punishment in the prifon of Philadelphia. So well is this gaol conducted, that inftead of being an expenfe, it now annually produces a coniderable revenue to the fiate. Contracter of Jeair, the celebrated Pasha, of Acre; extracted from A. W. G. Brown's Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, from 1792 to 1798. HE long reign of Achmet accompanied with immenfe influence and great wealth, might naturally lead to conceive, that, blending his interefts with thofe of his fubjects, he would have exerted his authority in promoting their happinels. On the contrary the large plain near Acré is left almoft a marth, and marks of idle magnificence have been fubftituted for the ufeful cares of Agriculture. A friking contraft ailes between his conduct and that of the Shech Daher, his predeceffor, who raised Acré from a village to a huge town, and doubled the population of the diftrict. Jezzar was the first governor in the empire who laid a tax on articles of confumption, as wine, grain, and the like. Iven meat and fish are materials of impoft. He has erected granaries, a laudable defign, but deficient in the execution; for the grain being ill preferved, and the oldeft ferved out firft, it is not only difagreeable as food, but unprolific when diftribated for feed to the penfants. Thefe impotis form the peculiar revenue of the Pafha; the other refources arifing as ufual from the tax on land, which amounts to about a twentieth of the rent, the capitation-tax on Chriftians, and the cuftoms; which laft in this government are arbitrary, and neither regulated by the rules of the Porte, nor the capitulations entered into by Europeans. Nevertheless, the chief fource of the riches of Jezzar is the Pafhalik of Damafcus, which, by means of the ufual largeffes at the Porte, he contrived to add to his former government, a precedent very unufual in the Othman empire, His military force was computed at thoufand but, at the time of my vifiting Acré, did not exceed four or five thoufand. Till the year 1791 the French had factories at Acré, Seidé, and Beirût. At that period they were all expelled from the territory of Jezzar by a fudden mandate, which allowed them only three days to abandon their refpective habitations, under pain of death. Paffing over the common, but juft rule of fuppofing, that in a quarrel of this magnitude neither party was perfectly free from error, it may be fit to inquire what mo tives induced this ignominious expulfion, when a fimple difmilion, to be fignified by various other means, would have anfwered the fame purpose. To this it can only be anfwered, that the character of Jezzar is in petuous, and even capricious, on all occafions. Sometimes a warm friend, and then fuddenly a bitter enemy, equally, to all appearance, without any adequate reafon. As to the conduct of the French, ther^felves and the other nations in the Levant accord fo ill, that I have never obtained a very accurate tement nor confent to offer them any indemnification for the lofles of the late factory. ftatement of it. It feems to have he would acknowledge no conful, originated in the behaviour of a drogueman of the nation, who having in fome way offended the Pafha, was, by his order, fummarily ftrangled or hanged. The French Temonftrated, and threatened him with an application to the Porte, which he did not greatly fear, and he punished, as he termed it, their infolence, (in afferting their undoubted right, according to the capitulations between them and the Porte), in this concife manner. Many complaints were made, fubfequent to this period, by the minifters of the republic at the Porte, but to no purpose: that court, in fact, was otherwife engaged, and it may be doubted whether it could have punished the Pafha. The events that followed fufpended the prosecution of thofe claims, which, as the merchants thus fuddenly banished had loft much, it appeared they had a right to prefer: but at length Aubert du Bayet fent a young officer of the name of Bailli to the Pafha, to demand redress in a tone perhaps rather too high. This gentleman, on arriving at Acré, April, 1797, wrote a letter in French to the Pafha, which he had the bizarre idea of finding fome Levantine drogueman to tranflate, verbatim, in the prefence of that perfonage. The terms, it feems, in which this letter was conceived were fo bold, that none could be found to prefent it, and the Pafha, under one pretence or other, refufed to fee the agent. On this Bailli retired to Yaffe. The anfwer Jezzar fent to the claim of the republic was, that private merchants were at liberty to fettle under his government on the footing of any other nation, but that The celebrated Afad Pafha, mentioned by Niebuhr and Volney, left an only daughter, of whom, on her marriage with Mohammed Pafha Adm, fprang the prefent Pafua Abdallah. Mohammed Faília. Adm was preceded by Olman, and fucceeded by two of his own brothers fucceffively, the laft of whom, named Derwill, was expelled by the intrigues of Jezzar, who gained his office, and married the daughter of Mohammed Pafha Adm. This marriage of ambition, not of affection, terminated in a divorce a year after. Among other inftances of his bad treatment of this lady, it is recorded, that Jezzar,, meeting her one day in the houfe, where the happened to have cabcab, or Arabian pattens on her feet, pulled a piftol from his cincture, and fired it at her, faying, "Art thou the wife of an Arabian peafant? dof thou forget that thou art the wife of a Pasha?" Jezzar retained his ill-won pafhalik of Damafcus only a few years; his government was a continual fcene of oppreffion and cruelty, and he is fuppofed to have extorted from the people not lefs than twenty-five thoufand purfes, or about a million and two hundred thousand pounds fterling; and to have put to death near four hundred individuals, most of them innocent. His own misconduct and fufpicious defigns, when leading the caravan to Mecca, confpired with the machinations of his enemies at the Porte to deprive him of his office: but living monuments of his cruelty remain, in the nofelefs faces X 3 and and earless heads of many of the Damafcenes. Thus driven from Damafcus, he returned to his former pathalik of Acré and Seidé, where he remains. This government, which he held along with that of Damafcus, he has retained upwards of twenty-feven years. Jezzar was fucceeded by the prefent Palha Abdallah, whofe adminiftration, though eminent, as before obferved, for equity, is yet liable to the charge of mifmanagement of the public revenue, and of an indecorous timidity. Under the energetic fway of Jezzår, the facred caravan had met with no obftructions on its route; but that of the prefent year, not only found the relervoirs for water deftroyed or damaged, fo that many camels perifhed for want of that indifpenfable article, but even the pilgrims were infulted by the Arabs, probably incited by the arts and malicious revenge of Jezzar. By dint of bribes, however, at the Porte, Abdallah prevented his expected deprivation. Of the Manners of the Inhabitants of Dar-Für. From the fame. HE troops of the country are Anot famed for fkill, courage, or perfeverance. In their campaigns much reliance is placed on the Arabs who accompany them, and who are properly tributaries rather than fubjects of the fultaun, One energy of barbarim they indeed poflefs, in common with other favages, that of being able to endure hunger and thirft; but in this particular they have no advantage over their neighbours. On the journey, a man whom I had obferved travelling on fort with the caravan, but unconnected with any perfon, afked me for bread-" How long have you been without it?" faid I. Two days," was the reply." And how leng without water?"- I drank water laft night."-This was at fun-fet, after we had been marching all day in the heat of the fun, and we had yet fix hours to reach the well. In their perfons the Furians are not remarkable for cleanlinefs. Though obferving, as Mohammedans, all the fuperftitious formalities of prayer, their hair is rarely combed, or their bodies completely washed. The hair of the pubes and axillæ it is ufual to exterminate; but they know not the ufe of foap'; fo that with them polishing the tkin with unguents holds the place of perfect ablutions and real purity. A kind of farinacious pafte is however prepared, which being applied with butter to the fkin, and rubbed con• tinually till it become dry, not only improves its appearance, but removes from it accidental fordes, and fill more the effect of conti nued transpiration, which, as there are no baths in the country, is a confideration of fome importance. The female flaves are dexterous in the application of it, and to undergo this application is one of the refinements of African fenfuality. Their intervals of labour and reft are fixed by no established rule, but governed by inclination or perfonal convenience. Their fatigues are often renewed under the oppreflive influence of the meridian fun, and in fome diftricts their nightly flumbers are interrupted by the dread of robbers, in others by the mufquitoes and other inconveniences of the climate. The The difpofition of the people of Fur has appeared to me more cheerful than that of the Egyptians; and that gravity and referve which the precepts of Mohammedifm infpire, and the practice of the greater part of its profeflors, countenances and even require, feem by no means as yet to fit eafy on them. A government perfectly defpotic, and at this time not ill administered, as far as relates to the manners of the people, yet forms no adequate restraint to their violent paflions.* Prone to inebriation, but unprovided with materials or ingenuity to prepare any other fermented liquor than buza, with this alone their convivial exceffes are committed. But though the fultaun hath juft publifhed an ordinance (March, 1795) forbidding the use of that liquor under pain of death, the plurality, though lets publicly than before, ftill indulge themselves in it. A company often A company often fits from fun-rife to fun-iet drinking and converfing, till a fingle man fometimes carries off near two gallons of that liquor. The bûza has however a diuretic and diaphoretic tendency, which precludes any danger from thefe exceffes. In this country, dancing is prac tifed by the men as well as the women, and they often dance promifcuously. Each tribe feems to have its appropriate dance: that of Für is called Secondari, that of Bukkara Bendala. Some are grave, others lafcivious, but confifting rather of violent efforts than of graceful motions. Such is their fondness for this amufement, that the flaves dance in fetters to the mufic of a little drum; and, what I have rarely feen in Africa or the eaft, the time is marked by means of a long fick held by two, while others beat the cadence with fhort. batons. They ufe the games of Tab-u-duk and Dris-wa-talaité, defcribed by Niebuhr, which however appear not indigenous, but to have been borrowed of the Arabs. The vices of thieving, lying, and cheating in bargains, with all others nearly or remotely allied to them, as often happen among a people under the fame circumftances, are here almoft universal. No property, whether confiderable or trifling, is fafe out of the fight of the owner, nor indeed fcarcely in it unless he be ftronger than the thief. In buying and felling, the parent glories in deceiving the fon, and the fon the parent; and God and the prophet are hourly invocated, to give colour to the most palpable frauds and falfehoods. The privilege of polygamy, which, as is well known, belongs to their religion, the people of Soudan pufh to the extreme. At this circumftance the Muffulmans of Egypt, with whom I have converfed on the fubject, affect to be much fcandalized:, for whereas, by their law they are allowed four free women, and as many flaves as they can conveniently maintain, the Fûrians take both free women and flaves without any limitation. The fultan has more than a hundred free women, and many of the meleks have from twenty to thirty. Teraub, a late king, contented The inhabitants of a village called Bernoo, having quarrelled with thofe of another hamlet, and fome having been killed on both fides, all the property of Loth villages was forfeited to the king, the inhabitants being abandoned to poverty. X 4 himfelt himself with about five hundred females as a light travelling equipage in his wars in Kordofan, and left as many more in his palace. This may feem ridiculous, but when it is recollected that they had corn to grind, water to fetch, food to drefs, and all menial offices to perform for feveral hundred individuals, and that thefe females (excepting those who are reputed Serrari, concubines of the monarch) travel on foot, and even carry utenfils, &c. on their heads, employment for this immenfe retinue may be imagined, without attributing to the fultan more libidinous propenlities than belong to others of the fame rank and flation. BONDOU is bounded on the caft by Bambouk; on the fouth-eaft, and fouth, by Tenda, and the Simbani Wilderness; on the fouth-weft, by Woolli; on the weft, by Foota Torra; and on the north, by Kajaaga. The country, like that of Woolli, is very generally covered with woods, but the land is more elevated, and towards the Falemé river, rifes into confiderable hills. In native fertility the foil is not furpalled, I believe, by any part of Africa. fional traders, who frequently come hither from the inland countries, to` purchafe falt. Thefe different branches of com. merce are conducted principally by Mandingoes and Serawollies, who have fettled in the country. These merchants likewife carry on a confiderable trade with Gedumah, and other Moorish countries, bartering corn and blue cotton clothes for falt; which they again barter in Dentila and other diftricts for Iron, fhea-butter, and fmall quantities of gold-duft. They likewife fell a variety of fweet fmelling gums packed up in fmall bags, containing each about a pound. These gums, being thrown on hot embers, produce a very pleafant odour, and are ufed by the Mandingoes for perfuming their huts and clothes. The cuftoms, or duties on travellers, are very heavy; in almoft every town an afs load pays a bar of European merchandife; and at Fattecond, the refidence of the king, one Indian baft, or a musket, and fix bottles of gunpowder, are exacted as the common tribute. By means of thefe duties, the king of Bondou is well fupplied with_arms and ammunition; a circumstance which makes him formidable to the neighbouring states. The inhabitants differ in their complexions and national manners from the Mandingoes and Serawoollies, with whom they are frequently at war. Some years ago the king of Pondou crofled the Falemé river with a numerous army, and after a fhort and bloody campaign totally defeated the forces of Samboo, kirg of Bambouk, who was obliged to fue for peace, and furrender to him all the towns along the eastern bank of the Falemé. The |