of actors in a ballet representing a fete in Arcadia than the real labourers of a Turkish despot.* This chapter would be incomplete were we not to compare what Egypt is at present with what it was at the beginning of the century. The The When Mohammed assumed the command anarchy reigned in every department. The country was distracted by the conflicting pretensions of the Mamlouks, aided by the Bedouin Arabs, the Albanians, and the Turks, with many rival chieftains. soldiers were mutinous; the finances were exhausted; property was insecure; agriculture was neglected; and commerce languished. But now every thing is improved; the wild Arabs are submissive; the military are controlled, lodged in barracks or tents, and regularly paid; the finances prodigiously increased; new articles of produce raised; and trade carried on to an extent formerly unknown. whole country from Alexandria to Syené is perfectly tranquil, and travellers pass unmolested with as much freedom and safety as on the continent of Europe. It is not pretended that the viceroy has not his failings; he has many: but to estimate his character he should be judged by the standard of other Mohammedan princes; of the pashas of Syria or Turkey for example ;-and which of all these can be compared to him? It is hardly fair to try him by our notions of excellence, when every thing, -custom, religion, government, are so different. His defects are those of education and example; his improvements are the fruit of his own genius and patriotism.t * Narrative of a Journey, p. 128. + Quarterly Review, vol. xxx. p. 508. Mr Carne re A report has reached Europe that this remarkable person has conceded to his people the benefits of a representative government, and a voice in the administration of public affairs. But the information is much too vague to be entitled to a place in the records of history. The future prosperity of Egypt depends in a great degree upon the successor of the present viceroy. Ibrahim the son of his wife, and the Defturder, who is his son-in-law by marriage, will probably divide the choice of Mohammed. The former is more likely to obtain the recommendation of the pasha and the sanction of the Sublime Porte, because he is more friendly than the other to the regeneration which has been effected throughout the country with results so favourable even to the supreme government. Should the election fall on the husband of Ali's daughter, the consequences will be deplorable; for he is not only a decided enemy to the Franks and to the late innovations, but regards them both with the eye of a bigoted Mussulman. marks, that the firm and decisive character of Mohammed is in nothing more visible than in the perfect security and quietness that reign throughout his dominions. The traveller there dreams no more of violence than he would do in any town throughout Scotland or Wales; from the capital to the Cataracts every man's hand is at peace with him, and he may ramble along the banks of the Nile with as entire an ease and abandon as on those of his native rivers or in his own garden at home.-Recollections of the East, p. 284. CHAPTER IX. The Oases, Ancient Berenice, and Desert of the Thebaid. Meaning of the Term Oasis-Those of Egypt described in various and opposite Colours-Used as Places of ExileTheir Number-The Great Oasis-Described by Sir A. Edmonstone-Ancient Buildings-Necropolis or Cemetery-Supposed Origin of such Land-Western Oasis -First visited by Sir A. Edmonstone-El CazarSoil-Position-The Little Oasis-El Kassar-Greek Temple-Fountain-El Haix-El Moele--Oasis of Siwah-Description of Towns-Of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon-Fountain of the Sun-Sacred LakeOther Oases-Desert of the Thebaid-Berenice-Trade -Account of an imaginary City by Caillaud-Situation and Extent of Berenice-Emerald Mountains-Present Condition of Miners-Inhabitants of the Desert-Sharkin-Myos Hormus-Cosseir. THE territory of Egypt includes certain fertile spots in the Libyan Desert, which, from the peculiarity of their situation, amidst an ocean of sand, have been denominated islands. The term oasis, in the ancient language of the country, signifies an inhabited place, a distinction sufficiently intelligible when contrasted with the vast wilderness around, in which even the most savage tribes have not ventured to take up their abode. It has been observed at the same time, that as this descriptive epithet is applied to a cluster of oases as well as to a single spot of verdant ground, the use of it has become somewhat ambiguous. In this respect, indeed, they bear a striking resemblance to islands in the great sea, where one of larger size is usually surrounded by others of smaller dimensions; all taking their name from some circumstance, geographical or physical, which is common to the whole. Like Egypt itself, these isolated dependencies have been described in very opposite colours by different writers. The Greeks called them the Islands of the Blessed; and without doubt they appear delightful in the eyes of the traveller who has, during many painful weeks, suffered the privations and fatigue of the desert. But it is well known that they were generally regarded in a less favourable aspect by the Greeks and Romans, who not unfrequently assigned them as places of banishment. The state-malefactor, and the ministers of the Christian church, who were sometimes comprehended in the same class, were, in the second and third centuries, condemned to waste their days as exiles in the remote solitude of the Libyan Oases. They were usually reckoned three in number; the Great Oasis, of which the principal town is El Kargeh; the Little Oasis, or that of El Kassar; and the Northern Oasis, more frequently called Siwah. To these is now added the Western Oasis, which does not appear to have been mentioned by any ancient geographer except Olympiodorus, and which was never seen by any European until Sir Archibald Edmonstone visited it about ten years ago. The Great Oasis, the most southern of the whole, consists of a number of insulated spots, which extend in a line parallel to the course of the Nile, separated from one another by considerable intervals of sandy waste, and stretching not less than a hundred miles in latitude. M. Poncet, who examined it in 1698, says that it contains many gardens watered with rivulets, and that its palm-groves exhibit a perpetual verdure. It is the first stage of the Darfûr caravan, which assembles at Siout, being about four days' journey from that town, and nearly the same distance from Farshout. The exertions of Browne, Caillaud, Edmonstone, and Henniker, have supplied to the European reader the most ample details relative to this interesting locality, which there can be no doubt must have been the scene of civilized life, and perhaps of political institutions, at a very remote era. An interesting account of the architectural ruins of the Great Oasis is to be found in the pages of Sir A. Edmonstone, who tells that, about a mile and a half towards the north of El Kargeh, he observed on an eminence a building, which proved to be a small quadrangular temple, 31 feet long by 21 broad, of which three sides are still remaining. The walls on the inside are covered with figures and hieroglyphics, greatly defaced, but of distinguished elegance. There was the usual inclosure of unburnt brick,-a defence necessary in a country so much exposed to hostile incursions as this has always been. From hence he discovered a larger temple at a short distance to the north-west, and on a high ground still farther in the same direction, several buildings like the ruins of an Arab town. On approaching the temple he was |