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conscription fanned these angry feelings into a blaze, and the whole of Palestine has been in open insurrection for the last five weeks. The mountainous country I have described as forming the centre of the province, is particularly favorable to undisciplined resistance; the first detachments sent against them were cut off and dispersed. Reinforcements sent for to the camp at Jaffa were intercepted and destroyed, and Jerusalem itself was surprised. At last about 10 days ago, IBRAHIM Pasha, the son of MUHAMMAD ALI, and Commander-inChief, marched on Jerusalem from Jaffa with 7000 men. He was attacked in a narrow pass, was obliged to make a detour with a small escort to ensure his personal safety, (leaving his army to struggle through, which they did, losing more than half their numbers, and gained Jerusalem, which the peasantry wisely abandoned,) leaving his guns in possession of the rebels. Two of his field officers were so alarmed and astonished at this work, that they deserted their colors and fled by sea. Reinforcements have been demanded from Egypt, and so affairs stand at present, all eagerly desiring the return of the Sultan. Meantime a general fermentation exists throughout the land. A dangerous conspiracy was discovered, and quelled by sanguinary punishments at Aleppo. At Damascus, the conscription was so clumsily and stupidly enforced by troops surrounding certain quarters, taking out all sorts of men, whether of good condition or otherwise, violating the sanctity of harams to get at them, that numbers fled and joined the insurgents, and all the shops in the city were for some time closed. 600 poor wretches are shut up in the castle, whom they dare neither to release nor to embody in the ranks. A general feeling is manifested against the Christians, on account of the privileges to which they have been admitted; and in several instances, the Muhammadans have shown a disposition to rise against them. There are a great number of Greeks, Armenians, &c. in all the large towns, generally people of some wealth. The people of Saphet two days ago arose and massacred the Jews. So that every thing looks like an impending storm, and I should not be surprised if it ended in the Pasha being turned out of Syria.

I have no feeling in favor of the Egyptian government. It is true they affect liberal opinions, protect the Franks, and imitate European improvements; but the sole motive and object of all this is the Pasha's personal ambition, and its only good effects are a good police and a greater general security to person and property from all attacks— but those of the Pasha himself. MUHAMMAD ALI, is certainly a wonderful man; but he is, I am now convinced, perfectly selfish, and is not actuated in any way by a desire to ameliorate his country or people. I

was most unwilling to come to this conclusion, but the evidence is so positive I cannot help it. He has drained the population of Egypt, (which was 2,500,000) by continual conscriptions to keep up his regular army of 90,000 men, exclusive of some 20 or 30,000 for his fleet and arsenals, and of those he has seized to labor in his manufactories. So dreaded has this demand for men become, that the peasants now maim themselves to be exempted from service. In the whole of Upper Egypt, I could not find a single ryot who had not put out an eye, cut off a finger, or broken out a dozen teeth; even children of 10 and 12 years old are maimed. I speak soberly and in strict truth when I say, that during four days' sail down the Nile, I landed frequently, and took long walks, asking every individual I met, and I only found one not maimed, and he was born deaf and dumb! The aspect of the country is wretched; the villages are deserted and in ruins, much land lying waste, the people looking squalid, poor and miserable. The severity of the system was attested by the frequent insurrections that took place a few years back, but in the open valley of the Nile these were easily quelled. Meantime the Pasha, instead of husbanding his resources to enable himself, now that he has established his power, to reduce the burthens of his people, squanders away his revenue in absurd schemes. He forces the produce of articles with expensive purchased machinery, which he could buy cheaper from Europe in exchange for the natural products of Egypt. He engages in splendid projects, and seeks applause from the people of England and France. These mad enthusiasts, the Saint Simoniens, told him of the advantage of a rail-road across the Isthmus of Suez, and he is now surveying the ground for that purpose. He is trying to realize the splendid idea of Napoleon, of damming the two branches of the Nile, and irrigating the whole of the Delta; and with an almost childish impatience to complete his work, he drives the population of whole districts to the work, neither paying them nor providing them with food, in consequence of which many perish. Then he has sent 20,000 men to subdue Yemen, and to attack the Aseers, a wild tribe of Bedoweens, who will lead them into the desert, and probably destroy all the expensive materiel with which the Egyptian armies are most liberally furnished. Many of these schemes are worthy in themselves, but they are too great for the resources of the country, and the attempt to force them has given rise to a system of relentless tyranny, and reduced the people to a state of misery exceeding what I have ever seen or heard of elsewhere. The only thing I saw that gave me unmixed pleasure, was the Government school at Cairo, where about 900 boys are educated at the public expense, each boy receiving from 15 to 80 piastres a month, his food

and clothing. But there are not wanting who say, the Pasha only supports it to raise up for himself good officers; however, it is good in itself, and the results must be good, and I give him credit for it. I consider the principal points in his character to be ambition, and the vanity of appearing a great and enlightened prince in the eyes of Europe, and I think these will explain his whole policy. He has had the tact to win our representative, Colonel CAMPBELL, completely to his interests, and the good Colonel is his warmest and most enthusiastic eulogist.

III.—Characters of three New Species of Indian Fresh-water Bivalves, by ISAAC LEA; with Notes by W. H. BENSON, Esq.

While our countrymen in India are hesitating to name or to describe as novelties their acquisitions in Natural History, under the apprehension of re-describing that which may be already known to the scientific world, our brethren of the United States are forestalling us, and are publishing in that distant land the acquisitions of their fellow citizens, made under the unfavorable circumstances which generally attach to cursory and hurried journeys through a country. It becomes us, then, to bestir ourselves, and not thus tamely to allow prizes to be carried off from our very doors, to swell the scientific triumphs of our transatlantic competitors.

The following descriptions of three species of Unio are taken from the 4th volume of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, in which work characteristic figures are given of each shell. The characters are from the pen of Mr. ISAAC LEA, who has acquired perhaps a greater knowledge of the species of this genus, and has described more new ones than any other individual. Having during several years attended particularly to this department of Natural History, and taken numerous specimens of the shells procurable in the provinces, in which I have resided, I have ventured to add a few illustrative notes. Besides Mr. LEA's three species, and the well known Unio marginalis of LAMARCK, I am acquainted with three other perfectly distinct species of Unio from the streams of the Bengal and Agra presidencies, which I propose to describe in a separate paper.-W. H. B.

UNIO CERULEUS. Plate XIII. fig. 25. of Am. Phil. Trans. IV. "Testa angusto-ellipticâ, transversâ, inæquilaterali, subcylindraced; valvulis tenuibus; natibus prominulis, rotundatis et undulatis; dentibus cardinalibus lamelliformibus, et in dextrâ valvula solâ duplicibus ; lateralibus rectis; margaritâ cæruleo-albâ et iridescente.

"Shell narrow-elliptical, transverse, inequilateral, subcylindrical; valves thin; beaks rather elevated, rounded and undulated; cardinal teeth lamelliform and double in the right valve only; lateral teeth straight; nacre bluish white, pearly and iridescent.

Hab. River Hoogly, Hindostan, G. W. BLAKIE. Diam. 6,

Length 8,

Breadth 1.6 inches.

"Shell narrow-elliptical, transverse, subcylindrical, disposed to be straight on the sides and basal margin; substance of the shell thin; beaks near the anterior margin rounded, somewhat elevated, and corrugated with diverging undulations; ligament rather short and straight; epidermis finely wrinkled and bluish green, particularly on the posterior part; rays very indistinct; posterior slope furnished with small undulations and two irregular rays on each side; cardinal teeth lamelliform and double in the right valve only; lateral teeth straight and lamelliform + anterior cicatrices distinct; posterior cicatrices confluent; dorsal cicatrices within the cavity of the beaks; cavity of the beaks wide and rounded; nacre bluish white, very pearly and iridescent.

“Remarks.—This species was brought from Calcutta by Mr. BLAKIE, to whose kindness I am indebted for it and many other fine shells. As far as I have been able to ascertain, it has not been described. From the roughness of the beaks it might perhaps be thought to be only a variety of corrugata (LAM.). On comparing the two species, however, they will be found to be entirely distinct; the corrugata being "ovato-rhombeâ,” while the cæruleus is " angusto-ellipticâ." In some specimens the nacre is slightly rose-coloured along the basal margin."

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Note. This shell is extremely common in tanks in the vicinity of Calcutta, and is met with in profusion in the Ganges, Jumna, and their branches. The epidermis is ordinarily brown, and I have only met with the dark-green variety figured and described by Mr. LEA in jhíls in Bundelkhand. It varies much in diameter, being sometimes extremely ventricose, while another frequent variety is remarkable for the smallness of its diameter. All the varieties may be at once referred to this species, by attending to the generally polygonal outline of the posterior part of the shell, and to the rugæ on the beaks and slopes, which radiating in two different sets, form by this junction on the back of the shell, in fine specimens, a series of acute angles. The shallow variety above-mentioned, which has a paler green epidermis, and which is somewhat alate posteriorly, shews this character, in the greater perfection. The extreme varieties would be regarded as distinct species, if alone presented for examination; but I possess a beautiful series which connects them so gradually as to leave no doubt of their identity as a species. My largest specimen, which is an odd valve, is 1.95 inches in breadth. The nacre is occasionally tinged with salmon colour.-W. H. B.

SYMPHYNOTA BILINEATA. Plate XI. fig. 19, of ditto. "Testâ subellipticâ, transversâ, inæquilaterali, compressâ; valvulis tenuissimis; posteriori margine dorsali elevatâ connatâque; natibus subprominulis, undulas concentricas et duas lineas elevatas ad marginem posteriorem currentes, habentibus; dentibus cardinalibus laminatis et in valvulâ dextrâ solum duplicibus; lateralibus rectis; margaritâ colore salmonis subtinctâ.

"Shell subelliptical, transverse, inequilateral, compressed; valves very thin; posterior dorsal margin elevated and connate; beaks very slightly elevated, concentrically undulate and possessing two elevated lines which pass to the posterior margin; cardinal teeth lamelliform and double in the right valve only; lateral teeth straight; nacre slightly salmon coloured.

Hab. River Hoogly, Hindostan, G. W. BLAKIE. Diam. 3,

Length 7,

Breadth 1.3 inches. "Shell subelliptical, transverse, inequilateral, compressed, diaphanous; substance of the shell extremely thin; beaks very slightly elevated, concentrically undulated, possessing two small elevated lines which pass (posterior to the umbonial slope) to the posterior margin; valves elevated into a carina and connate in the posterior dorsal margin: dorsal margin a right line; ligament very small; epidermis shining, greenish yellow, darker on the posterior slope; cardinal teeth lamelliform and double in the right valve only; lateral teeth lamelliform, long and straight; posterior and anterior cicatrices both confluent; dorsal cicatrices obsolete; cavity of the beaks shallow, very wide, and exhibiting the undulations of the beaks; nacre very thin and slightly salmon coloured, darker in the cavity of the beaks.

"Remarks.—This very small species was brought from Calcutta by Mr. BLAKIE, with the U. cæruleus (Nob.). Both were procured about one hundred miles above that city. It resembles, in its outward characters, the young of S. cygnea (Anod. cygnea, authors). It is, however, more transverse, and differs altogether in the formation of the hinge, which is furnished with perfect cardinal and lateral teeth. In the peculiar character of the double tooth in the right valve, it resembles the S. ochracea*. The bilineata is easily distinguished by the two delicate lines which pass from the beaks to the posterior margin.”

Note. This species, which is tolerably abundant in the tank on the skirts of the southern glacis of Fort William, is an Unio to all intents and purposes. Mr. LEA's genus Symphynota is founded on an adventitious character which is incidental to most of the winged bivalves. It culls from various genera, such as Unio and Anodon, (already well separated on the best of all distinctive characters for bivalves, the difference of the teeth,) species, which otherwise agree with their respective genera, to unite them in one unnatural group. Mr. LEA's apology for its introduction, viz. the difficulty of defining * See vol. iii. p. 455.

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