differences by the diyat, or price of blood. Just before my arrival, they had been more than usually troublesome, and had intercepted some coffee caravans on their way to Mocha. There is much difference in the dialects of these tribes, even in words representing the most familiar objects; hence the great number of words found in all Arabic dictionaries for the same thing. We suffered no molestation from these people during our route: perhaps, because we offered no sufficient temptation, as we were not strong enough to have offered any effectual resistance had we been attacked. The weather, during our march, was delightful in the day time, but too cold at night to be agreeable. We arrived at Senna on the eleventh day. The town is situated in a fertile valley of about twelve or fifteen miles long by eight broad, beyond the great range of hills. It is extensive and well-built, with the houses in the Persian style. The surrounding country is verdant and beautiful, having numerous streams running through it; but there is a deficiency of timber fit for building. On my arrival, I proceeded with the rest to the caravansery, and the following day, having in a great measure recovered from the fatigue of the journey, I arranged my outward man and waited on the king. He received me in a large and splendid apartment, paved with marble. I found him a young man, with an air of bon-hommie about him, which put me completely at my ease. I was informed afterwards, indeed had opportunities enough of being witness to it, that he was very debauched, and a great drunkard. He treated me with much kindness, expressed his pleasure at seeing me at his capital, made inquiries as to how I had fared on the road, and immediately assigned me an apartment adjoining the palace, to live in, while at Senna. He made many inquiries about different parts of India where I had been stationed; how I liked Arabia; what I thought of the people, &c. What seemed most to interest him was the state of the army in India. He was himself organizing a force on the European plan, which occupied most of his time, and appeared to give him much pleasure. His troops were, however, sadly behind the sepoys in appearance and discipline. He assigned me a mehmander, or conductor, to attend me while in the city; and I was supplied by him with all sorts of provisions while I remained. His palaces are numerous, and some elegant, being paved with marble and adorned with fountains, in the Persian style. The cold was so severe while I was there, that water in a basin froze at night to nearly a solid lump of ice. Fruit is very abundant, and of many sorts; grapes, nectarines, peaches, apples, pears, plums, and all of a fine quality. The natives all go armed. The amount of the population I could not ascertain with any such certitude as should authorize me to record it. Those who have travelled in eastern countries know the difficulty experienced in obtaining any correct notion of the number of inhabitants in a town, from the absence of registers or official documents. The people, however, struck me as being well fed and happy, so far as I may be allowed to judge by their appearance in the streets. I went about in all quarters, perfectly secure, and have no reason to make any complaint of their behaviour towards me. The markets are well supplied with meat, poultry, fruit, vegetables, and grain, and great activity was observable throughout the town on the starting of a caravan for Mocha. The Imaun invited me frequently to dine with him, upon which occasions he never failed to get at least half-drunk, principally with brandy. The entertainment consisted of a vast number of dishes, brought in one by one, to the amount of forty or fifty, and invariably concluded with a large mess of rice. Roasts, stews, pastry, curries, pilaws, hashes, and all manner of made dishes, for which I know no name, followed each other in abundance. These were washed down by a sweet Persian wine and raw brandy. After dinner, was an entertainment of mimies and dancing-boys, the latter of whom were of a character not to be mistaken. The good Imam laughed, talked, and joked with most unkinglike familiarity, taking the most indecent liberties from time to time with the performers. From all I could learn (but this, I must confess, is but poor authority, as I was obliged to obtain all my information through the medium of an interpreter), he was good and kind to his people, and generally beloved. Personally, I saw no instance of injustice or oppression during my stay. I succeeded in making a pretty good collection of botanical specimens, and also procured a few other curiosities of the place, which were likely to be of general interest. I felt some regret as the time approached for my leaving a place where I had been treated with so much hospitality and kindness, and could without reluctance have remained there a longer period. Upon the subject of introducing the coffee-plant into India, I am not aware that I can offer any thing new. The examination of the soil and climate leads to no certain result as to the success of cultivation. The experiment has been tried and failed; it may possibly answer in other parts of India, but I question much, even if the plants thrive, whether the coffee produced by them would be of equal excellence to that which grows in Yemen. Having arranged for my return to Mocha with a caravan, I took leave of the Imam, and packed up my small quantity of baggage. I travelled this time on camel-back, which I found far less fatiguing than a mule. Nothing of any inte rest occurred during the journey back, which was performed in much less time than going. On re-arriving at Mocha, I immediately engaged a passage, on board a dhow, for Judda. I had a roomy cabin in the stern, which, had it been clean, would have been comfortable enough, but any thing so dirty as the whole of the vessel and the crew I never saw. Vermin swarmed in all quarters. I laid in the whole of my own provisions except water. We had a numerous crew, and a number of passengers proceeding to Mecca on pilgrimage, the filthiest set of vagabonds I ever met with. The voyage was most tedious; we hardly ever were out of sight of land, and came in-shore to an anchor every night. I thought we never should have arrived at Judda. In the upper part of the Red Sea, from about 20° to 22° N., the north winds blow always, so that any progress made is by constant tacking. I was most heartily sick of the ship and my companions by the time we arrived at our destined port. I went on shore as soon as possible, meaning to remain only sufficient time at Judda to see the place, and get a passage over to Kosseir in another native vessel. The town was full of bustle and confusion from the number of pilgrims going to and returning from Mecca, but in itself utterly destitute of any thing of interest. I found the people, too, swaggering and insolent. So, after two days' stay, I set out for Kosseir. The appearance of the country here did not excite any favourable ideas, for nothing could be more dreary and barren. It is situated in the desert, and depends on Egypt for provisions. To the north and south is seen nothing but barren hills; the town itself, being constructed of mud of the same colour, is not discernible until you are close to it. There is, however, good anchorage for small vessels, and very smooth landing. Kosseir is the great depôt for grain coming from Egypt; it is here shipped for Mocha, Judda, and all the other ports on the eastern side of the Red Sea, with which Kosseir carries on a very large trade. It is but a small place, composed properly of only those persons whose business in this trade of grain requires their constant residence here, but, from the incessant arrival and departure of caravans, and the nume rous dhows in the harbour exporting and importing, it is all life and activity. The imports, compared with the exports, however, are a mere trifle. The grain and other produce of Egypt is brought over on camels, nearly all of which return from Kosseir unladen. Dates, from Arabia, are, indeed, taken back in considerable quantities, being a favourite article of consumption among the Egyptians; also coffee from Mocha, and piece-goods from Bombay. Nile water is used for drinking among the better sort of people, all the water of the place being brackish. The town is protected by a fort, in a miserable state of dilapidation, with a few old pieces of French ordnance mounted upon it. Any thing in the way of decent accommodation in such a place, of course, cannot be expected. I put up in the caravansery, and forthwith waited upon the governor, whom I found to be a very civil old Turk. He invited me to dine with him, and told me I might have an opportunity of crossing the desert to Egypt in a day or two, with a large caravan that was returning. I therefore prepared myself for the march, by laying in a small stock of provisions and water sufficient for a five days' march. All these were to be procured at a moderate rate in the bazaar. I spent the remainder of my time sauntering through the small town, which, despite its abandonment by nature, I found far from uninteresting, and sat all the evening in one of the public coffee houses, sipping excellent coffee and smoking. I found the people there universally polite and obliging, and most ready to give me any information, through the medium of my interpreter, of which I stood in need. For each cup of coffee I paid five parahs or d. The money in Egypt is groosh and parahs; forty parahs equal to one groosh, which last equals about 4d. English; and the dollar or crown generally exchanges for fifteen groosh. Altogether, I passed my time, during my short stay, cheerfully enough. I started, the second evening after my arrival, with a caravan of about 100 camels, by far the greater part of which were unloaded. The whole of my own baggage, including tent and bed, was carried upon two camels; I had another for riding; my servant had one to ride, and another for his baggage. We started in the evening, intending to make only a short march that night, in order to get clear of the town; but we found the night so fine, and ourselves so fresh, that we doubled the distance, and arrived, at 10 P.M., at the second wells on the route, called Inglesy Wells, without suffering the slightest fatigue. Here we stopped to sleep, first taking off the burdens from the camels, and making them lie down in a circle. I did not pitch my tent, contenting myself with throwing my bed down on the sand, and rolling myself up in a cloak. During the night, a large fire was kept up, round which the men of the caravan lay. The weather was bitter cold, with a strong wind blowing. The water of these wells is so brackish that it is not used; the same remark applies to the first well on the route, which is indeed now nearly choked up. At five the following morning, we were again on the move, and continued our march till two in the afternoon, when we stopped to refresh and feed. The road or track was good and hard all the way, so much so that a carriage might be driven over a great part of it. No signs of vegetation were apparent. The road lies between two ranges of stony barren hills, and looks exactly like the dried bed of a river: course nearly due east. We set out again about four, and continued till nine in the evening, when we came-to for the night; weather still piercing cold. We met, in the afternoon, a caravan proceeding to Kosseir, from which we procured some Nile water, and fresh vegetables and eggs. The third day we started, as usual, early in the morning, and, barring some time for refreshment in the day-time, got on to the principal wells of the desert, called Pasha's Well-the half-way house across.' Here we found abundance of good water, and gave the camels to drink, and replenished our water-bags. The sun this day was very powerful; but it was not less cold at night. I pitched my tent here for the first time, and turned in early to have a long sleep, beginning to feel a little fatigued. We met a party of Bedouins here encamped; they offered no molestation whatever, nor did they appear shy: indeed, as to being attacked by them, we were far too strong and too well-armed to suffer it. They seemed poor, lean, half-starved creatures; all skin and bone, but with fine, bright, independent eyes. The fourth day was much the same march, and on the fifth we reached the great wells of Lugadeh, where the camels were again watered. Here the hard part of the desert ends, and the country opens into a vast sandy plain, which it is very difficult to traverse on foot. This was a most fatiguing march; the sun all day was oppressively hot, and I was completely tired. We saw this day a few deer, which fled away as we approached; also numbers of wild pigeons. The sixth day we entered the cultivated lands of Egypt. The phenomenon of the mirage is seen after leaving the wells of Lugadeh. The deception is so complete, that, though previously aware of it, I should have been ready to believe implicitly in the existence of a lake. The caravan separated here, the greater part proceeding to Kenné, while I went, with a few others, to Luxor, where are the ruins of Thebes. Nothing can be more marked than the lines of cultivation and desert; a person may absolutely stand with one foot in each. On my arrival at Luxor, I put up in the ruins of an old temple, pitching my tent at the same time close by, in order to have a cleaner place to sleep in, for the Egyptians are a most abominably filthy people, and vermin abound in every quarter. The mountains of the Nile, a long range, at the foot of which the river runs, are discovered when you arrive at the wells of Lugadeh; upon a nearer approach, they are found to be as barren and desolate as those which skirt the chief part of the route through the desert. But nothing can be more delightful, after days of uniform barrenness, than the first appearance of the green fields of Egypt; they immediately made me forget all my fatigue and any trifling inconveniences (for, in fact, the passage of the desert is a mere trifle) I endured en route. The general aspect of the country reminds one strongly of India, though it is far more verdant. The water is retained by bunds, and let out into the fields by nullahs, just in the same manner as there practised; and the mode of raising water from the wells is the same. We marched through fields of chollum, growing most luxuriantly, which reminded me strongly of the ceded districts. In fact, until a person arrives at the Nile, he will perceive no striking difference between the two countries. The change of climate, however, during the winter season, cannot fail to make him know he is no longer in India. During the day it is warm, but never oppressively hot, and at night he is refreshed by a degree of cold which infuses each day additional vigour into his frame. A more agreeable climate than Egypt, during the winter months, I can hardly conceive. Having, as in duty bound, paid due reverence to father Nile, and proper homage to the Turkish commandant of the place, I set about exploring the celebrated antiquities of Thebes, and trying to make some new discoveries in this already well-trodden ground. HINTS ON INDIA REFORM. No. IV. Monopolies.-Salt-Opium.-Of one of these monopolies, there would, indeed, be nothing to complain, if it tended in any way to diminish the consumption of the article monopolized, for a drug more injurious to health, or more destructive of all the best interests of society, than opium, does not exist. That odious word, monopoly, might even become grateful to the ear, could it put a stop to the use of the abominable poison. But, is such the effect? Quite the contrary; for the Company are interested in selling as much as possible, in order that money may flow into their coffers. It has, then, a double evil: the more they lower the price, and thus diminish the injurious tendency of monopoly, the greater evil do they inflict upon society, and thus increase their burden of responsibility. The monopoly of salt is iniquitous in the extreme, and ought to be abolished without further consideration or delay. It keeps up the price of an article necessary to health in all countries, but especially so in India, and weighs particularly heavy on the poor man, whose sole subsistence is rice. I venture to say, that no tax presses so heavily on the people of India as this-none whose abolition is more desirable, or would be hailed with greater satisfaction. With regard to that immensely-paid class, the salt-agents, they must be content to abide by the times, and seek consolation in some employment more conducive to the happiness of the natives and the honour of the Company. Other monopolies of importation there are, which, as I understand they are, or are to be, abolished, I shall no further notice. Revenue from Temples.-The collection of a revenue from Hindu temples,' where all manner of fraud, extortion, cruelty, and debauchery is practised, has been too much taken notice of in other places to require further comment; but the restoration of the buildings, and the funds for the support of women, which (i.e. the buildings and monies) are attached to these temples, to their original purpose, seems to me desirable. These women, now prostituted to the pampered appetites of the brahmins of the temple, were originally nuns, abiding in a part of the temple or building adjoining, upon funds set apart for their maintenance from the produce of the lands of the temple. Here then did the unfortunate, the deserted, the orphan, probably (as we see in countries nearer home) of good family, though destitute, seek an asylum, and find In them a refuge from the worldly shocks, Which stir and sting the soul with hope that woos, then mocks. So far, nothing more excellent or desirable: but the priests, in all countries the same wily class, prowling about seeking whom it may devour, perverted these good intentions, subdued the women to their unholy purposes, and appropriated the revenues to their own use. Now, if this be not remedied, a fair opportunity is offered for economy, and for putting the money, so misapplied, into the Company's treasury. But they make a revenue of the system as it is, and take the enormities there practised under their special protection. R. PATERNOSTER. |