Chap. XII.

UNIVERSAL VENALITY.

161

deposited. Many weeks had not passed after this when ships belonging to the Pacha's son arrived in the port, and openly loaded with this very corn on his

account

When a pacha acts thus, we cannot wonder if his subordinates imitate so good an example; and the director of the customs may be praised for the honesty which consigns about three-fourths of their produce to the treasury. An Arab said to me one day, on this subject, "The Pacha eats, the Bey eats, and the Gumruckdjy (director of customs) eats," each buying his superior's silence with a share of his own peculations; the friends who protect his interests at Constantinople coming in for their share of the pacha's profits. A Turk is, in fact, capable of learning many things; he may be civilisé-a Frank word, now adopted in Turkish; he may cease to be what La Jeune Turquie calls a fanatic; he will indulge in deep potations, or abstain from fasting in Ramadhan; but he will never learn not to eat (Italicè magnare) when he can. His appetite and digestion, in this sense, are truly ostrich-like. On inquiring into the truth of the Bey's statement that there are 1200 houses in Benghazi, I learned that there are, in fact, 1400; the two hundred which are suppressed in the official account being "eaten" by the Bey and the Sheikh-elbelid.

An amusing instance of the ruses to which a scrupulous man, who has the fear of his oath before his eyes, will resort, was related to me by one who was in the town at the time it occurred. An Armenian addressed himself to a Pacha in Anadoly, for the decision of a lawsuit in his favour; and, after stating his case, produced a bag well filled with the usual arguments, which he offered to his Excellency. On this the great man, who had listened to his statement with the blandest smiles, drew himself up, frowning in anger, and only answered, "Infidel, be off!" The poor Armenian, astonished at the reception of his well-meant offering, begged and prayed, and seemed to weigh the bag in his hands, that the Pacha might see how heavy it was-all Spanish dollars; but the only answer he obtained was a fresh order to be off, with the surly addition, "He is an infidel who gives, and an infidel who takes"-disobedience to the Sultan's laws being rebellion, and rebellion, according to Turkish doctrine, infidelity. Disappointed and crest-fallen, the poor Armenian withdrew from the presence, and was not a little surprised to find himself the object of the congratulations of the attendants and cavasses in the anteroom. "It is useless," he said, "to ask me for backshish; for the Pacha has rejected my suit, and that, too, with hard words." "What answer is this?" said they; "did you not hear his words-'the infidel

Chap. XII. THE MOSLEM HATES THE CHRISTIAN.

163

gives and the infidel takes?' Go to the steward; is not he also an Armenian ?"

One of the greatest blots on the Turkish constitution has not been touched by the Tanzimat: it is that provision of the Moslem law which excludes the reception. of evidence given by persons of other religions against a Moslem. Twenty witnesses may depose to the murder of a Christian or Jew by a Turk; but, as was too clearly shown in the case of Sir Lawrence Jones, if there be not among them at least two Moslemin, their testimony is unavailing; while to obtain Moslem witnesses to prove an outrage on a Christian is impossible.* An Arab was wantonly beating a Maltese boy, a few days ago, in the bazaar, when a respectable Moslem came to his assistance; a third then came up, and apostrophised the boy's defender, saying, "Are you a Moslem? and do you take the part of a Christian against a believer?" He spoke what all the spectators felt. Until this odious distinction be abolished, there can be no security either for the life or property of Christian rayahs or foreigners, excepting in the energy and privileges of the consuls; and the representatives of the great powers seem at present disposed to yield the greater part of their own rights and the

* Since writing this I have learned that a recent decree gives to the evidence of Christians the same force as that of a Moslem.

immunities of their fellow-subjects. These were wisely considered essential to the welfare or consideration of foreigners among a people who, though little less than barbarians, look with the most profound contempt upon a Frank; and those who renounce their enjoyment are, I fear, too precipitate in their favourable judgment of the real state of the Turkish Empire.

I cannot close my notes of the Cyrenaica without adding that I spent there (occasional annoyances excepted) some most pleasant months; I came to the country an invalid, and was exceedingly unwell when I started for Grennah; but its pure air and lovely scenery restored me to perfect health. For those who seek summer quarters in the Mediterranean, I again repeat to them my former advice, to choose the pleasant solitudes of Cyrene in preference to the Syrian hills, where so much sickness and mortality prevail. I have been many times in the Lebanon, and the rich beauty of Damascus has greater charms for me than that of any city I have seen; but, still, I have never been there without witnessing or feeling the effects of the pestilential air, which, every autumn, produces fatal fevers and dysenteries. Even in quitting its shores the evil spirit seems to pursue its victims; and I have seen more than one friend seized with the deadly Syrian fever weeks after he had reached a healthier climate.

CHAPTER XIII.

Benghazi to Angila.-Corn Stores.-Cachettes.-Ruins near ElFarsy.-Remarkable Fortress.-Horrors of the Slave Trade.England should forbid it.-Herds of Gazelles.-Bruce.-Rěsam. -Oasis of Angila.

November 4th.-After many pour parlers with a caravan of Majabra (inhabitants of Jalo), who had come to Benghazi to sell their dates, and after making one or two false starts, I at length got under weigh for Angila. I was desirous of taking with me some hawks, as the country I was to pass through for the first days of the journey was represented to be full of game; and the trained hawks of this place are said to be the best in Africa; but I was unable to purchase any. Some of my friends assured me that I should find no difficulty in obtaining the birds from the Arabs; but I eventually found that my informants were mistaken. Both in Benghazi and in its neighbourhood, I often met horsemen with a hawk, either perched on the right hand or seated on the crupper of the horse; but I never found any one willing to part with this favourite companion. Yet there are seasons of the