectacles on, reading a Turkish volume, which he was much enjoying, while a considerable pile of books were by his side. It is a pleasant relief,' he said, ‹ from In pursuing his schemes of improvement and family public business; I was reading some amusing Turkish aggrandizement, Mehemet Ali acts as a despotic mo- stories' (probably the Arabian Nights); and now let nopolist in all matters relating to both agriculture and us talk-what have you to tell me?' There is a great commerce. He not only dictates what article of pro- deal of sagacity in Mehemet Ali's conversation, particuJuce shall be cultivated, but the price at which it shall larly when he knows or discovers, as he usually does, the be sold. According to Dr. Bowring, it appears that in sort of information which his visitor is most able to give. 1834, the country produced about 500,000 quarters of He discourses with engineers about mechanical improvewheat, 450,000 quarters of dourah, 400,000 of beans, ments-with military men on the art of war—with sea280,000 of barley, and 80,000 of maize. Of wheat, officers on ship-building and naval manœuvres-with however, the produce sometimes rises to 1,000,000 of travellers on the countries they have visited—with poliquarters. Dourah or Indian millet (sorghum vulgare) is ticians on public affairs. He very willingly talks of foreign used for bread by the fellahs or labourers. It is the same countries, and princes and statesmen, and is in the habit plant which is raised in the West Indies for food to the of mingling in the conversation all sorts of anecdotes negroes, under the name of Guinea corn. Its price is about himself, and the events connected with his history. 30 or 40 per cent. below that of wheat. The helbeh is His phrases are often poetical, and, like most Orientals, a coarser seed, sometimes nixed with it. The average he frequently introduces proverbs and imagery. I heard price of wheat is from 20s. to 27s. per quarter at Cairo, him once say, speaking of the agriculture of Egypt, but in years of scarcity it rises to 60s. Egypt is gene-When I came to this country, I only scratched it with rally an exporting country, but in 1837 it was forced to draw supplies from abroad. The cultivation of cotton was introduced by the pasha very recently, and succeeds well, the exports of this article in 1834 having been 200,000 cwts.; but as the government is the exclusive purchaser, and only gives what price it pleases, the,fellahs would not raise it unless compelled by the despotic mandates of the pasha. He has endeavoured to extend the cultivation of sugar, has introduced improved sugarmills, and brought persons from the British colonies to He has also invited Armenians from Smyrna and the East Indies, to teach his people how to cultivate

distil ruin.

a pin; I have now succeeded in cultivating it with a hoe; but soon I will have a plough passing over the whole land.'

Mehemet Ali's great pride is Ibrahim Pacha; a victorious leader is always an object of admiration among Mussulmans, and Ibrahim Pacha's career has been one of brilliant military success. His father is fond of talking of his first-born son and intended successor. I did not know him,' he said; I had not an unbounded confi dence in him for many, many years; no, not till his beard was almost as long as my own, and even changing its colour,' said the pasha to ine; but now I can thoroughl

HISTORY OF THE JEWS-HOLY LAND-ARABIA PETRÆEA.