potappointed to the government by the Turks, now rules this degenerate state.

9. The Mamelukes were deprived of their power by the French. Soon after the establishment of the Turkish dominion, the pasha invited the chief of them to a great entertainment in his palace, and treacherously murdered them. The remnant of the Mamelukes retreated to Dongola, and afterwards to Darfoor, and there, in diminished numbers, and without any power, some of them still exist.

10. The Mamelukes long preserved their distinct order, not by the succession of their children to their rank and power, but by the purchase of slaves brought from various countries. They treated these young persons with affection, and trained them to the military art; and they were held in such general esteem that it became honourable to a man to have it said of him—he was purchased.

11. The inhabitants of modern Egypt are estimated to be about two millions and a half. They are divided into Copts, Arabs, Turks, Greeks, and Jews. The Copts are descended from the primitive inhabitants; they are supposed to be 200,000 in number. The Arabs are more numerous, they are divided into the Bedouins, or independent Arabs, and the more civilized; these latter include the sheiks or heads of villages, the fellahs or peasants, the boufakirs or beggars, and the artisans. The Turks of Egypt resemble other Turks. The Greeks are said to have the features of their ancestors, but have the character of roguery in business. The Jews live in towns, follow trade, and are

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treated with the same contempt in Egypt that follows them every where.

12. At Cairo, the principal city of Egypt, the public amusements are leaping, dancing, and wrestling matches. The Almehs are women who dance and recite poetry for the entertainment of others. The Almehs are invited to all parties of pleasure. During meals they are placed at a desk where they sing, and afterwards they perform their dances.

13. This is a brief account of ancient and modern Egypt; other books give ample and interesting information concerning this celebrated country.

LESSON XII.

PHOENICIA.

1. Phoenicia was a small tract of country which lay at the head of the Mediterranean. The people of this country are celebrated in ancient history for industry, for enterprize, and for inventiveness in the useful arts. They are said to have invented the Alphabet; they also cultivated astronomy and geography, and manufactured linen and glass.

2. The art of navigation is first attributed to the Phoenicians. It appears that all savage nations who live upon the sca coast, build little boats and row themselves about in the neighbourhood of their own shores; and most of them do this

with courage and dexterity. But men must be well-informed, must understand agriculture and some manufactures, must possess the wealth which their own industry creates; that is, the productions of a cultivated soil, and those articles of comfort which manufactures afford, before they can make navigation extensively useful.

3. The most important uses of navigation, are the intercourse it enables men of different countries, to hold with each other, and the conveyance of the productions of one country to another, so that by means of ships, different nations can interchange their arts, their knowledge, and the vari ous things which grow, or are manufactured in their respective territories.

4. The Phoenicians could not go much beyond the Mediterranean, for want of some instrument to instruct navigators where they are upon the surface of the sea when they have lost sight of land. This instrument, called the Compass, has been invented in modern times, and by means of it, sailors are not lost upon the great ocean, but are enabled safely, and with certainty, to traverse the whole globe.

5. The Phoenicians are supposed not only to have navigated the Mediterranean, but to have passed through the Pillars of Hercules, now called the strait of Gibraltar, into the Atlantic ocean, to have coasted along the western shores of Africa, and to have sailed as far north as Britain. It is also supposed that the tin mines of Cornwall, still unexhausted, furnished that metal to these maritime adventurers.

6. The chief cities of Phoenicia were Tyre and Sidon. It appears that these cities were

governed by different kings. They are mentioned in the old and new Testaments. Hiram, king of Tyre, furnished Solomon with the cedar wood of Lebanon to build the temple at Jerusalem. These cities were attacked several times by the Babylonians and Persians; and Tyre was utterly destroyed by Alexander, B. C. 332.

7. The destruction of Tyre and Sidon is spoken of in scripture, as a retribution of God, for the sins of the inhabitants of those cities, but the beneficent Jesus represents these sins to have been occasioned by ignorance; he says, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida, (cities of Judea) if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they (the people of those cities) would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." But they were not so instructed, and they perished under the sword of their enemies.

8. There is nothing in eastern poetry that gives higher ideas of the wealth and power of nations, and of the destruction which overwhelms the proud, than the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth chapters of Ezekiel. Of Tyre the prophet says, "Thus saith the Lord God, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

9." And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise, and they shall break down thy walls and destroy thy pleasant houses. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. They shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou de

stroyed, that wast inhabited of sea-faring men, the renowned city which was strong in the sea."

10. The religion of the Phoenicians was idolatry. Baal to whom the Israelites sacrificed, and Astarte, to whom drink-offerings were poured out, as to "the queen of Heaven," were their chief deities. The Tyrian purple was a dye extracted from a shell fish, now unknown. The Phoenicians sent colonies to different countries. The most celebrated was that of Carthage. The story of the foundation of Carthage is this.

11. Pygmalion, a prince of Tyre, murdered Sichæus, the king, who was his brother. Pygmalion committed this crime, that he might possess himself of the wealth of Sichæus. Dido, the widow of Sichæus, contrived to conceal some of the treasures of her husband, and with a number of adventurers, men and women, escaped to Africa, and founded the city of Carthage. After the conquest of Tyre, by Alexander, Phoenicia was annexed to Syria.

LESSON XIII.

PERSIA.

1. That country which may be seen in modern maps, under the name of Persia, is known in ancient times for the kingdom of powerful monarchs, and the abode of a remarkable people.