Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe, and along the Shores of the Mediterranean, including a visit to Algiers, Egypt, Palestine ... Cyprus, and Greece. With observations on the present state and prospects of Egypt and Palestine, and on the climate, natural history, antiquities, etc. of...

Front matter

TELME S S U s . VttyJcMttj he J, Mi. ' '" lo tftc f/iw+t J)r**v7efyJ. fynHaUp, rrOMs*'fK*£o*ls ey A-. .__5#ffc^(/»v_£_^-'"" NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE I 0 MADEIRA, TENERIFFE, AND ALONG THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, INCLUDING A VISIT TO ALGIERS, EGYPT, PALESTINE, TYRE, RHODES, TELMESSUS, CYPRUS, AND GREECE. WITU OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OP ' EGYPT AND PALESTINE, AND ON IHE CLIMATE, NATUHAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES, ETC. OP THE COUNTRIES VISITED. BI W. R. WILDE, M.R.I. A. Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Member of the Dublin Natural History Society, Sec. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. DUBLIN WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND COMPANY. 10NGMAN, ORME, BROWNE AND CO. LONDON. 1840. Dublin: Printed by John S. Folds, 5, Barlielor's walk. CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

Chapter I. Egypt

PAGI The present condition of Egypt and character of Mohammad Alee — Diversity of opinions — Impressions received in the Country Parts and in the Cities — Egypt tried by an unfair standard — Prophecies of Ezekiel — Introduction of the Memlooks — Their debasing Government — Testimony of Volney — War of 1802 — Rise of Mohammad Alee — Destruction of the Memlook Beys — Exchange of Tyrants — Native Instruction — The different Colleges, Institutions, and Factories — Grades in Society — Railroads — Basha's Household — His Knowledge of the State — Affection for His Wife — Taxation — Effects of the Battle of Koniah — Regeneration of the Country, and Fulfilment of Prophecy — Affairs in the East — Political State of Egypt — Instability of the Turkish Empire — Extent of Mohammad Alee's Territory — Consequence of Returning this to the Porte — Symbol of the Euphrates — -Eight to Independence — Present State of Turkey — Sooltan's Rule compared with the Viceroy's — Effeot of Mohammad Alee's Independence on European Powers — His Hereditary Possession CONTENTS. IV

Chapter II. Asia Minor

PAGE Departure for Rhodes — A Hurricane — The Gulf of Symi — Its Scenery — Description of the Bay — The Island of Vurnos — Greek Colony — Island of Patelina — Remains of the Knights of St. John — Village of Darachia — Water Tortoises — Climate — Rhodes — Its Harbour — The Knight's Tower — Fortifications — The Strada Cavaliere — Its Council Hall — Escutcheons — A Dream of the Past — The Burial Ground — Ancient Guns — Inhabitants — Greek Quarter — Condition of the Island — Cause of its decay — Auction — Bashalicks — Effect upon the People — The late Reforms — Climate — Leprosy — Zoology — The Colossus and Ancient Harbour — The Basha — His Residence and Costume — Troops — Petrified Beech — A Funeral — A Launch — Visit to Marmorice — Its Scenery — Town — A Serenade — Neighbouring Valleys — Summer Houses — Inhabitants — Bees — Mountain Vegetation — Land Tortoises — The Ancient Physcus — Grave-yards — Fat-tailed Sheep — Bay of Karagatch — The Surrounding Country — Plane Trees — Turkomans — A Shooting Excursion — Proceed to the Gulf of Glaucus . . 28

Chapter III. Asia Minor

The Gulf of Glaucus — Macri — Its Scenery — The Modern Town Its Inhabitants — Unhealthy situation of the place — Telmessus Its Tombs — Barrows — Stelœ — Pillars mentioned by Josephus — Inquiry into the origin of Pillars — Found in the British Isles — Their different uses — The Soros — The Tomb of Helen — Sarcophagi peculiar to Asia Minor — A Warrior's Tomb — Rock-carved Sepulchres Regal Mausolea — Their Facades — An ancient Temple — Remarkable form of its roof — Reflections upon Tombs — The Theatre Description of its Ruins— Acoustics of the Ancients — Cyclopean Proscenium — Magnificent prospect of the Spectators — Surrounding Scenery — The Grecian Drama — The Charms of Travel — The Soothsayer's Cave — Baths — Dromedaries — Climate — Classic Authorities upon Telmessus— The Isle of Cavaliere— Bay of Kalaniaki Kastelorizo — Its Town and Harbour — Navy — Cyprus — Limasol The Cyprian Wine — Unhealthy condition of the Island Sail for S}'ri» CONTENTS. V

Chapter IV. Syria

PAGE Beyrout — Quarantine — Rise of the Sea — Silk Manufactory — Proceed to Jaffa — Lebanon — A Storm — Tyre — Appearance of the Place Inhabitants— Present Condition of Tsour — Comparison of its Ancient Grandeur and Merchandize — Author's desire to Visit it Questions proposed for Enquiry — Position of the Peninsula — Water Tower — Whence its Supply — A Remarkable Rock — Tbe Aqueduct — Marshuk — Its Cistern and Water Works — A Threshing Instrument — Discovery of Ancient Tombs — Their Position — Historic Sketch of the several Cities of Tyre — Its Earliest Mention Chronology of Sir I. Newton — Palæ Tyrus — Its Antiquity — Siege of Salmanazer — Destruction by Nebuchadnezzar — Building of Insular Tyre — Besieged by Alexander — Prophetic Fulfilment — Its History up to the Introduction of Christianity — From that to the Crusades — Probable Site of Palæ Tyre — Opinion of the Count de Bertou — Derivation of the word Tyre — Definition of Palæ — Position of Ancient Cities — Sepulchres — Aqueducts — The Modern Town — Its Population — Remains of the Insular City — Rise of the Sea — Harbours — Submerged Ruins — Discovery of the Dye-pots — Fountains of Solomon — Departure from Tyre — Caipha — Zoology — Proceed to Jaffa 103

Chapter V. Palestine

Jaffa — Lazarettos — Convents — The ancient Harbour — Gardens about Jaffa — Plain of Sharon — Its Verdure — Recollections on passing through it— Its Atmosphere — Villages — Ramlah — Pilgrims — Convent of St. Nicodemus — The Martyr's Tower — Trade of the Town — Monks — Proceed to Jerusalem — Goats — Hill country of Judea — Sterility of Palestine — Beth-horon — Village of Jeremiah — The Terebinthine Vale — The Battle-field of Goliath — An Allegory — First View of the Holy City — The Latin Convent — The Hospicium — Father Benjamin — Visit to the Superior — His Inquiries — Church of the Holy Sepulchre — Its outer Court — Mohammadan Guards — Anointing Stone — Calvary — The Place of the Cross — Altars — Emotion of the Pilgrims — The Holy Sepulchre — Its Pavilion — Description of CONTENTS. VI TAGE the Tomb — Stations and Holy Places — Pillar of Scourging — Singing — Louis Philip — Disgraceful Conduct of the Friars— Recollections of the Crusades — Peter the Hermit — Exciting Scenes in the Church of the Sepulchre — Sensations produced by the Place — The Holy Fire — Its late Fatal Result— Death of 300 Pilgrims — A Midnight Scene in Jerusalem — An Armenian Bishop — The Identity of the Sacred Places . . . . . . . . . 167

Chapter VI. Jerusalem

Topography of Jerusalem — Mode of Constructing Maps — Opinions of Clarke and Buckingham — Plans of Mr. Catherwood — Description of the hills on which the city stands — The Streams and Valleys — Map of the Author — History of the several Cities on this Spot — Salem — Sion — Building of the Temple — Destruction by Nebuchadnezzar — Rebuilt by Zerubbabel — Agrippa's Wall round Bezetha — Errors in Topography — Descriptions of Josephus — Acra and Moriah — The Three Walls — Tower of Hippicus — Circuit of the Ancient City — Tower of Antonia — Tower of Psephinus — The Royal Sepulchres — Walls of Nehemiah — Description of the Gates and Fountains — Establishment of their Sites — The Armoury — Existing Remains of the Ancient City — Cyclopean Work — The Outer Enclosure of the Temple — Mourning Israelites — Berca Solymon — Corroborations — Similarity of Architecture — Authority of Ancient Writers — Circumference of the Ancient and Modern City — .Elia Capitolina 216

Chapter VII. Jerusalem

Promise of a New City — The Labours of Mr. Fry Prophecies Lines of the Prophetic City — Tower of Hananeel The Eastern Wall — The Northern Boundary — Goath — The Southern and Western Wall — The Prophet Ezekiel — His Vision The City-like Temple — Its Meaflurements — Its Supposed Symbolical Meaning Reference to Solomon's Temple — The Eastern Gate Its Architecture — Traditions — Its Station in the Millennial City Remarkable Predictions concerning it — Mohammadan Traditions of .Icrusalem — The Manuscript of Jalal-Addin — Prophecy of Mahadi CONTENTS. VII PAGE Expected Return of Messiah — Dr. Clarke's Topography — His Dis coveries — Position of Mount Sion — Objections of Mr. Buckingham — Their Fallacy — His Map — Refutation of Clarke's Objections — Sepulchres of David — Proofs from the Book of Joshua — Clarke's Knowledge of the Holy City — Authority of the Apostles — Calvary — Vulgar Errors — Golgotha — Identity of the Holy Sepulchre — Grotto of Jeremiah — The Royal Sepulchres — Tombs of the Judges — Their Manner of Construction — The Valley of Jehosaphat — Tomb of the Virgin — Gethsemane — Mount of Olives — Sepulchres of the Patriarchs — Siloam — Valley of Hinnom — The Aceldama. — Discoveries of the Author — The Races of Mankind — Opinion of Dr. Pritchard 259

Chapter VIII. Palestine

The Jews — Their Character in Jerusalem — Number — Benjamin of Tudela — Means of Subsistence — Their Love for the City — Patriotism — Transportation of their bones — Their Language — Synagogues — Ancient Customs — Present State and Prospects — A Touching Scene — Hope — Lepers — Houses — Female Inhabitants — Their Amusements — Missionaries — The English Church — The Different Sects of Christians — The Latin Fathers — A Pharmacy — Greeks — Armenians — Their Convents — Door of the Holy Sepulchre — Copts — Their History and Customs — Effects of the Conscription — An Arab's Love— Pool of Bethesda — Its Remarkable Masonry — Tomb of David — A Prussian Prince— A Navigator of the Dead Sea — Irishmen— Eastern Shepherds — Bethlehem — Its Beautiful Females — Convent — Place of the Nativity — Etham — Solomon's Cisterns— -Aqueduct — Visit to Bethany — Sepulchre of Lazarus — Return to Ramla — Sirocco — Climate of Palestine — An Adventure — How to catch a Mule — Proceed to Europe . . 35S

Chapter IX. Greece

Departure from Jaffa — Flying Fish — Syra — Cape Colouna— Temple of Minerva Sunium — The Piræus — Omnibuses — Athens — View of the Parthenon — Present Condition of the City — Sir Edmund Lyon* CONTENTS. PAGE Society — King Otho — Bavarian Government — The New Palace — Its Cost — The Greek Loan — Destruction of the Pentelic Quarries- Climate of Athens — Accommodation for Invalids — Means of Access — Visit to Marathon — Fossil Beds — Mr. Finlay — His Paper on that Subject — Arrow-heads — Their Similarity to Irish — Varna — Leoshea — Return to Athens — Easter — The Greek Church — Christian Sa lutation — Romaic Dance — Missionaries — Schools — The English Church — Hospitals — Museums — Proceed to the Morea — Napoli di Romania — Tyrus — Tomb of Agamemnon — Mycenæ — Its Lions — Architecture — Argos — Geological Appearance — Gibraltar — Advantages of Yachting — Return to Ireland — Kingstown . . . 438

Appendix

. The House of Togarmuth 467 The Tyrian Dye 468 Anatomical Characteristics of the Heads found in the Aceldama, and Description of the Cranium of a Modern Egyptian . . . 489 Register of the Fahrenheit Thermometer, on board the Crusader Yacht NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE.

Chapter I. Egypt

The present condition of Egvpt and character of Mohammad Alee — Diversity of Opinions — Impressions received in the Country Parts and in the Cities — Egypt tried by an unfair standard — Prophecies of Ezekiel — Introduction of the Memlooks — Their debasing Government — Testimony of Voliiey — War of 1802 — Rise of Mohammad Alee — Destruction of the Memlook Beys — Exchange of Tyrants — Native Instruction — The Different Colleges, Institutions, and Factories — Grades in Society — Railroads — Basha's Household — His Knowledge of the State — Affection for His Wife — Taxation — Effects of the Battle of Koniah — Regeneration of the Country, and Fulfilment of Prophecy — Affairs in the East — Political State of Egypt — Instability of the Turkish Empire — Extent of Mohammad Alee's Territory — Consequence of this returning to the Porte — * Symbol of the Euphrates — Right to Independence — Present State of Turkey — Sooltan's Rule compared with the Viceroy's — Effect of Mohammad Alee's Independence on European Powers — His Hereditary Possession The extraordinary diversity of opinions expressed in Egypt as well as in Europe, regarding the character and government of Mohammad Alee, and the present state of the country, is so remarkable as to demand an inquiry how those opinions have arisen, and how views so different have in their turn been adopted by the visitor and the writer.

Opinions as opposite as the poles, are daily VOL. II. b DIVERSITY OF OPINIONS. formed and promulgated by the traveller, and these will be found to arise not so much from previously conceived ideas, as from the mode in which he views the country, and the reception he there meets with ; circumstances which must, even to the mind least liable tobe prejudiced, tend to bias the judgment. A few years ago Europe rung with the praises of this wonderful man, and vaunted the regeneration wrought in this ancient, highly-favoured, but long degraded land. It has now become the fashion to decry the character of the viceregal occupant of the throne of the Pharaohs. Let us see how these opinions are formed. A traveller arriving in Egypt, by way of the Red Sea, lands at Cosier, and reaches the Nile in the vicinity of the first cataract, for the purpose of examining the ruins of Thebes, Luxor, and Karnak, and the other antiquities of Upper Egypt.

The impression there received of the former grandeur of this ancient people is brought into the strongest contrast with the present unutterable poverty and wretchedness of the natives, who are now, however, allowed, for the first time for ages, the privilege of living. Nay, the trivial circumstance of their inhabiting, in all the squalid misery of want, those mighty monuments of their bygone glory, affects the mind, and warps it from sober and impartial judgment. Unprovided, perhaps, with the magic signature of Mohammad Alee, obstacles present themselves to his antiquarian researches, and the very difficulty IMPRESSIONS OF THE COUNTRY. 3 of procuring boats to convey him down the Nile, (all the boats here belonging to the Basha,) prejudice him against the Fellaheen ; to obtain redress of whom, for some fancied wrong, he applies to some rave nous sheyk, who, for a bribe of a few piasters, sub mits the unfortunate and ignorant accused to the agonies of the Koorbag.

As he proceeds down the river against untoward winds, and suffering daily annoyances from want of the luxuries he has been accustomed to, he meets the conscription officer and tax-gatherer, in the full exercise of their hated and oppressive power ; the former of whom, he sees dragging the peasant from his home, and followed to the water's edge by the curses of the infirm, and the wailings of the mother and the wife ; while many of those who are left behind have purchased their exemption by the mutilation of their limbs, or the partial deprivation of their sight ; and he beholds much of this fertile land waste for want of cultivation. Arrived at Cairo, disgusted with the country, and out of humour with himself, he looks with a jaundiced eye upon the modern manufactories, and other improvements made by the viceroy, whose reception of him may no doubt eradicate some of the impressions he had already received on his voyage down the Nile, but which may be shortly wiped away, perhaps, by the company he meets at his consul's, or the renegade European instructors he may find at his hotel, or in the billiard-room.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE CITY. Others again, landing at Alexandria, receive the opinions of the agent or consul they may be most in contact with, whose judgment may, in turn, have been biassed for or against the government by the result of his last presentation at court — by the political feelings towards the Basha, of the nation he represents — or, by the result of the last commercial speculation he had had with Mohammad Alee, who, being the sole merchant of the country, transacts his business in person, and often strikes a hard bargain. It is the object of all who are not then in favour to enumerate to the traveller every instance of oppression or fancied misgovernment; and to place before him those dreary pictures which almost every country affords of hardships and distress. On the other hand, a visitor appears furnished with such recommendations as insures him a certain degree of attention at court; a deal of pains is con sequently taken that he shall see every thing in the best possible light, and it is made the business of the officials to make the most favourable representations of every circumstance connected with the state of the country, in order to raise it the more highly in his estimation.

Thus he is led to see manufactories, schools, and hospitals, together with well-disciplined troops, fully qualified instructors, artizans skilful in their different departments, and a well-fed population crowding the principal and most opulent parts of the city. To all these his views arc at first generally confined, and in the din and UNFAIR TRIAL OF EGYPT. bustle of such movements, and the interest excited by the novelty and diversity of the scene, he knows not or hears not of the misery without ; and should he ascend into the country, he is borne along in all the ease and luxuriance which can be furnished, and with such supplies for his comfort, that he has no opportunity of demanding from the inhabitants what1 they could not possibly procure. Yea, more than this, it is a positive fact, that fre quently he is supplied with every necessary for his journey, at the expense of the very man whose government he is going to review.

In a word, his first impressions are received, and his opinions formed, from the extreme good he has witnessed and enjoyed in the neighbourhood of the city, as those of the extreme ill of the other are formed from his observations in the country. Egypt has been tried by the standard of civiliza tion and refinement at present to be met with in the countries of Europe ; whereas, to make a parallel we should try her by the state those countries were in at a similar epoch of their pro gress, when it will be found that the Fellaheen, or lower class of Egypt, are now in a far better con dition than when England — in the age of her escape from barbarism — placed collars on the necks of her serfs, bearing the names and titles of their owners. To try Egypt fairly, we must inquire what she was at the beginning of this century, under her Mem look governors.

But it has been altogether for- PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. gotten or overlooked, that about 2,500 years ago an artist, then a captive at the Babylonish court, who painted coming events from the lights and beams of Jehovah's mind, drew with the unerring pencil of inspiration a picture of what this land was yet to be — wasted by the hand of the stranger, sold into the possession of the wicked, and " desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. The sceptre of Egypt shall depart away, and there shall be no more a prince of the land. They shall be a base kingdom — it shall be the basest of kingdoms." Was ever prophetic language more literally fulfilled ; yea, in the full force of each and every jot and tittle ? For centuries was this fertile land laid waste and governed by strangers; without a sceptre, and without a prince.

Desolate herself, by reason of her bad government and want of culti vation, in the midst of the vast desert by which she is surrounded ; with her cities many of them rising out of, and formed of the very materials and rubbish gathered from the ruins of the ancient cities ; and with the Arab huts and villages erected within the walls, and upon the very roofs of some of her most stately temples and edifices. And base, because de based by crimes that make man blush for his fellow, as utterly disgraceful to humanity ; and lead us to wonder how man's form could have clothed the spirits of wretches such as then possessed the country. In the year 1230 a prophecy which remained

Introduction

OF THE MEMLOOKS. 7 outstanding against the land was commenced to be fulfilled. The Moguls and Tartar hordes, by invading Persia, became lords of that great territory from the Caspian to the Tigris, and returned from the conquest with a vast number of captives from Georgia, Circassia, Mingralia, and other countries bordering on the great Caucasian range. Struck with the fine athletic forms and fair complexions of this noble race, their masters conceived the idea of forming a band of warriors, who from that period received the name of Memlooks, or military slaves, and who were in a short time introduced into Egypt. These, in time, deposed their masters, became lords of the countries they were sent to protect, and erected a new dynasty of their own, with the title of Egyptian Sooltans, under which Egypt continued up to the year 1517, when: — "the sword, the bow-string, or poison, public murder, or private assassination now became the fate of a series of tyrants, 47 of whom are enumerated in the space of 257 years."

At this period the Ottoman Sooltans rose up, and for ever put an end to the dynasty of the Memlooks; yet was not the race destroyed, for now the full outpouring of denunciation came upon the land, — it was left without a prince, and became a country of strangers. And here, instead of drawing from the usual historic records, I would pause, and turn to the descriptions of one who, though he denied the truth of the Great Original, yet retinted the picture of Ezekiel with such fidelity as MEMLOOK GOVERNMENT. to ratify all the threatenings borne on its prophetic page. In ordinary cases, we might expect that even a foreign race would, by intermarriage and natura lization, become assimilated to, and form part of the people of their adopted country. But, no ; it is a fact, startling but undeniable, that every Mem look who ruled in Egypt during the whole of that long period, was born in a distant land — sold as a slave, and adopted to fill the place of one who, too proud to intermarry with the natives, had no family — no successor by the wives introduced from the slave-markets of Constantinople.

So truly remark able is this, as to drag from Volney the observation, that: — " on seeing them existing in this country for several centuries, we should be led to imagine their race is preserved by the ordinary means ; but if their first establishment was a singular event, their continuation is not less extraordinary." Many have been the causes brought forward from ancient writers, and from the analogy of natural history to account for this ; but it has been forgotten that the land was to be *' wasted by the hands of strangers." The horrors that were perpetrated by this hated race, steeped in infamy, and black with crime, are too disgusting to be enumerated, for Egypt under them became " the basest of kingdoms." Split into cabals, torn and distracted by the civil broils, and the con tinual bloodshedding of rival Beys, the people groan ed under a succession, and a multiplicity of tyrants, ITS DEBASING EFFECTS. the baneful effects of whose demoralizing influence still hang over and weigh down a people who, under their sway, became a disgrace to the very form of human nature.

" True it is," — says Volney, in 1785 — " the Porte still retains there a Pasha; but this Pasha, confined and watched in the Castle of Cairo, is rather the prisoner of the Memlooks, than the representative of the Sultan. Strangers to each other, they are not bound by those natural ties which unite the rest of mankind. Without parents — without children — the past has done nothing for them, and they do nothing for the future. Ignorant and superstitious from education they become fero cious from the murders they commit, perfidious from frequent cabals, seditious from tumults, and base, deceitful, and corrupted by every species of debau chery. And what could be expected of the con dition of the people under such masters ? — without commerce or arts ; for the most simple of these are still in a state of infancy.

The work of their cabinet-makers, lock-smiths, and gun-smiths, is extremely clumsy. Their mercery, their hardware, their gun and pistol barrels, are all imported from foreign countries ; with difficulty you can find one watch-maker at Cairo who knows how to repair a watch, and he, too, is an European. Every thing the traveller sees, or hears reminds him that he is in the country of slavery and tyranny. Nothing is talked of but intestine dis sensions, the public misery, pecuniary extortions, TESTIMONY OF VOLNEY. bastinadoes, and murders. There is no security for life or property. The blood of men is shed like that of the vilest animals. Justice, herself, puts to death without formality. The officer of the night in his rounds, and the officer of the day in his circuit, judge, condemn, and execute, in the twinkling of an eye, without appeal.

Executioners attend them ; and on the first signal, the head of the unhappy victim falls into the leathern bag, in which it is received for fear of soiling the place. Were even the appearance of criminality necessary to expose to the danger of punishment, this would be tolerable ; but frequently without any other reason than the avarice of a powerful chief, or the information of an enemy, a man is summoned before some Bey, on suspicion of having money. A sum is demanded from him, and if he denies that he possesses it, he is thrown on his back, and receives two or three hundred blows on the soles of his feet, nay, sometimes is put to death. Un fortunate is he who is suspected of being in easy circumstances ! A hundred spies are every moment ready to accuse him, and it is only by assuming the appearance of poverty that he can hope to escape the rapaciousncss of power."

It is a recorded fact, that scarcely a sailor knew the compass, and so utterly hopeless did the master mind of Volney consider the scene of desolation's triumph, when in one of his walks he saw, under the walls of Alexandria, two wretches WAR OF 1802. sitting on the dead carcass of a camel, and disputing its putrid fragments with the dogs, that he was forced to exclaim, " I am, above all, led to believe that Egypt can never shake off this yoke." But He who upholdeth all things — who can curse and none can bless, and bless and none can curse — who can bring down and raise up, even from the dead, by his power, hath promised that He " shall smite Egypt ; He shall smite and heal it ; and they shall return even to the Lord ; and He shall be en treated of them, and shall heal them."* Let us see how this is being brought about : — and in the contrast exhibited at present to the traveller in Egypt, although we must allow much more could, and it is to be hoped, will be done ; yet, it is also to be acknowledged, that by the means of her present governor, Egypt, like her own fabulous bird of old, is even now rising from her ashes.

At the commencement of the present century, Egypt was subject to still greater desolation than it had previously experienced ; for, in addition to the increasing broils and exactions of its own masters, it became the theatre of war between France and England. A partial calm, however, took place on the removal of the armies in the early part of 1803, when the Albanians and Memlooks formed that me morable combination against the Turkish power, which it is supposed was fanned and fostered by the emissaries of Napoleon, in order to pave his way into * Isaiah, xix. 22. ■. RISE OF MOHAMMAD ALEE. British India. During the two following years, no thing but anarchy and confusion prevailed. The arts of peace were so far neglected, that the natural pro duce of a country which ought to be the granary of Africa, and one of the richest in the world, was in competent for its own support.

It was then that a poor Albanian soldier of obscure origin, conceived the bold idea of not only reducing this country to a state of regular and settled government, but of rege nerating it by means hitherto unknown — and strictly prohibited by the tenets of Mohammadanism — the introduction of the arts and sciences, commerce, tactics, and manufactories, together with the habits, manners, and customs, of European Christian nations. Even to hint at this, he had obstacles to contend with of no ordinary magnitude, and mate rials to work with of the very lowest and worst description. It was then that the buoyant spirit of this man raised him to the surface of this troubled sea, and the talents, courage, and daring, of Mo hammad Alee, shone forth as the rescuer of a country, in one of whose markets (if report speaks true) he himself had been sold as a slave.